Dr Richard Smith

Resilience Challenge (New Zealand)

About

Dr Richard Smith is currently Director of New Zealand’s Resilience Challenge – a collaborative, multi-disciplinary research consortium that works in partnership with research users to co-produce knowledge-based solutions to enhance New Zealand’s disaster resilience. He has a hybrid background in research facilitation, disaster risk reduction policy and practice, and natural hazards research. Previous roles include managing national research and risk reduction programmes for the New Zealand disaster insurance scheme, and hazard risk management policy in the New Zealand Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management (MCDEM). Dr Smith has a PhD in Geological Sciences from the University of Canterbury, and prior to taking up a position with MCDEM was a Senior Lecturer in Earth Sciences at the University of Waikato.