Dr Diana Contreras Mojica

(she/her)

BSc, MSc, PhD FHEA

Publication

• Date
• Type

Research

Projects 

§  Reduce gender disparity in STEM from kindergarten to Professional life. This project aims to learn from education models implemented since infancy to counteract traditional gender roles and others focused on attracting women already working in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to consolidate their positions as independent researchers in the academy. Additional information: https://research-sites.cardiff.ac.uk/reducing-gender-disparity-in-higher-education/

§  ‘Reducing Gender Disparity in Higher Education in Science and Engineering from Highschool to Higher Education’ (GDSE). This project aims to investigate and mitigate gender disparity in science and engineering and to foster gender equality as part of Egypt's Vision 2030.  The work will involve knowledge transfer workshops, mentorship programmes and community outreach focussed on educating people about the importance of gender equality and its broader societal benefits.  The ultimate goal is to help to dismantle stereotypes that discourage female participation in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Additional information: https://research-sites.cardiff.ac.uk/reducing-gender-disparity-in-higher-education/

§  e-MindGuard pilot survey. This project aimed to pilot a survey among young adults to collect the essential data to tailor the eMindGuard app, a holistic mental health assessment app, to the needs of the target population. The planned survey needed to be piloted to ensure that we use the right tool to collect the data, measure the time needed to complete the survey and confirm that the audience understands the instructions and questions. This project involved to conduct two workshops, one in Cardiff and another one in Chicago. 

§  ‘Does the use of private clinics for elective procedures reduce or accentuate health inequalities? An exploratory qualitative and spatial study’. This project will explore how the NHS's use of private clinics can be optimised not to perpetuate health inequalities, focusing on access and person-centred care. The relationships between deprivation levels and relative distances to and catchment or service areas of NHS and private healthcare providers will be analysed, contrasting the GW4 region of Wales and the Southwest with London and the Southeast. This research study aims to determine whether, once within a clinic, everyone has the same opportunities for person-centred care, thereby helping them achieve the best possible health outcomes.

§  Learning the Narratives and Expectations of Health and Care Needs for LGBTQ+ Older People. This project aims to explore the experiences, perceptions and expectations of LGBTQ+ people regarding ageing and related health needs. This will be achieved through two community engagement events, one in Cardiff and one in Exeter. Using various creative methodologies within the engagement events, we will bring together older LGBTQ+ people to scope out their expectations, needs and experiences related to ageing and health and social care.

§  eMindGuard: A Holistic Mental Health Assessment App Integrating Social Media, Environmental, and Locational Data for Precision Well-Being. In our digitally interconnected world, the merging of mental health and technology has given rise to innovative solutions aimed at monitoring and enhancing overall well-being. This project introduces an innovative mental health assessment app tailored to the preferences of young adults (18 to 26 years), including college students, who frequently use mobile phones and social media platforms. This app harnesses the potential of social media data, environmental factors and geospatial information to offer a comprehensive evaluation of an individual's mental health vulnerability. Additional information at: https://illinoisdpi.github.io/eMindGuard/index.html

§  Learning from Earthquakes: Building Resilient Communities through Earthquake Reconnaissance, Response and Recovery. Faculty of Science, Agriculture and Engineering, School of Engineering, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom (2016-2023). Project funded by Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSR). Reference: EP/N034899/1. This project aimed to improve the understanding of earthquake impacts, response and recovery through targeted data gathering in earthquake reconnaissance missions and, through associated research, to better collect, interpret, exploit and disseminate this data. The project was a consortium of Newcastle University, University College of London (UCL) and University of Cambridge and partners from the public and private sector. The partners include governmental institutions, NGOs, risk modellers, engineering consultants, research centres, international Universities and the World Bank (WB). Additional information: https://research.ncl.ac.uk/learningfromearthquakes/

§  Social vulnerability to natural hazards and dependence to urban critical infrastructure: a spatial model for the healthcare system in Santiago, Chile. To develop, apply and validate a spatial model that integrates social vulnerability and dependency of critical infrastructure such as the health care system in urban environments during disasters.

