Dr Namrata Bhattacharya-mis
Associate Professor
Biography
Dr Namrata Bhattacharya Mis is an Associate Professor (Disaster Risk and Resilience) in Geography and Environment in the Faculty of Social Science at University of Chester. She is the programme leader for the Natural Hazard Management course. She contributes to a number of Geography, Natural Hazard management and Research Design modules. She supervises Doctoral students and is keen to accept self funded students interested in disaster management, with a focus on flood risk reduction, community engagement, and inclusive solution design at grassroot level. Her research bridges geography, technology, and social equity, emphasizing the co-creation of nature-based solutions with flood-affected vulnerable communities. She has led interdisciplinary projects that integrate innovative technologies—such as early warning systems and digital mapping tools—with grassroots knowledge to enhance resilience in flood-prone regions. Dr. Bhattacharya-Mis is particularly known for her work on participatory approaches to disaster preparedness, ensuring that local voices shape the design and implementation of risk reduction strategies. Her collaborations span both nationally and internationally across academic institutions, NGOs, disaster management organisations and local governments. She regularly engages with students and practitioners across geography, civil engineering, and environmental sciences, fostering cross-sector dialogue and capacity building. Dr Namrata is the Co-Chair of the University Race Equality And Cultural Heritage (REACH) Group. She is passionate about enhancing equality and diversity in HE. Her other most recent positions include Chair and advisor of the Ethics Committee (within Geography and Environment).
Teaching and Supervision
Namrata is an experienced lecturer, having taught Geography, International Development Studies and Natural Hazard Management over a number of years. Her more recent focus on teaching is use of innovative technology to enhance inclusion in disaster management. She contributes towards teaching and supervision of Under Graduate and Post Graduate Degree modules. She is currently supervising two PhD students.
Research and Knowledge Exchange
Namrata's research interest is positioned at the intersection of physical geography, human geography and development studies. She aims to understand the complexities of coupled human nature interaction with special reference to disasters. Namrata is a Geographer by training with interest in multidisciplinary research, she is particularly engaged in the understanding and managing the consequence of water extremes and the vulnerabilities of the dynamic socio-economic systems. Her most recent works involves community led knowledge cocreation and participatory research concerning flood risk management. Namrata has experience of working with multidisciplinary teams on research projects focusing on topics including (but not exhaustive): understanding risk perception and memory through social-hydrology; adaptation of urban infrastructure to enhance climate resilience in the global south; exploring the effects of temporal clustering of flood events on natural built and socio-economic systems to identify critical vulnerabilities; use of technology and nature based solutions to enhance flood resilience.