Connecting research, communication, and human behaviour to disasters

Today’s guest is Dr Barbara Ryan - an award-winning disaster behaviour researcher, communicator and long-time leader in emergency management communication across Australia.Barbara has spent more than 40 years working across journalism, public relations, research and teaching, with a strong focus on how people seek information, respond to risk and engage during disasters. She is the founder of Cicada Research and Communication and was a founding director of Emergency Media and Public Affairs (EMPA) — helping shape the emergency communication profession across Australia and New Zealand. Barbara’s work explores one of the biggest challenges in disaster resilience: how we better connect research, communication and human behaviour to real-world preparedness and recovery. She’s also a volunteer firefighter and community educator, bringing both academic insight and lived frontline experience to the conversation.Subscribe now and join us as we explore smarter, stronger, and more connected ways to prepare for the future.