Maciej Pawlik in front of a mountain

Maciej Pawlik

Research Assistant

Socio-Environmental Studies

Department of Engineering & Construction , School Of Architecture, Computing And Engineering

I am an Environmental Scientist with a social science background. My research is based around building community resilience to natural disaster threats and improving human relations with the natural world, particularly with plants. I am an early career researcher, serving as an RA while preparing for a PhD.

Qualifications

  • MSc Global Futures - Royal Holloway, University of London
  • BSc Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Mental Health
  • Dip Botany - Centre of Excellence

Areas Of Interest

  • Human-Plant Interactions
  • Nature-Based Solutions
  • Community Resilience
  • Ecological Posthumanism
  • Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)
  • Creative Participatory Research Methods
Maciej Pawlik in front of a mountain

OVERVIEW

I am a Research Assistant and member of the Resilient Built Environment Research Group. I work with Dr Ravindra Jayaratne on interdisciplinary, international projects focused on disaster risk reduction, especially in the UK and Japan. 

Together with other researchers, we have secured the UEL Impact Builder 2023 Grant to fund an interdisciplinary, international project abbreviated to AEvac-PAR. It is focused on improving flood evacuation through the inclusion of social data sets within computational modelling (inc. collaboration with schools across the UK and Japan). Through this work, I have engaged in delivering educational seminars that have served as a gateway to creating a DRR curriculum.

RESEARCH BACKGROUND

The research interests that have motivated me to enable community resilience through improving education access and relations with the natural world. In terms of my epistemology, I believe in research through direct engagement like cultural immersion and ethnographic methods. I am part of a movement that subscribes to posthumanism, wherein greater mutualism is established amongst the varying organisms inhabiting the planet Earth to enable sustainability and human progress. 

My background is firmly rooted within the social sciences with a particular focus on the use of creative qualitative methodologies that enable successful cultural immersion - facilitating more in-depth exchanges with local communities. I have substantial experience engaging in psychological components of social science research, particularly including the observation of meaning-making mechanisms and sensing the world. Methodologically, I hold capacities in mixed methods meaning I am adaptable and can handle large volumes of quantitative as well as qualitative data.

I have presented research output at national and international conferences - desk study at IDRiM2022 and a research poster at GADRI2023. As well as being awarded the 5th place prize at IDRiM2023 for my full research project presentation about Thematic Mapping & Integrated Risk Communication. Further, I have also participated in fieldwork across the UK as well as Japan, and have dealt with complex ethical and logistical considerations.

MOST RECENT RESEARCH

All research that I am involved in is focused on disaster risk reduction and has predominantly observed British and Japanese contexts. Previously, I produced a study about creating an integrated approach within risk communication where there is more inclusion of different stakeholders in the communication crafting process. Presently, I am working with school children to build more effective ways of computationally modelling flood evacuation, and using such modelling within the context of DRR curriculum in schools as a way to facilitate learning about environmental issues.

PUBLICATIONS

Journals

  • Pawlik, M., Jayaratne, R., Shiroshita, H., Kitagawa, K., Nomoto, S., Okumura, Y. & Kono, K. (2023) ‘Proposing Thematic Mapping for Integrated Risk Communication: A Study of British & Japanese Perspectives in Flood-Prone Communities’, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. [in review]

I currently have two publications that are ‘in progress’, one is aimed at the International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, while another is aimed at Plants, People, Planet.

FUNDING

  • Secured the UEL Impact Builder 2023 Grant to fund an interdisciplinary, international project abbreviated to AEvac-PAR.