Scott Hanson-Easey

Dr Scott Hanson-Easey

Senior Lecturer

School of Public Health

Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.

I am a senior lecturer in the School of Public Health with a cross-cutting interest in how individuals and diverse communities make sense of and respond to health risks and natural hazards. This research aims to inform health communication interventions from government and non-government stakeholders.

I work in a cross- disciplinary academic environment and publish broadly with colleagues in fields such as epidemiology, disaster management, science communication, psychology, occupational and environmental health, social policy, disaster risk reduction, risk perception and discursive psychology. I have published over 60 academic journal articles and book chapters.

My most recent research focuses on how risk communication efforts could better address cultural, economic, social, structural, and discursive factors operating in different settings. When working with diverse communities, I utilise a community-based participatory research (CBPR) paradigm. This research has been used to develop a communication framework, guiding emergency service agencies in the process of designing risk and emergency messages with Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities across Australia. This research paradigm uses a ‘strength-based’ approach that treats communities themselves as the experts in understanding their own communication needs. Findings from these projects highlight the need to genuinely involve CALD, and other underrepresented communities, in evaluating and developing emergency and disaster messaging in collaboration emergency management agencies.

In addition to this research, I was Manager of NCCARF's Vulnerable Communities Adaptation Network (VCN), hosted by the School of Public Health at the University of Adelaide. The Network aimed to strengthen Australia's research capacity in this vital area and augment understanding of how climate change will impact on the nation's most vulnerable groups, and how these impacts can be mitigated.

My research interests are in health and natural hazards risk perception and communication. Recent research is aimed at better understanding and enhancing the process of natural disaster and emergency risk communication between emergency management (EM), health agencies, and the public. I am interested in how risk communication efforts could better address cultural, social, economic, and discursive contexts in which people live. To this end, my work utilises a social justice perspective, community-based participatory research (CBPR) paradigm, bringing together community, government and community service organisations to co-design risk messages that reflect and resonate with people's 'lived experiences'. I work closely with EM and diverse communities, including Australians with a refugee background and those living with social and economic challenges. My conviction is that the efficacy of natural hazards risk communication is significantly enhanced when target audiences have a genuine and meaningful opportunity to contribute to the development of interventions.   

I use a range of theoretical and methodological approaches to collecting and analysing social problems, including qualitative and quantitative methods. 

I have published over 60 academic articles, reports for industry, and book chapters. My research has been published in peer reviewed academic journals including, Science Communication, Discourse and Society, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, International Journal of Drug Policy, Journal of Sociolinguistics, Qualitative Health Research, and Psychology and Health. I have recently contributed a chapter, with Professor Martha Augoustinos, to Collecting Qualitative Data: A Practical Guide to Textual, Media and Virtual Techniques, edited by Victoria Clarke and Virginia Braun.

Cat 1.:

0001038698: ARC Discovery Projects: Occupational injury prevention in high-temperature environments;
Years: 2016-2018; Pisaniello, Dino Luigi; Bi, Peng; Barnett, Adrian; Sim, Malcolm R; Heyworth, J S; Hanson-Easey, Scott Alen;
Rowett, Shelley; Nitschke, Monika;
TOTAL AMOUNT AWARDED: $295,156; Administered by UofA

Cat 2-4: 

0001038505: National Emergency Management Project: Developing bushfire and heatwave information resources with CALD
communities; Years: 2015-2016; Bi, Peng; Hanson-Easey, Scott Alen; Hansen, Alana Lee; Williams, Susan Gay; Nitschke, Monika; Cannadine,
Mark; Beattie, Chris; TOTAL AMOUNT AWARDED: $145,000; Administered by UofA

0001039929: National Emergency Management Project: National Extreme Heat Warnings: Investigating regional temperature triggers
and responses; Years: 2015-2016; Bi, Peng; Williams, Susan Gay; Hansen, Alana Lee; Hanson-Easey, Scott Alen; Nitschke, Monika; Weinstein,
Philip; Beattie, Chris; Nairn, John;
TOTAL AMOUNT AWARDED: $170,000; Administered by UofA

0001038435: NCCARF Research Network: Climate Change Adaption Research Network (Vulnerable communities including human health);
Years: 2015-2017; Bi, Peng; Hansen, Alana Lee; Williams, Susan Gay; Hanson-Easey, Scott Alen; Pisaniello, Dino Luigi; Weinstein, Philip; Tan, Yan; Nitschke, Monika; Boland, John;
Han, Gil-Soo; Loughnan, Margaret; Nursey-Bray, Melissa Jane; Black, Deborah; Zhang, Ying; Wilson, Leigh; Davies, Amanda; Reeves, Jim; Tong, Shilu; Berry, Helen Louise; TOTAL AMOUNT AWARDED: $375,000; Administered by UofA

I am Master of Public Health (MPH) Program Coordinator

Course Coordinator, Reflect, Research, and Resolve.

  • Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2021 Co-Supervisor Food Security and Public Health Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Tjing Shaeny Dian Chandra

  • Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2018 - 2022 Principal Supervisor Climate Change and Childhood Diarrhoea in Kathmandu, Nepal: A Health Risk Assessment and Exploration of Surveillance Capacity Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Dinesh Bhandari
    2016 - 2018 Co-Supervisor Negotiating the Social Consequences of Stopping or Reducing Alcohol Consumption Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Ashlea Jade Bartram
    2014 - 2017 Co-Supervisor Health Professionals' Perceptions of Dengue Fever, Malaria and Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome in the Face of Climate Change in China Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Michael Tong

  • Presentation
    Date Topic Presented at Institution Country
    2023 - 2023 Pathophysiology of extreme heat Planetary Health workshop The University of Adelaide Australia
  • Position: Senior Lecturer
  • Phone: 83130160
  • Email: scott.hanson-easey@adelaide.edu.au
  • Fax: 83136885
  • Campus: North Terrace
  • Building: Rundle Mall Plaza, floor 4
  • Org Unit: Public Health
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