Rhiannon Hawkins

Rhiannon (she/her) is a UK based second year PhD researcher at the University of Glasgow with her thesis exploring the impacts of climate change on Scottish community mental health, in areas prone to flooding and drought.

She also works as a research assistant at UCL's Warning Research Centre where she has developed a novel tool called: the Mental Health Vulnerability Index (MHVI), which aims to measure population susceptibility to mental illness during climatic hazards. The MHVI has garnered attention from researchers and policy makers at the WHO, Public Health Scotland and the UK's Health Security Agency. Additionally, she has also worked on examining the impacts of hazards on persons with disabilities mental health and well-being.

Furthermore, Rhiannon is currently the EDI lead for a Centre of Expertise for Waters (CREW) funded, Scottish Government endorsed, project entitled "Household flood plans in Scotland – applying behavioural learnings to inform best practice and uptake". The project aims to create an easy read household flood plan template for persons with disabilities, to aid preparedness for flood events.

Beyond her research interests in the area of climate change and health, she is a Patient Advocate the Royal College of Psychiatrists and has worked projects for the college in the areas of Climate Anxiety and Autism. This has led to her being involved in developing the National Autism Training Programme for higher Clinical trainees funded by NHS England. In this role she has also written two sole author papers on climate anxiety and autism.

Rhiannon also holds a BA in Geography from the University of Oxford and an MSc in Earth Futures Research from the University of Glasgow. Her PhD research is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).