Hanna Ruszczyk

Hanna Ruszczyk has spent most of her career living and working in countries that are rapidly changing and urbanizing. She has worked in development for the International Labour Organization, United Nations Development Programme, and United States Agency for International Development. In this capacity, she focused on micro and small enterprise development. Ruszczyk’s MA thesis (Durham University, UK) was titled ‘Local understandings of community resilience in earthquake prone Nepal’. Her PhD, which she is currently undertaking at the same university (Department of Geography and the Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience), is a continuation of her MA research. For Ruszczyk, this PhD is an opportunity to explore and engage critically with a wide range of subjects including resilience, community, urbanisation, risk, power, natural hazards, linking research to practice, Bihar State, India and Nepal. Her work is part of the Earthquakes without Frontiers Project.

Hanna wrote daily summaries of her earthquake experience and her eventual departure via India. They can be found at: http://www.dogweb.dur.ac.uk/GeoPaD/nepal-earthquake-day-1/ & http://www.dogweb.dur.ac.uk/GeoPaD/returning-home-from-nepal-by-hanna-ruszczyk/