Dr Lassa’s doctoral research has been one of the first systematic studies on disaster governance, looking at institutions and governance practice in disaster reduction among the nations of the world.
He recently conducted a global assessment of political will on disaster risk reduction using a quantitative approach.
His research focuses on:
- the questions around how society and governments generate political will that leads to policy reform and change
- understanding how governments around the globe mainstream and sustain resilience and adaptation to climatic change.
He recently developed a concept of utopiability which allows him to understand how government officials, private sectors and civil society dream of a resilient future.
Dr Lassa focuses on South-East Asia and the Pacific.
He welcomes students who are interested in:
- crisis leadership and crisis communication in Asia Pacific and Australia
- governing fire in Indonesia
- environmental migration and human trafficking
- social exclusion and disaster risk
- long term observation of community-based disaster management and climate adaptation practices in different parts of the world
- early warning systems
- disaster decentralization in Asia
- humanitarian ecosystems
- food system and agricultural adaptation policy
- natural hazards and cultural change
- object-oriented ontology and critical disaster studies.