Dr Donovan is the Co-Director of the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute (ECCI) and Policy Director of ClimateXchange at the University of Edinburgh. She is a lecturer in climate change and disaster risk and adaptation. Dr Donovan has worked as an applied researcher, consultant and practitioner in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) for over fifteen years. She currently leads research projects that aim to examine the role of heritage for climate change risk assessment and adaptation. She sits on the Scottish Scientific Advisory Committee and advises the Scottish Government and local authorities on climate change adaptation.
Prior to working at the University of Edinburgh, she was a Hazard and Risk Engineer at the National Water and Atmospheric Research Institute (NIWA), New Zealand. There she led a national risk visualisation and scenario development tool programme and led an international development project on adapting risk assessment tools for Pacific Island Countries. Dr Donovan advised the New Zealand Government on national disaster resilience and was the national risk lead for the New Zealand Natural Hazards Research Platform. Previously, Dr Donovan worked as an international DRR Adviser for an international NGO called CAFOD. At this time, she was the co-chair of the BOND NGO DRR working group as well as a member of the UK Collaborative for Development Research working group on international development.
She completed a PhD at the University of Plymouth examining cultural vulnerability to disasters and post-doctoral research at Oxford University on flood science knowledge exchange. Her research interests cover a range of DRR and CCA topics including risk assessment and visualisation methods and tools for decision makers; disasters and culture; indigenous knowledge; social vulnerability and capacity; Resilience frameworks/measurement; science communication and knowledge exchange.