Grant: Master's Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

This research is based on the premise that Canadians are potentially stuck at a dangerous intersection of disaster risk and citizen apathy, and that solutions to gaps in local-level disaster and emergency management planning can be found within the collective voices of community networks. As a potential network of resilience, how can a community-based health network influence local-level Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)? In partnering with a network that fosters collaborative partnerships around the social determinants of health (SDoH), this research is uniquely positioned to build awareness of the connections between underlying vulnerabilities related to SDoH and the drivers of disaster risk and community resilience. Using participatory action research and social network analysis methods to measure the network strengths, gaps, and opportunities, this research aims to convey how place-based vulnerability and resilience data might create collaborative knowledge transmission opportunities to explore the local-level linkages between SDoH and DRR. This new knowledge can further support the network in extending an invitation to community partners and stakeholders to collaboratively generate ideas for local initiatives that can build from the identified strengths of the network to address identified gaps and contribute to improved health and disaster outcomes simultaneously.