§  Climate change adaptation (CCA), water resource management and disaster risk reduction (DRR) in La Guajira, Colombia. Caritas Switzerland planned to strengthen its project portfolio and expand its regional focus to la Guajira, Colombia along with the nexus of climate change adaptation (CCA), water resource management and disaster risk reduction (DRR) to strengthen the rural population's adaptive capacities, claim their rights for water, food and promote civil participation. Additional information at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wP3u8ht8gI4

§  Assessing and Mitigating Earthquake Risk in the Caribbean and Central America (CCARA). Global Earthquake Model (GEM) Foundation, Pavia, Italy (2016 – 2018). The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Award No. AID-OFDA-G-16-00149. The project had the aim to improve the understanding of earthquake hazard and risk in Central America and the Caribbean and, in the process, develop local capacities to promote sustainability of the efforts initiated by the programme. To promote the utilisation and application of the results and information generated by the project. 

§  Community Resilience to Disaster: 'Disaster management and resilience in electric power systems'. Alliance Manchester Business School/ The University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom (2016-2017). Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSR). Reference: EP/N034899/1. This project undertook holistic risk analyses associated with natural hazards on electricity networks along with identification of mitigation and adaptation measures to manage the arising disasters. This holistic perspective of disaster management and resilience was supported by the development of mathematical models to firstly assess risks related to high impacts low probability events, such as earthquakes and tsunamis, on the electric power systems. These models served to identify an optimal portfolio of preventive and corrective measures that can support the mitigation of impacts and compare different adaptation strategies. Besides classical infrastructure reinforcement, it was assessed how operational measures for disaster management could provide system resilience. 

§  Earth Observation for monitoring and assessment of the environmental impact of energy use (ENERGEO). The main objective of the EnerGEO project was to develop a global observation strategy for monitoring and prediction of the impact of the exploitation of energy resources on the environment and to demonstrate this strategy for a variety of energy resources. Department of Geoinformatics Z_GIS/University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria (2009-2013). This project received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development, and demonstration under grant agreement no 226364. Additional information at: https://www.copernicus.eu/en/documentation/research-projects/earth-observation-monitoring-and-assessment-environmental-impact

§  Methods for the Improvement of Vulnerability Assessment in Europe (MOVE) project. Department of Geoinformatics Z_GIS/University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria (2009 –2011). This project received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme, Grant Agreement Number 211590, FP7-ENV-2007-1. Additional information at: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/211590/reporting

§  Implementation of preparedness, building capacity of emergency response teams and optimisation of emergency response in Bogotá DC, Colombia. Institute of Risk Management and Climate Change (IDIGER) in Bogota DC, Colombia (2001–2005). The main goal of this project was to reduce the vulnerability of Bogota DC, Colombia, to critical events.

Teaching

I have been a Lecturer in Geospatial Science at the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences in the College of Physical Sciences and Engineering since 2021. I lead the module: Geographic Information Systems (GIS), maps and analytical skills (EA1303), including remote sensing (RS), geography, geosciences, and geostatistics. I teach GIS in the autumn semester for year-one (Y1)  students of physical geography, environmental geography, geosciences, geology and marine geography using ArcGIS Pro. I am Lecturer for the Master's program (MSC) in Environmental Hazards on the Risk Assessment module (EAT406): ‘Exposure and vulnerability', ‘Physical vulnerability’ and 'Social vulnerability'. I also teach: ‘Communication, hazard and risk’ and ‘Tools and technologies for risk mapping’ for the year-three (Y3) students on the module: Hazard, risk and Resilience (EA3327).

I am also an advisor on GIS analysis for the dissertation of bachelor students in the courses previously mentioned. I supervise Bachelor and Master dissertations and support the organisation and implementation of Y1 and Y2 fieldwork in Geography (EA1305 Geography field skills). I am also a tutor for Y1, Y2 and Y3 students. Previously I was a guest lecturer at the University of Valparaiso (Chile), Technical University of Kenya,  King's College London (United Kingdom), Newcastle University (UK) and Salzburg University (Austria). Between 2012 and 2017, I was an online Lecturer at UNIGIS Latin America a Master's program in  GIS taught jointly by the University of Salzburg and the University San Francisco de Quito (Ecuador). I taught the module: GIS, maps and analytical skills. 

