Introducing our new Research Consultant, Sophie Horsfall

We welcomed Sophie Horsfall to our team as a Research Consultant in early March.

Sophie has a diverse background in disaster risk, environmental science, education, and tourism. Sophie thrives in multidisciplinary fields exploring different viewpoints to find novel solutions and has a passion for understanding how things work and the ripple effects when processes are impacted by change.

Sophie joined us only a few weeks before the COVID-19 lockdown came into effect and our switch to working from home. No easy start for any new team member.

Recently we chatted to Sophie about her life before ResOrgs, how she's finding working from home, and her life outside of work.

Sophie, you're a bit of a traveller and have developed an understanding of how social and cultural structures differ globally. Tell us where you've lived and some of the challenges you faced.

I was born in England and spent my childhood growing up around the world mainly in Singapore, but also got to experience getting scorpions out from under my bed in America and getting to stay home from school during typhoons in Hong Kong.

After completing my university degree in Marine Science and Zoology in Australia I moved back to Singapore to work in outdoor education exploring tropical ecosystems in South East Asia. Needing a break from the heat and humidity I moved to Canada and experienced my first -22degree winter and learnt to ice climb and mountaineer and discovered the world of risk management.

I decided to go into disaster risk management and where else in the world do you go to learn about that but New Zealand! I completed a Masters in Disaster, Risk and Resilience here at the University of Canterbury before joining the ResOrgs team.

How are you handling working from home? I hear you have a new arrival?

Working from home has its positives and negatives- I live with three boys so sometimes I feel a need to escape. I enjoy not having to commute and being able to make amazing lunches (current favourite is BBQ pizzas with homemade pizza dough). We also recently got a puppy called Skipper so it's great being home with him for his first few weeks.

Everyone needs to balance work with play. What do you get up to on the weekends and is there something you'd like to learn that you just might look into doing when we move to the new normal?

My partner and I love to get out and explore the outdoors, hiking, and tramping, visiting vineyards and finding secluded beaches to go for a picnic and swim. One of the big things I am looking forward to after lockdown is teaching Skipper to become a trail dog, and maybe pick up learning to horse ride!

Thanks Sophie, welcome to the team!

Introducing our new Research Consultant, Sophie Horsfall

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