Assistant Professor in Engineering, Environment and Sustainable Development at the Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge

Kristen MacAskill is a civil engineer by training, with an interest in how resilience and sustainability concepts can be applied in decision making associated with the planning and design of infrastructure projects.

She has a particular interest in post-disaster reconstruction, where there is a perceived opportunity to implement change in infrastructure systems that would not otherwise be possible in a business-as-usual urban development situation.

The intention of Kristen’s research is to improve the ability of engineers and other key decision-makers to deliver reconstruction projects that address both immediate and long-term infrastructure needs. This research could also contribute to our overall understanding of how to better integrate sustainability and resilience principles into engineering decisions and planning decisions in which engineers could play a more significant role.

Kristen holds an MPhil and a PhD from the University of Cambridge, and a BEng and MEM from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. She has previously worked as a consulting engineer for water and transport. She decided to undertake a PhD after her home city of Christchurch was hit by the 2001 New Zealand earthquake. Her work on reconstructing the city led to her PhD examining decision-making by engineers, politicians and other professionals in post-earthquake recovery.