Hannah Kent

Profile

Experience

Researcher, Critical Infrastructure Resilience Unit, Scottish Government & CECHR, Dundee University 2014 – 2015

Collaborative research assessing the resilience of critical infrastructure services within Scotland. The project provided a number of recommendations to the Scottish Government for further developing the resilience of organisations providing critical infrastructure services to Scotland. A final report was produced for the Scottish Government for dissemination and the research findings were presented to both the Scottish Government and the Scottish Resilience Development Service (SCORDS).

Senior Environmental Consultant, Parsons Brinckerhoff 2008 – 2013

A large multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy. Responsible for scoping and managing projects to ensure efficient delivery for clients. Devising and undertaking impact assessments (EIA/SEA) in line with Bristish & International regulations, report writing, proposing mitigation, managing budget & staff resources, peer reviewing reports and offering expert witness.

Health, Safety & Environment Consultant, Stansted Environmental Services 2007 – 2008

Environmental Consultancy Services including Environmental & Architectural Acoustics, Air Quality and Contaminated Land, H&S, CDM, EIAs. Building Regulation Compliance Testing for both Sound Insulation Testing (UKAS accredited) and Air Tightness Testing.

Environmental Health Officer – Various International Military Exercises, British Army, 2006 – 2007

Providing all aspects of Environmental & Force Health Protection support to military exercises involving circa 800 troops within Africa.

Senior Environmental Health Officer, Bristol City Council 2002 – 2006

Dealing with all aspects of statutory obligations, responding to high volumes of pollution and emergency incidents. Drafting the Councils Major Accident Hazardous Pipeline Manual. Assisting the Council exercise their emergency response plans in line with the Civil Contingencies Act 2004.

Research interests

Keywords: Technology, Adaptation & Data-Driven Decision Making, Climate Change, Organisational Resilience, Organisational Change.

This research looks holistically at climate change adaptation to support service continuity and resilience, identifying the effects (positive and negative) of information and technology on response and resilience to flooding incidents as well as how the use of information and technology can facilitate greater resilience to climate change, both in operations and for societal benefit.

A review of the theoretical literature identified that Information System (IS) research is problematical both theoretically and in practice (Serafeimidis and Smithson, 2000). IS research is at the junction of people, organisations, and technology (Von Alan et al., 2004), and therefore it is argued that furthering our knowledge involves two complementary but distinct research paradigms, namely, behavioural and design science (March and Smith, 1995).

In organisational studies, social constructionism forms the basis of mainstream research and knowledge, in that, social reality is humanly produced in ongoing activity and routines (Berger and Luckmann (1966) cited in, Cunliffe, 2008). Activity theory offers particular utility in this research as it can tailor the findings towards delivering resilient solutions that will support adaptation and transformation activities. New practices can be trialled and further analysed, creating continuous incremental improvements through which emergent pioneering transformational models of work activities develop.

The interconnected relationship between technology, information and incident management has many implications for delivering a resilient response to flooding incidents. Despite a consensus over the benefits of technologies in incident response, the objective of using technology is far from realisation (Aman et al., 2012).

Research that connects technological, sociological, and organisational issues is still considered critical for improving disaster response (Underwood, 2010), particularly technology and information systems during incidents (Adrot and Pallud, 2009). Calls to identify technologies that better support incident management, with a focus on “emergent technology structures enacted in practice rather than embodied structures fixed in technologies” (Orlikowski, 2000 p.408) in order to identify value in what technology affords, rather than what we can use it for.

Qualifications

• PhD Researcher in Organisational Resilience, Climate & Technological Adaptation, 2015/20
• MSc Catchment Hydrology & Management (Merit), University of Dundee, 2015
• MSc Environmental & Architectural Acoustics (Distinction), London South Bank, 2012
• Diploma in Acoustics and Noise Control, University of the West of England, 2001
• BSc Environmental Health (2:1) University of the West of England, 1998

Research groups and institutes

• Adaptation Information Management and Technology
• Centre for Technology Innovation and Engagement