About

Raised on a farm in Denmark and educated in the UK and Australia, Dr. Christine Eriksen is driven by a curiosity about local environmental knowledge and the societal coping capacities generated by it.

By bringing natural hazards and, in particular, wildfires into dialogue with social geography, she gained international recognition as a ground-breaking disaster researcher. Her work demonstrates a commitment to qualitative research that is applied, collaborative, and interdisciplinary.

After completing her PhD in 2010, she continued working as a social scientist at the University of Wollongong, Australia until 2020. She then relocated to Switzerland to work as a senior researcher in the Center for Security Studies at ETH Zürich.

Since August 2023, Christine has been the Principal Investigator of a 5-year project focusing on community resilience to wildfires in Europe (FiRES). The FiRES project is funded by a Consolidator Grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation, and is hosted by ETH Zürich (after an initial 2 years at the University of Bern).

Appointments

2025 – present Principal Investigator SNSF Consolidator Grant, Department of Humanities, Political and Social Sciences, ETH Zürich, Switzerland.

2024 – present Elected Member of the National Platform for Natural Hazards (PLANAT), extra-parliamentary commission for the Swiss Federal Council, Switzerland.

2024 – present Board Member, Polytechniker Ruderclub, Zürich, Switzerland.

2023 – 2025 SNSF Consolidator Professorship, Geographies of Disasters Group, Institute of Geography, University of Bern, Switzerland.

2020 – present Honorary Associate Professor, School of Geography and Sustainable Communities, University of Wollongong, Australia.

2020 – 2023 Senior Researcher, Centre for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zürich, Switzerland.

2018 – 2020 Senior Lecturer (with tenure), School of Geography and Sustainable Communities, University of Wollongong, Australia.

Winter 2019 Visiting Scholar, Copenhagen Centre for Disaster Research (COPE), University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Autumn 2019 Visiting Scholar, Geography Division, School of Environment, Education and Development, University of Manchester, UK.

Summer 2019 Visiting Scholar, Centre for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zürich, Switzerland.

2015 – 2018 Senior Research Fellow, Australian Research Council DECRA-awarded Fellowship, University of Wollongong, Australia.

2013 – 2015 Research Fellow, Australian Centre for Cultural Environmental Research (AUSCCER) & Centre for Environmental Risk Management of Bushfires (CERMB), University of Wollongong, Australia.

Spring 2011 Visiting Scholar, Department of Geography and Planning, California State University, Chico, California, USA.

2010 – 2012 Associate Research Fellow, Australian Centre for Cultural Environmental Research, University of Wollongong, Australia.

2006 In-Country Supervisor, Sustainable Development & Community Enterprise Initiative, Sindisa Foundation, Ibo Island, Mozambique.

2004 – 2006 Training and Administration Officer, Expedition Advisory Centre, Royal Geographical Society with Institute of British Geographers, United Kingdom.

Editorial Boards

Oct 2024 – present Section Editor in Chief “Social Science“, Fire Ecology.

Aug 2022 – Aug 2024 Section Editor in Chief, “Fire Social Science”, Fire.

2019 – 2024 Editorial Board Member, Fire.

Peer reviewer for academic journals (since 2010)
Scientific Reports, GEO: Geography and Environment, Progress in Human Geography, Geoforum, Communications Earth & Environment, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, Transactions of the IBG, Emotion Space and Society, Journal of Rural Studies, International Journal of Wildland Fire, Society & Natural Resources, Gender Place & Culture, Gender Work & Organisation, Third World Quarterly, Health & Place, Australian Journal of Emergency Management, GeoJournal, Fire Ecology, Journal of Environmental Management, Climatic Change, Disaster Prevention and Management, Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Environmental Sociology, Fire.

Education and Professional Development

2018 Leadership Program for Senior Academic Women, University of Wollongong, Australia
(NB. recognised “Australia’s Best Women in Leadership Development Program” at the Australian Institute of Training & Development’s 2018 National Training Excellence Awards.)

