SEI’s Bernadette P. Resurrección wins distinguished award for work on gender and disasters

This week, SEI Senior Research Fellow Bernadette P. Resurrección received the prestigious Mary Fran Myers Gender and Disaster Award for 2019 for designing and leading regional projects on gender and climate change adaptation, as well as initiating poverty-reducing bio-innovations in Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

Mary Fran Myers Gender and Disaster Award is presented annually by the Natural Hazards Centre in recognition of disaster professionals who continue Mary Fran Myers’ goal of promoting research on gender issues in disasters and emergency management.

Mary Fran Myers, who passed away in 2004, was co-director of the Natural Hazards Research and Applications Information Center at the University of Colorado for 16 years until her untimely death in 2004. She was well-known for her work in reducing disaster vulnerability and highlighting how women and girls are marginalized by disaster risks.

The award recognizes individuals who have “added to the body of knowledge on gender and disasters or furthered opportunities for women to succeed in the field.”

At SEI, Resurrección established the Gender, Environment & Development (GED) Research team in SEI Asia and co-leads the Gender, Social Equality and Poverty Programme.

SEI Asia’s GED team has been collaborating with partners across Asia on various gendered themes such as disaster displacement, GIS and drought forecasting, gender-based violence in disaster contexts, climate change adaptation, mitigating climate change through energy transitions, as well as in natural resource management contributing to the analytical growth of feminist political ecology.

“This is a much-deserved award for Babette, whose continuous and valuable contributions in the fields of gender, climate and disasters, both in terms of research and policy advocacy, continues to improve the lives of many, and empowers women to take their rightful seat at the decision table. SEI is very proud to call Babette one of our own and we look forward to her future efforts,” said Niall O’Connor, SEI Asia’s Director.