Biography

I have been a Lecturer in Geospatial Science at the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences in the College of Physical Sciences and Engineering since 2021. I am the Chairman of the Ethics Committee at the same school. I am in charge of teaching the GIS, maps, and analytical skills module. I was Vice-chairman of the Earthquake Engineering Field Investigation Team (EEFIT) between 2022 and 2023,  previously leading the sub-committee on Training.  I was a visiting researcher at Newcastle University between 2021 and 2024, where I previously held the position of Research Associate for the project: 'Learning from earthquakes: building resilient communities through earthquake reconnaissance, response and recovery' (LfE) UK.

Between 2018 and 2019, I worked at the Research Centre for Integrated Disaster Risk Management (CIGIDEN) in Santiago (Chile). In this period, I worked on the project: 'Social vulnerability to natural hazards and dependence to critical urban infrastructure: a spatial model for the healthcare system in Santiago, Chile'. In the same year, I was an external consultant for CARITAS Switzerland for the Climate change adaptation (CCA), food (in)security, water resource management and disaster risk reduction (DRR) project in La Guajira, Colombia. After completed my Doctoral studies, I worked as Team Leader of the Social Vulnerability and Resilience (SVR) group at the Global Earthquake Model (GEM) Foundation in Pavia (Italy). Parallel to my doctoral studies, I worked at the Interfaculty Department for Geoinformatics Z_GIS from the University of Salzburg (Austria) in MOVE, a project to improve the methods for the vulnerability assessment to natural hazards in Europe based on indicators. When the project finished, I started working for UNIGIS Latin America (an online Master's program in GIS run jointly by the University of Salzburg and la Universidad San Francisco de Quito - Ecuador), teaching the module: 'GIS, risk and disasters'. In Colombia, I worked at the Institute of Risk Management and Climate Change (IDIGER) as a Project manager assistant of preparedness, emergency response and disaster prevention.

I am a Doctor (PhD) in Natural Sciences – Applied Geoinformatics from the University of Salzburg (Austria). Before starting my doctoral studies, I completed a Master of Science in Geoinformation Science and Earth Observation, Specialisation: Urban Planning and Management at the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) at the University of Twente in The Netherlands. I received a Graduate Diploma in the Evaluation of Risk and Disaster Prevention offered by the Universidad de Los Andes (Colombia). My Bachelor's degree in Architecture was awarded by la Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

