Member Profiles

"Jessica Hirtle is a doctoral candidate in the School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies and School of Geography at the University of Nottingham. Funded by the Midlands4Cities Doctoral Training Partnership, her research focuses on the impact of solidarity on Cuba’s disaster preparedness, response, and recovery measures.

In 2017, Jessica received a Bachelor of Journalism (Honours) from the University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In 2020, she received a Master of Arts in International Development Studies from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Jessica conducted field research in Cuba on the country’s disaster management strategies. As a result of her research, Jessica was invited to work as a key researcher on a Canadian Institutes of Health Research funded project entitled “Disaster Preparedness and Climate Change in Cuba: Management and Adaptation” for which she contributed two single-author chapters.

Jessica is passionate about the effects of climate change and its global impacts, specifically in terms of natural disasters. She aims to contribute to a key global challenge: understanding the complexities of natural disasters to seek alternatives for disaster management. "