Dr Timothy Heffernan

Dr Heffernan specialises in disaster and crisis management in Australia and the Nordics.

His research explores how regional communities experience and navigate disasters and build recovery, with a particular focus on marginalised groups often excluded from decision-making. He has worked with regional communities to build models to support community-led disaster management initiatives so that marginalised voices are heard. He has also worked in teams to gather data on mental health and wellbeing after disaster, with a focus on trauma and post-traumatic growth. His work has also examined the roles of social capital and kinship in building recovery and planning for post-crisis futures. Dr Heffernan has conducted community facing interview research in Australia and Europe, including studies with regional communities after the 2019-20 Australian bushfires, 2022 East Coast Australian floods and, prior to this, the 2008 global financial crisis.

Dr Heffernan has published widely on disaster governance, community health and connectivity and just recovery and has contributed to public policy discussions on community-led crisis responses. His research has informed national and international conversations about the intersection of crisis, policy, recovery journeys and social justice. To this end, his research has been funded by the National Health and Medicine Research Council (NHMRC) and the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI).

He has been interviewed by major radio and print media outlets and regularly provides commentary on disaster recovery, crisis management, and planned relocation.