Honours and awards

• Selected as participant in the GW4 Crucible 2024 programme: Tackling health inequalities and driving social justice through radical interdisciplinarity. Additional information at: https://gw4.ac.uk/news/future-research-leaders-selected-to-tackle-health-inequalities-through-radical-interdisciplinarity/
• Finalist in the WMO2020 Calendar Competition of photography organised by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) with the picture entitled: La Laguna Azul, en la Cordillera Blanca” (Translated title: The blue lake on the white mountains) taken during fieldwork in the Paron, Lake in Peru.
• First place in the competition ‘Best Poster Award IDRC Davos 2016’ with the poster entitled: ’Disaster Management and Resilience in Electric Power Systems: The case of Chile’. 6th International Disaster and Risk Conference IDRC Davos 2016. Davos, Switzerland.
• Open access fees award ‘Resilience Academy 2013-2014’ to the manuscript: Tellman, B., Alaniz, R., Rivera, A. and Contreras, D. (2014). Violence as an obstacle to livelihood resilience in the context of climate change. Awarded by UNU-EHS.
• Attended as the Latino-American representative (on scholarship) in the 2nd International Training Workshop on Space Technology for Disaster Mitigation hosted by the Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth (RADI), the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS), and the Centre on Space Technology for Disaster Mitigation (SDIM). Beijing (China).
• Attended (on scholarship) the Bangladesh (2013) and Germany (2014) sessions of the Resilience Academy, on the theme of Livelihood Resilience, hosted by Unit UNU-EHS, ICCCAD and the MRF. Dhaka (Bangladesh) and Munich (Germany).
• Awarded with the One World Scholarship (OWS) - Programme de Bourse Universelle 2012-2013, granted for the Afro-Asian Institute Salzburg (AAI) – Salzburg (Austria).
• A beneficiary of the program ‘Credito-Beca Colfuturo 2012’ (Translated title: loan - scholarship Colfuturo 2012), granted for COLFUTURO foundation.
• Second place in the competition ‘Best Poster Award - DK symposium 2012’ with the poster entitled: ‘Spatial indicators of a recovery process after earthquakes: The case of L’Aquila (Italy)’. The University of Salzburg. Salzburg, Austria.
• Winners of the international student essay competition 2010, sponsored by the Centre for rebuilding sustainable communities after disasters (CRSCAD), University of Massachusetts (UMASS) with the essay: “GIS in the vulnerability assessment and recovery process in a community with elderly and disable people after a disaster”. Boston (USA).
• Second Place in the ‘2009 URISA Student Paper Competition’ with the paper entitled: ‘Designing a spatial planning support system for rapid building damage survey after an earthquake: The case of Bogota DC, Colombia”. Anaheim (USA)’.
• Awarded with the Joint Japan/World Bank Graduate Scholarship Program (JJ/WBGSP) 2007.
• Awarded with Faculty Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) scholarship to attend the 18-month M.Sc. in Geo-information Science and Earth Observation; Specialisation: Urban Planning and Management.
• Merit decoration ‘Cacique Teusacá’ granted by the District Mayor of Teusaquillo (Bogotá DC- Colombia) for outstanding participation in the control of public order in providing security and support to the public in the jurisdiction; Bogota DC, July 29, 2005.
• Acknowledgement for ‘the support in the design of the Master Plan for facilities of security, defence and justice in the City-Region’, by the Secretary of Public Affairs about coexistence in the city, of the Mayor in Bogotá, December 31, 2003. Bogotá DC (Colombia).
• Acknowledgement for ‘the commitment, effort and dedication in the planning activities of the simulation of emergency response in collapsed structures (search and rescue)’, by the Mayor in Bogotá DC; October 17, 18 and 19, 2003. Bogotá DC (Colombia).
• Granted Meritorious Mention by the Faculty Council of the Faculty of Arts of the National University of Colombia, for my Bachelor thesis: ‘Assistance coordination centre for disaster management for Bogota D.C.- Colombia’. August 2001.

Professional memberships

• The Disaster Recovery Institute International (DRI) - Associate Business Continuity Professional (ABCP)
• The Resilience Academy  United Nations University - Institute for Environmental and Human Security (UNU-EHS), International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) and the Munich Re Foundation (MRF).

Academic positions

• 2021 - present: Lecturer, Cardiff University, United Kingdom (UK).
• 2019 - 2021: Research Associate at Newcastle University, United Kingdom (UK).
• 2018 - 2019: Postdoctoral Researcher at the Research Centre for Integrated Disaster Risk Management (CIGIDEN), Chile.
• 2012 - 2017: Master thesis supervisor and online Lecturer at Unigis Latin America (University of Salzburg - Universidad San Francisco de Quito), Austria.
• 2015 - 2016: Deputy/Interim Master Thesis Coordinator at Unigis Latin America (University of Salzburg - Universidad San Francisco de Quito), Austria.
• 2009 - 2011: Research Assistant at the University of Salzburg, Austria.

Speaking engagements

§   'Women and Climate Change: Wayuu Women in La Guajira, Colombia'. Keynote speech at the 1st International Conference on Climate Change Action: Challenges and solutions, organised by Salahaddin University-Erbil. Erbil,  Iraq – Kurdistan Region. The 8^th April 2025.

§  ‘Social media and Recovery after Earthquakes’. Presented at the Wyeside Arts Centre in Builth Wells, Wales, United Kingdom. 24th January 2023.

§  ‘Ongoing post-disaster recovery assessment analysing social media data’. 2015 Gorkha earthquake. Presented at the workshop on Nepal Earthquake Recovery and Reconstruction. London, United Kingdom. 13th September 2022.

§  ‘Earthquake reconnaissance using social media and crowdsourcing platforms’. Presented at the Risk Summer School organised by the Risk Institute of Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA). Grenoble, France. 31st August 2022.

§  ‘Post-disaster recovery assessment analysing social media data 2015 Gorkha earthquake. Nepal Earthquake Recovery and Reconstruction’. Presented on-line at the International Colloquium on Translational Engineering and Research (ICTER) 2022.Kerala, India. 28th May 2022.

