Staff profile

Research

My research is concerned with urban risk and resilience governance strategies and frameworks in cities of the global South. I investigate which portfolio of risks different scales of government are concerned with and which they govern for. Exploring how residents manage their interpretation of risk and how residents interact with local authorities is also a key area of my research. Understanding how the international aid community, different scales of government, and urban residents interact to make regional cities resilient and liveable is an additional element of my research. 

I have spent most of my career living and working in countries that are rapidly changing and urbanising. My international development work, primarily with United Nations agencies (International Labour Organisation and United Nations Development Programme), has focused on livelihoods and local economic development in several countries. One of my professional strengths is my ability to build relationships with a wide range of stakeholders in different fields and to collaborate for a common purpose. I am particularly keen to ensure my research is of relevance to practitioners, policy makers and governments. 

• crises, urban and community resilience, social infrastructure, humanitarianism/disasters, gender

Chapter in book

• Introduction to the Gorkha Earthquake
  Ruszczyk, H., & Robinson, T. Introduction to the Gorkha Earthquake. In L. Bracken, H. Ruszczyk, & T. Robinson (Eds.), Evolving narratives of hazard and risk: The Gorkha earthquake, Nepal, 2015 (3 - 13). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65211-5_1
• The Pandemic and Food Insecurity in Small Cities of the Global South: A Case Study of Noapara in Bangladesh
  Rahman, M. F., & Ruszczyk, H. A. (2021). The Pandemic and Food Insecurity in Small Cities of the Global South: A Case Study of Noapara in Bangladesh. In B. Doucet, R. van Melik, & P. Filion (Eds.), Global Reflections on COVID-19 and Urban Inequalities, Volume 1: Community and Society (83-91). Policy Press
• Introduction
  Ruszczyk, H. A., Nugraha, E., de Villiers, I., & Price, M. (2020). Introduction. In H. A. Ruszczyk, E. Nugraha, & I. de Villiers (Eds.), Overlooked Cities: Power, Politics and Knowledge Beyond the Urban South (1-18). Routledge
• Gendered Invisible Urban Resilience
  Ruszczyk, H. A. (2020). Gendered Invisible Urban Resilience. In M. A. Burayidi, A. Allen, J. Twigg, & C. Wamsler (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Urban Resilience (260-271). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429506666
• Conclusion
  Nugraha, E., de Villiers, I., Ruszczyk, H. A., Costa, J. P., de Mesquita Lima, J., Filippi, M. E., Jin, Y., Johnson, C., Price, M., Rosen, C., Wesely, J., & Zhao, J. (2020). Conclusion. In H. A. Ruszczyk, E. Nugraha, & I. de Villiers (Eds.), Overlooked Cities: Power, Politics and Knowledge Beyond the Urban South (158-165). Routledge
• The changing logic of urban planning in Nepal: From informal to incremental
  Ruszczyk, H. A. (2020). The changing logic of urban planning in Nepal: From informal to incremental. In H. A. Ruszczyk, E. Nugraha, & I. de Villers (Eds.), Overlooked Cities: Power, Politics and Knowledge Beyond the Urban South (39-54). Routledge
• The Helping Hand in Increasing Nepal’s Urban Seismic Resilience
  Dixit, A. M., Dhungel, R., Gouli, M. R., Guragain, R., Shrestha, S. N., Pradhan, S., Sangachhe, S. B., Adhikari, S. R., Shrestha, N., Bhattarai, K., Khatiwada, P., Hadkhale, B., Baskota, A., Thakuri, R., & Ruszczyk, H. A. (2020). The Helping Hand in Increasing Nepal’s Urban Seismic Resilience. In M. A. Burayidi, A. Allen, J. Twigg, & C. Wamsler (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Urban Resilience. Routledge
• Spaces of Disaster
  Oven, K., Ruszczyk, H. A., & Rigg, J. (2020). Spaces of Disaster. In H. F. Wilson, & J. Darling (Eds.), Research Ethics for Human Geography (280-288). SAGE Publications
• Reflecting on the 2015 Gorkha earthquake, tread carefully
  Ruszczyk, H. A. (2018). Reflecting on the 2015 Gorkha earthquake, tread carefully. In L. Dominelli (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of green social work (500-510). Routledge
• The Earthquake and Ideas Lying Around
  Ruszczyk, H. A. (2018). The Earthquake and Ideas Lying Around. In L. A. Bracken, H. Ruszczyk, & T. Robinson (Eds.), Evolving narratives of hazard and risk : the Gorkha earthquake, Nepal, 2015 (125-139). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65211-5_8
• Looking and Moving Forward
  Robinson, T., Ruszczyk, H., & Bracken, L. (2018). Looking and Moving Forward. In L. Bracken, H. Ruszczyk, & T. Robinson (Eds.), Evolving narratives of hazard and risk: The Gorkha earthquake, Nepal, 2015 (183-192). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65211-5_11
• Earthquake Risk Reduction Efforts in Nepal: NSET’s Experience
  Dixit, A. M., Shrestha, S. N., Guragain, R., Jimee, G., Dhungel, R., Pradhan, S., Shrestha, N., Acharya, S. P., Adhikari, S. R., Bhattarai, K., & Ruszczyk, H. A. (2018). Earthquake Risk Reduction Efforts in Nepal: NSET’s Experience. In L. Bracken, H. Ruszczyk, & T. Robinson (Eds.), Evolving Narratives of Hazard and Risk (15-43). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65211-5_2

