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Pojanath
Bhatanacharoen
Pojanath is a political scientist by training
but a management researcher by trade. She is
a postdoctoral researcher on Work Package 4
of the Tipping Points project, which explores
how innovative ideas spread. Working on the
premise that social realities are constructed
through language, this part of the project
looks at how ideas, buzzwords and concepts
diffuse in different contexts. Notably,
Pojanath has been investigating the origins
of the term ‘tipping point’ and the process in
which it became popularized and entered our
everyday usage. True to the interdisciplinary
nature of the project, Pojanath’s other current
research covers a wide range of topics in
the area of diffusion of innovation as well as
persuasive communication, from the spread
and usage of the term ‘tipping point’ in
climate change and corporate crisis contexts
to management fashion and management
gurus. Her work on management gurus aims
at understanding how a group of knowledge
entrepreneurs have played a critical role
in producing and disseminating new
management techniques and ideas which,
according to many commentators, lead to
organizational changes.
Graham
Coates
GRAHAM is an engineer with a PhD in
computational engineering design. He is a
Senior Lecturer in the School of Engineering
and Computing Sciences at Durham
University. His recent research focuses
on emergency management in designing
computer simulations for major emergency
incidents in the UK in order to adequately
manage and plan for these events before they
occur. The EPSRC-funded REScUE project,
on which Graham is Principal Investigator,
uses agent-based simulation coupled with
optimisation-based decision support to enable
coordinated emergency response.
Agents are used to represent emergency
responders, such as firefighters whose
behaviour is defined by standard operating
procedures, operating within a geographical
environment. Simulating exercises to test
plans for different kinds of emergency
scenarios, assists authorities in developing
preparedness at a local level. Research
by Graham and colleagues can help local
authorities study strategies for addressing
emergency events and improve upon current
emergency planning.
Lena
Dominelli
Professor Lena Dominelli is a Co-Director
of IHRR, leading the Institute’s vulnerability
and resilience programme of research. Lena
has been involved with numerous projects
in IHRR, including Built Infrastructure for
Older People’s Care in Conditions of Climate
Change (BIOPICCC). She is a sociologist,
social worker and community development
worker, widely known for her contributions
to social work education and social science
research that has actively engaged with
the needs of local communities.
She has led influential international research
projects such as Durham University’s ESRC
Research Project Sri Lanka. Capacity
building in social work education in the
tertiary sector was one offshoot of this
research into the immediate and long-term
consequences of the 2004 Indian Ocean
Tsunami. Additionally, the Durham University
Project Sri Lanka that formed part of the
ESRC study has now evolved into a registered
charity dedicated to assisting communities
in Sri Lanka with long-term reconstruction