§  ‘Ongoing post-disaster recovery assessment analysing social media data. 2015 Gorkha earthquake’. Presented at the workshop on Nepal Earthquake Recovery and Reconstruction. Kathmandu, Nepal. 23rd May 2022.

§  ‘Earthquake reconnaissance using social media and crowdsourcing platforms’. Presented at the Tools and methods for post-disaster reconnaissance missions, London, United Kingdom. 20th October 2021.

§  ‘The role of social media and crowdsourcing platforms for emergency response and post-disaster recovery assessment’. Presentation at the Virtual capacity building workshop on regional spatial data infrastructure (SDI) for ECO countries Islamabad, Pakistan. 13th September 2021.

§  Social Media in Emergency Management and Post-disaster Recovery. The cases of Albania, Zagreb, L'Aquila, Haiti and Chile. Keynote speech at the International Conference on Science in Engineering and Technology (ICoSiET) 2020, Palu, Indonesia. The 21^st October 2020.

§  ‘Participatory assessment of climate change impact and coping strategies in La Guajira, Colombia. The case of Camarones, township’. School of Geography – King's College of London (KCL). 20th October 2021.

§  ‘El rol de las redes sociales en la respuesta a emergencia y la recuperación post-desastre’ (translated title: ‘The role of social media in emergency response and post-disaster recovery’). School of Engineering – Universidad de Valparaiso (Chile). 1st July 2021.

§  GIS and the fight against the drought in the Global South. Keynote speech at the Technical University of Kenya (TUK) GIS day 2020. Nairoby, Kenya. The 18^th November 2020.

§  ‘Indicadores Espaciales de la Recuperación después de un Terremoto: (Translated Title: Spatial Indicators of Recovery after Earthquakes)’ MundoGEO & UNIGIS. 2014.

Committees and reviewing

• Member of the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB)  of the Risk Institute at Université Grenoble Alpes in Grenoble, France.

• Jury member Master of Science in Spatial Engineering dissertation. Guimbatan-Fadgyas, R. (2021). Indigenous Toponyms in Landslide Hazard Mapping for Land Use and Infrastructure Planning. Twente University.
• Jury member at the 9th i-Rec student competition – IATROGENESIS Disrupting the status quo: Resisting disaster risk creation.
• Scientific & Practitioner Committee member at I-REC 2019 Conference. Disrupting the status quo: Reconstruction, recovery and resisting disaster risk creation.
• Grant reviewer, Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), 2019.
• Jury member for PhD examinations at the Nigel Priestley Seminar 2018   https://www.eucentre.it/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Nigel-Priestley-Seminar-2018.pdf
• Journal reviewer

  §  Applied Sciences

  §  Applied Computing and Informatics

  §  Bulleting of Earthquake Engineering

  §  Bulletin of the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering

  §  Cartography and Geographic Information Science (CaGIS)

  §  Climate Risk Management

  §  Disasters

  §  Disaster Prevention and Management (DPM)

  §  Earthquake Spectra

  §  Economics of disasters and climate change

  §  Georisk: Assessment and Management of Risk for Engineered Systems and Geohazards

  §  Geosciences Journal

  §  Ingenieria

  §  International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction (IJDRR)

  §  International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH)

  §  Journal of Progress in Disaster Science

  §  Journal of Hydrology

  §  Natural Hazards (NatHaz)

  §  Public administration

  §  Remote Sensing

  §  Scientific reports

  §  Social Sciences

  §  Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure

  §  Technological Forecasting and Social Change (TFSC)

  §  Water

  §  Transactions in GIS

Supervisions

I am interested in supervising PhD students in research projects with a spatial component in the topics of :

• Preparedness for emergency response (e.g. spatial allocation of temporary shelters, evacuation routes planning, and so forth).
• Exposure and vulnerability assessment
• Risk assessment
• Post-disaster recovery assessment
• Data mining: sentiment and topic analysis
• Health inequality and social justice
• Equality, diversity and inclusion 

PhD Co-supervision

Aashly V S (2029). An integrated approach for assessing exposure and vulnerability to urban floods: Exploring potential transport-led strategies in Delhi. (PhD). Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Delhi, India.