Doctoral Thesis

• The everyday and events: Understanding risk perceptions and resilience in urban Nepal
  Ruszczyk, H. The everyday and events: Understanding risk perceptions and resilience in urban Nepal. (Thesis). Durham University. https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1618461

Edited book

• Overlooked Cities: Power, Politics and Knowledge Beyond the Urban South
  Ruszczyk, H. A., Nugraha, E., & de Villiers, I. (Eds.). (2020). Overlooked Cities: Power, Politics and Knowledge Beyond the Urban South. Routledge
• Evolving narratives of hazard and risk: The Gorkha earthquake, Nepal, 2015
  Bracken, L., Ruszczyk, H., & Robinson, T. (Eds.). (2018). Evolving narratives of hazard and risk: The Gorkha earthquake, Nepal, 2015. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65211-5

Journal Article

• Ethics as Negotiated and Emergent in a Study of Liveability in Small Cities
  Halligey, A., Ahmed, I., Rahman, M., Ruszczyk, H., & Sudha, S. (online). Ethics as Negotiated and Emergent in a Study of Liveability in Small Cities. Sentio (Colchester), 91-93
• Managed Urban Retreat: The Trouble with Crisis Narratives
  Rahman, M. F., Lewis, D., Kuhl, L., Baldwin, A., Ruszczyk, H., Nadiruzzaman, M., & Mahid, Y. (online). Managed Urban Retreat: The Trouble with Crisis Narratives. Urban Geography, 45(1), 23-32. https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2023.2228094
• Health and wellbeing in the face of crises associated with climate or conflict: how can knowledge from the humanities and social sciences help us respond to disasters?
  Curtis, S., Leach, M., Ardern, K., Beckerman, C., Hunter, P. R., Ruszczyk, H., & Pelling, M. (2024). Health and wellbeing in the face of crises associated with climate or conflict: how can knowledge from the humanities and social sciences help us respond to disasters?. Journal of the British Academy, 12(1&2), Article a13. https://doi.org/10.5871/jba/012.a13
• Overlooked cities: Shifting the gaze in research and practice in global urban studies
  Nugraha, E., Wesely, J., Ruszczyk, H. A., de Villiers, I., & Zhao, Y. (2023). Overlooked cities: Shifting the gaze in research and practice in global urban studies. Cities, 133, Article 104044. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2022.104044
• Liveability and vitality: an exploration of small cities in Bangladesh
  Ruszczyk, H. A., Halligey, A., Rahman, M. F., & Ahmed, I. (2023). Liveability and vitality: an exploration of small cities in Bangladesh. Cities, 133, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2022.104150
• Epistemological Freedom: Activating co-learning and co-production to decolonise knowledge production
  Khan, M., Ruszczyk, H., Rahman, F., & Huq, S. (2022). Epistemological Freedom: Activating co-learning and co-production to decolonise knowledge production. Disaster Prevention and Management, 31(3), 182-192. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm-03-2021-0070
• Urban health challenges: Lessons from COVID-19 responses
  Ruszczyk, H. A., Castán Broto, V., & McFarlane, C. (2022). Urban health challenges: Lessons from COVID-19 responses. Geoforum, 131, 105-115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2022.03.003
• Bodies as urban infrastructure: Gender, intimate infrastructures and slow infrastructural violence
