Christina Magill is currently working on a PhD project involving volcanic loss modelling for the Auckland Region, New Zealand. Early stages of the project included development of a methodology for ranking volcanic hazards in terms of risk, which has been applied to Auckland. Scenarios have been developed for eruptions impacting the Region from the Auckland volcanic field, Tuhua volcano, Okataina volcanic centre, Taupo volcano, Tongariro volcanic centre and Taranaki volcano. Future work will involve physical modelling of the volcanic hazards posing the largest risk, a vulnerability assessment of Auckland buildings and population and potential loss calculations.

Sandra Schuster's PhD concerns hail in the southeastern Australia . The first part of her project has resulted in of an updated hailstorm climatology and analysis of its seasonal, diurnal and geographical attributes. Information like this seeks to improve hail risk assessments and assist insurance companies in determining appropriate premiums. Moreover, the climatological record creates a benchmark against which possible changes in hailstorm frequency and intensity due to Global Climate Change can be assessed.

In an companion study, Sandra is also looking at the potential use of weather radar to estimate hail damage to buildings . She is comparing radar-derived hail intensities to the resulting damage on ground (“hailswath”) as measured in the form of insurance claims and calls for assistance of the State Emergency Services. If useful correlations can be established, the radar images may provide an early warning system for event losses.

Brian Ashe's PhD concerns the hazard of fire . Fire is a significant hazard to people, property, infrastructure and the environment. In economic terms, the total cost of fire has been estimated to approach 1% of GDP in countries of the developed world. The challenge is to manage the risk from fire with limited resources.

This research will consider the hazard of fire in an holistic manner, using a systems approach. The research seeks to provide a decision support tool for use by various decision-makers, with the objective of managing the risk from fire in a cost effective manner.

Susanna Jenkins' PhD project is concerned with probabilistically modelling the risk associated with explosive multi-phase volcanic eruptions.

The study will develop and implement a probabilistic volcanic risk assessment framework, with particular recognition of the expected multi-phase nature of future eruption scenarios.

The probabilistic approach allows uncertainties, intrinsic to any volcanic system, to be incorporated. The framework will use an event tree structure within modules; each signifying major components and dynamics of the hazard and risk. Each node of the event tree allows increasingly more specific outcomes to be considered, leading to a model fully cognisant of the probable risk.

The model will be generic and applicable to urban areas at risk from volcanic eruptions.