Disasters are awful. What comes after doesn’t have to be.
UNSW Centre for Big Ideas UNSOMNIA presentation October 2024
In a world increasingly besieged by disasters, Dr Kate Brady addresses whether we are ready for what comes after. She paints a stark picture of the escalating frequency and intensity of calamities, from bushfires to cyclones. Brady challenges us to consider whether our current strategies are sufficient and calls for a radical shift in how we approach disaster recovery. She emphasises the need for community-led approaches, proactive planning for the aftermath of disasters, and innovative solutions to withstand future crises. The increased frequency of disasters as a result of climate change is a wake-up call, Brady urges us all to rethink our disaster recovery mechanisms before it's too late.
If you need to cite this presentation, suggested citation is:
Brady, K., Disasters are awful. What comes after doesn’t have to be. UNSW Centre for Ideas. Recorded 9 October 2024.
Prepared for the hazard… what about the disaster?
Presentation to Carers NSW forum 18 March 2025.
In this presentation, I discuss why preparing for hazard survival is important, but is only a tiny part of preparing for disasters. I briefly summarise the broad range of disaster impacts, why we’re getting better at understanding the direct impacts of disasters but not the indirect impacts. I then argue that we are still not using the existing evidence about long-term disaster impacts when we’re preparing for disasters.
If you need to cite this presentation, suggested citation is:
Brady, K. Prepared for the Hazard. What about the disaster? Collaborating for Inclusive Disaster Resilience symposium. Carers NSW. Invited speaker. 18 March 2025
Community-led recovery
Presentation to Harvard Humanitarian Initiative course. Boston 18 July 2024
Introduction to Community-Led Disaster Recovery
In this session, Anne Leadbeater and Dr Kate Brady provided an overview of the fundamental elements of community disaster recovery.
Drawing from personal insights and extensive research and practice, they touched on a range of topics such as community dynamics, understanding the impact of disasters on people and communities, recovery principles, community-led recovery, the role of recovery workers and mental health and wellbeing.
If you need to cite this presentation, suggested citation is:
Brady, K., Leadbeater, A., Pelly, E. Introduction to Community-Led Disaster Recovery Australian Institute of Disaster Resilience Recovery Uncovered Webinar Series, 12 March 2024.
Where are we and where are we going?
Presentation to Disaster Ready Together in Lismore.
March 7 2024.
If you need to cite this presentation, suggested citation is:
Brady, K. Where are we and where are we going. Invited Keynote presentation to ‘Disaster Ready Together’ summit. Lismore, NSW. 7 March 2024.
Understanding Black Summer bushfires through research: Culture, people and recovery
Natural Hazards Research Australia webinar. 7 July 2023.
Who is worst off after disasters?
Presentation to Australian Institute of Disaster Resilience conference August 2022 (Adelaide).
This presentation covers material available in a published paper you can find here.
If you need to cite this presentation, suggested citation is:
Brady, K., Gibbs, L., Harms, L. Who is worst off after disasters? Australian Disaster Resilience Conference, Adelaide 24 August 2022.