Simon has a background in psychology and natural resource policy, with particular expertise in understanding how people respond to natural hazards, biosecurity incursions and other environmental threats. He has been working on wildfire since 2018, including qualitative case studies of community wildfire risk reduction and preparedness, media analysis of post-fire discourse, quantitative surveys of risk perception and mitigation action, and spatial assessments of social indicators of wildfire risk. As part of the Extreme Wildfire programme, he is currently researching how professionals involved in residential planning, development and design consider wildfire in their work. Simon also collaborates across Scion on biosecurity and other aspects of people’s relationships with the natural world.

Research Interests:

• Understanding decision-making and behaviour to improve communications and behaviour-change interventions
• Risk mitigation, resilience and adaptation
• Socio-cultural indicators for risk and impact assessment
• Policy analysis and intervention design
• Public responses to science and policy

Examples of Real-World Impact:

• Worked with government partners and communities at high risk from wildfire to inform risk reduction engagement, communication and risk reduction strategies
• Developed social indicators of wildfire risk and mapped these across the Waikato Region to support risk management planning
• Developed guidance for planners, residential developers, designers and homeowners on wildfire risk reduction and mitigation in residential housing.