Gender-informed volunteering for disaster recovery through a PhD

 

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Life as a graduate researcher: Dominica Meade

Australia relies on volunteers in disaster response. But formal emergency management organisations tend to exclude women. University of Melbourne PhD candidate Dominica Meade researches how women’s informal volunteering practices could help recruit more volunteers and make disaster recovery more inclusive of gender.

Dominica Meade is a white woman with short dark brown hair and a bright smile. She wears a striped collared shirt and silver hooped earrings.

“Women experience disproportionate levels of social and economic hardship after a disaster for a variety of reasons,” says University of Melbourne arts PhD candidate Dominica Meade.

Women are more likely to die in a disaster. Domestic violence surges after disasters. Women recover slower economically, and receive less help from governments.

“This can be further complicated by race, age, sexuality, class, or geography. But overall gender is a really important determinant of vulnerability after a disaster,” Dominica says.

Dominica researches the gender dynamics in community volunteering practices following disasters like bushfires and floods. She receives a stipend and PhD scholarship through the Melbourne Social Equity Institute.

How women’s informal volunteering supports disaster recovery

Because of climate change, disasters like floods and bushfires are becoming more frequent.

Emergency response in Australia depends on volunteer organisations like the State Emergency Service and the Country Fire Authority.

Formal emergency management systems that we currently have in place to help women in affected communities are very heavily male dominated. They're typically very militarised, hypermasculine and exclusionary towards women.Dominica Meade
Dominica sits cross-legged on a carpet on a tiled floor. She is sorting a pile of string or wires at a volunteering event in Lismore.
Dominica volunteered in Lismore two years after the catastrophic flooding of 2022 to help her understand the gender dynamics of volunteering.

Dominica travelled to Lismore two years after the community was hit by the highest flood on written record in 2022.

To understand the gender dynamics of the volunteering landscape post disaster, she used ethnographic methods and interviews. She also volunteered for the grassroots disaster recovery not-for-profit Resilient Lismore.

Her preliminary findings suggest that women were burdened with the responsibility of care. They provided mental health support, distributed food and helped recover keepsakes like photo albums.

Dominica also found that queer networks were pushed to the periphery of mainstream recovery services.

When the number of volunteers in formal organisations is shrinking, we could learn a lot from women’s informal volunteering networks. This could help recruit more volunteers and ensure that disaster recovery efforts include people across the whole community.

Learn more about our graduate research options

How do you know whether a PhD is for you?

Dominica had known for a while that she wanted to do a PhD.

As a Bachelor of Arts student, you spend a lot of time reading papers and reading about other people's research. I have always wanted to do my own research. Dominica Meade

But Dominica found her honours year challenging. The learning curve was steep, while the amount of time she had to conduct her research was limited.

“I actually said during my honours that I would never do a PhD. I found it so stressful!” she says.

Her honours research was in environmental justice and community activism in Mexico. While she enjoyed the topic, she wanted to focus on something more local next.

When she saw her PhD project advertised by the Melbourne Social Equity Institute, it was just too perfect to resist.

“The main draw card was the Melbourne Social Equity Institute. I really admire their focus and dedication to equity-related research,” Dominica says.

Yet Dominica remained worried the PhD would be as difficult as her honours.

“I didn't go into the PhD very confident at all. But knowing that I was doing a PhD that really strongly aligned with my values – even though I felt unsure throughout the process about how competent I would be at it – that was my main motivator,” she says.

“I've actually found the PhD – not easier, but less stressful than honours.”

A PhD presents many opportunities to learn research skills

Having a great cohort has helped Dominica through some of the more stressful parts of the PhD.

Having a desk situated amongst all my closest peers is massive. That means I get to go into the office most days and see some of my best friends, which makes this experience really fun.Dominica Meade
Dominica wears a conference lanyard and smiles in front of a sign for the European Sociological Association conference at the University of Porto

Support from her PhD supervisors has also helped.

“I overthink a lot of things. It's really helpful to have them to ground you as a graduate researcher,” Dominica says.

A PhD is a research apprenticeship. Her supervisors guide Dominica in her research – in ethics and grant applications, field work and writing.

And through her supervisors, she has found work as a research assistant for Melbourne Social Equity Institute’s Director, Professor Jo Barraket.

“I’m still building skills. I'm working on ethics applications, or looking at different grant programs, or developing concepts and research questions,” Dominica says.

“And seeing that done in a context that's outside of a PhD, because that research looks a little bit different, has been a really valuable experience.”

Graduate researchers also learn from each other and the wider university community. Dominica has been involved in a community of practice for community engaged research.

“Last year I was also involved in setting up these ‘ethno-curious’ workshops. They were for PhD researchers and undergraduates who are interested in ethnography,” she says.

Advice from the workshops is also guiding Dominica’s thesis writing efforts.

The workshop was about how to write up your research. They have this three-tiered rule: make it exist, make it make sense, and then make it good. Dominica Meade

Dominica is keen to stay in the field after her PhD.

“Wherever that is, whether it's at a not-for-profit or NGO or whatnot – I'd be really happy to do that. But a job at a research institute would be the dream, of course,” she says.

“All I really want to do is just keep doing research.”

Learn more about a PhD in Arts

First published on 6 March 2025.

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