Bridging structural engineering and social science to improve natural hazard resilience
On July 2, 2026, ARISE welcomed Lecturer Catalina Miranda of Massey University's Joint Centre for Disaster Research for a research presentation, Bridging structural engineering and social science to improve natural hazard resilience.
Improving resilience to natural hazards requires robust engineering solutions as well as an understanding of how communities perceive risks and the measures intended to reduce them. Catalina's research brings structural engineering and social science together, with a focus on timber-framed homes and the people who live in them.
She shared insights from recent and ongoing projects addressing both the engineering and social dimensions of resilience. These included homeowners' expectations of seismic building performance; Aotearoa New Zealand guidance on communicating seismic risk; seismic-risk training for Licensed Building Practitioners; and multi-hazard strengthening of timber-framed houses. This work will help inform future guidance on earthquake and flood preparedness.
The presentation highlighted the opportunities and challenges of multidisciplinary research in advancing natural-hazard resilience in both research and professional practice.
Speaker bio
View Dr. Catalina Miranda Munoz's Massey University profile
Catalina Miranda is a Lecturer at the Joint Centre for Disaster Research at Massey University in Aotearoa New Zealand. After four years working in industry as a structural engineer in Chile, she completed a PhD in Civil Engineering at the University of Auckland, investigating how engineering and social science can be brought together to improve community resilience.
Her work has contributed to national initiatives including the Seismic Risk Resource for Commercial Building Tenants for the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), and BRANZ guidance for professionals communicating seismic-risk information with tenants. She is also part of the ResOrg/JCDR team supporting MBIE's review of the earthquake-prone building system and contributes to projects under Te Hiranga Rū QuakeCoRE.
Catalina has received several awards, including the Best Thesis in Civil Engineering award from the University of Concepción in 2014, the New Zealand Society in Earthquake Engineering Best Research Paper award in 2023, and the NZSEE / QuakeCoRE Emerging Women Leaders in Earthquake Engineering Award in 2025.