Rhea Katsanakis

Rhea Katsanakis is a programme management officer in the Global Risk Analysis and Reporting Section of the Risk Knowledge, Monitoring and Capacity Development Branch (RKB) in the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR).

She is the global project coordinator of the UN Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction, which is UNDRR’s flagship publication on risk and resilience, and leads UNDRR's global work on disaster forensic analysis, behavioral science application to disaster risk reduction, and strategic foresight. Katsanakis also coordinates work on global risk and resilience metrics related to drought, extreme heat, and wildfires as well as the socioeconomic impacts of disasters. She also works with the executive office of the UN Secretary General on the UN Global Risk Report. 

Katsanakis previously coordinated the Sendai Framework Data Readiness Review and led the development of the Sendai Framework Monitor Prototype. From 2006 to 2013 she worked as UN volunteer tsunami officer and later as programme officer in the UNDRR regional office for Africa in Nairobi, Kenya, supporting African governments in measuring progress towards disaster risk reduction and developing national risk reduction policies and plans, specifically related to drought risk management, urban risk management, health risk management, and disaster risk education. She has relevant field experience in 20 African countries, and has more recently worked with countries in Asia Pacific, the Arab States, Central Asian, and European countries. She holds a master’s in political science, sociology and public law.