  Truelove, Y., & Ruszczyk, H. A. (2022). Bodies as urban infrastructure: Gender, intimate infrastructures and slow infrastructural violence. Political Geography, 92, Article 102492. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2021.102492
• 'It’s the right thing to do': specificities of the Polish response to the Ukrainian crisis
  Ruszczyk, H., Kallio, K. P., & Riding, J. (2022). 'It’s the right thing to do': specificities of the Polish response to the Ukrainian crisis. Fennia, 200(1), 1-5. https://doi.org/10.11143/fennia.125368
• Contextualizing the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on food security in two small cities in Bangladesh
  Ruszczyk, H., Rahman, M., Bracken, L., & Sudha, S. (2021). Contextualizing the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on food security in two small cities in Bangladesh. Environment and Urbanization, 33(1), 239-254. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956247820965156
• Newly urban Nepal
  Ruszczyk, H. A. (2021). Newly urban Nepal. Urban Geography, 42(2), 218-225. https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2020.1756683
• Empowering Women through Participatory Action Research in Community-Based Disaster Risk Reduction Efforts
  Ruszczyk, H., Upadhyay, B., Kwong, Y., Khanal, O., Bracken, L., Pandit, S., & Bastola, R. (2020). Empowering Women through Participatory Action Research in Community-Based Disaster Risk Reduction Efforts. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 51, Article 101763. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2020.101763
• Aspirations in grey space: Neighbourhood governance in Nepal and Jordan
  Ruszczyk, H. A., & Price, M. (2020). Aspirations in grey space: Neighbourhood governance in Nepal and Jordan. Area, 52(1), 156-163. https://doi.org/10.1111/area.12562
• DE-densifying knowledge of cityness
  Ruszczyk, H. (2020). DE-densifying knowledge of cityness. Urban Geography, 41(10), 1267-1273. https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2020.1837528
• Ambivalence towards discourse of disaster resilience
  Ruszczyk, H. (2019). Ambivalence towards discourse of disaster resilience. Disasters, 43(4), 818-839. https://doi.org/10.1111/disa.12385
• A continuum of perceived urban risk – from the Gorkha earthquake to economic insecurity
  Ruszczyk, H. A. (2018). A continuum of perceived urban risk – from the Gorkha earthquake to economic insecurity. Environment and Urbanization, 30(1), 317-332. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956247817744927

Masters Thesis

• Local understandings of community resilience in earthquake prone Nepal
  Ruszczyk, H. Local understandings of community resilience in earthquake prone Nepal. (Dissertation). [Awarding Organisation: Unknown]. https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1680785

Monograph

• Gender and Resilience in the CIty: Infrastructues, aspirations, and slow violence in Nepal
  Ruszczyk, H. (2023). Gender and Resilience in the CIty: Infrastructues, aspirations, and slow violence in Nepal. Practical Action Publishing

Other (Digital/Visual Media)

• Theorising from the Overlooked City: Generating a research agenda / network on small / secondary cities
  Ruszczyk, H. (2021). Theorising from the Overlooked City: Generating a research agenda / network on small / secondary cities
• Transitioning From Hope to Optimism and Back Again
  Ruszczyk, H., & Banerjee, R. (2020). Transitioning From Hope to Optimism and Back Again