2010 Doctor of Philosophy in Human Geography
University of Wollongong, Australia

2004 Master of Arts in Human Geography with Distinction
King’s College London, UK

2003 Bachelor of Arts with Joint Honours in Geography and Social Anthropology
School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London

2006 Certificate in English Language Teaching for Adults (CELTA)
South Thames College, UK

2005 Oxford Cambridge RSA Level 3 Certificate in Off-Site Safety Management
Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), UK

2000 Certificate in Natural History
Centre for Continuing Education, Edinburgh University, UK

Grants & Awards

2023 – 2028 Sole Investigator: Swiss National Science Foundation Consolidator Grant: Building Wildfire Resilient Communities in Europe (FiRES) (CHF1.77 million)

2023 Sole Investigator: Swiss National Science Foundation Scientific Exchange Grant: Situating Hazards in Space and Time: An Examination of Disaster Risk Governance (CHF13,900)

2023 Sole Investigator: Fund for the Promotion of Young Researchers of the University of Bern: Situating Hazards in Space and Time: An Examination of Disaster Risk Governance (CHF5,000)

2022 Wiley Prize 2021 awarded by the Institute of Australian Geographers and Wiley Publishers to Eriksen & de Vet for their article ‘Untangling insurance, rebuilding, and wellbeing in bushfire recovery’, published in the journal Geographical Research (read more).

2020 Dorothy R Taylor Best Paper Award by the Geographical Society of New South Wales: When Insurance and Goodwill are not Enough: Bushfire Attack Level (BAL) Ratings, Risk Calculations and Disaster Resilience in Australia – the best and most impactful paper published in the journal Australian Geographer in 2020.

2020 Co-Investigator: Global Challenges Project Funding, University of Wollongong and matching funding from the Shark Island Institute, Building community resilience to bushfire: A case study of Kangaroo Valley, NSW ($88,300)

2019 Principal Investigator: Global Challenges Seed Grant, University of Wollongong, Bushfire preparedness, response and recovery in Kangaroo Valley, NSW ($20,000)

2018 – 2019 Principal Investigator: Global Challenges Seed Grant, University of Wollongong, Piloting Bushfires Plans: By the community, for the community ($20,000)

2018 Co-Investigator: Swiss National Science Foundation: Disasters and Social Vulnerability in Affluent Societies International Expert Workshop ($26,102)

2018 Highly Commended – Resilient Australia Awards (Business Category), Resilient Together: Engaging the Knowledge and Capacities of Refugees for a Disaster Resilient Illawarra – a collaborative project with Wollongong City Council, NSW Rural Fire Service, Illawarra Multicultural Services, Multicultural Communities Council of Illawarra, Strategic Community Assistance to Refugee Families, NSW State Emergency Service, Shellharbour City Council, Kiama Municipal Council, Australian Red Cross, Masjid As-Salaam Berkeley, Multicultural NSW, awarded by the Australian Government.

2017 – 2019 Co-Investigator: Australian Research Council Discovery Project (DP170100096): When Disaster Strikes: Under-insurance in an age of volatility ($327,451)

2017 Principal Investigator: NSW Office of Emergency Management Community Resilience Innovation Program: Resilient Together: Engaging the Knowledge and Capacities of Refugees for a Disaster Resilient Illawarra,($40,836)

2015 – 2018 Sole-Investigator: Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DE150101242): Bushfires, faith and community cohesion: building a resilient Australia ($353,773)

2017 Sole-Investigator: Research Impact Support Scheme, Faculty of Social Science, University of Wollongong, Bushfires: Understanding vulnerability and building resilience through a gendered lens ($5,000)

2017 Principal Investigator: Australian Centre for Cultural Environmental Research Small Research Grant, Disaster Resilient Cities ($4,000)

2016 Selected as UOW Woman of Impact for outstanding contributions to research at the UOW as part of the Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE) program.

2016 Sole-Investigator: Australian Centre for Cultural Environmental Research Small Research Grant, Luck and Trauma in Disasters ($5,000)

2016 Co-Investigator: Global Challenges Seed Funding, The Long View of Disasters ($4,912)

2015 University of Wollongong Faculty of Social Sciences Early Career Researcher Prize ($5,000)

2011 – 2014 Co-Investigator: Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre National Competitive Grant: Co-existing with fire: managing risk and amenity at the rural- urban interface ($283,000)

2014 Principal-Investigator: AUSCCER Small Research Grant, Flame and fortune: the production and consumption of wildfire vulnerability in the Oakland Hills, CA ($4,400)

2013 – 2014 Principal-Investigator: Wyong Shire Council Research Funding: Retrofitting for resilience: co-existing with bushfire ($13,129)

2013 Sole-Investigator: University of Wollongong UCR Small Research Grant: The role and place of women in bushfire management and fire fighting in Australia ($7,287)

2013 Principal-Investigator: University of Wollongong UIC International Links Grant: From the mountains to the sea: California-UOW teaching partnerships ($10,555)

2013 World Social Science Risk Interpretation and Action Fellowship awarded by the International Social Science Council.

2013 Highly Commended – Resilient Australia Awards (Community Category), Weather the Storm: Women Prepare – a collaborative project with the National Rural Women’s Coalition, awarded by the Australian Government.