Understanding the toll of climate change
Dr Michelle Escobar's thesis explores how environmental
disasters affect vulnerable communities.
January 1 2022
Drawing on her own personal experience, Michelle Escobar Carias's PhD thesis explores how the lasting impacts of environmental disasters affect vulnerable communities.
Losing her family home in Honduras to the ravages of flood had a profound impact on Dr Escobar.
“I was five years old and it was very scary, but at the same time, I saw this huge outpouring of support in the form of humanitarian aid providing people with food and shelter, so in a way, these events also make you hopeful,” she said.
“I think coming from a country in the tropics, where natural disasters are so common, explains why I’m so interested in understanding the long-term impacts of these damaging events.”
Having just received her PhD confirmation at Monash Business School’s Centre for Health Economics, Dr Escobar’s research examines the impact of environmental shocks on vulnerable populations in developing countries in the Pacific region.
“For example, one of my papers shows that people exposed to floods, even up to five years post the event, have a higher likelihood of experiencing mental health issues and symptoms of depression,” she said.
“Knowing the extent to which frequent exposure to environmental shocks is going to impact people’s mental health, cognition and productivity means these regions can better prepare, and invest more aggressively in improving their healthcare systems and welfare programs.”
Dr Escobar’s research also reveals her commitment to fighting climate change.
“We know climate change is very real and here to stay, and it’s so important to know the extent of its toll so that we can prepare,” she said.
Her PhD supervisor, Dr David Johnston, said Dr Escobar’s thesis involved painstaking data work and careful statistical analysis.
“Her outstanding work has resulted in some important findings regarding how our changing climate affects the health, wellbeing and productivity of vulnerable populations,” Prof Johnston said.
Dr Escobar said her PhD experience at Monash Business School had been an overwhelmingly positive one. “When you’re an international student you’re often completely alone in a foreign country, but I was surrounded by wonderful people believing in me and pushing me to put myself out there,” she said.
That support included encouraging her to take part in the faculty round of the 2022 Three Minute Thesis – which she subsequently won.
“You have three minutes, and one static PowerPoint slide, to talk about your entire thesis or one chapter, in a way that’s super accessible,” she said. “I picked my second chapter, which is about how temperature affects people’s decision-making and cognition.”
Dr Escobar said her next goal was to have her thesis published in academic journals. “My first chapter is already published, and the second and third are in that process,” she said.
“Ultimately, my goal is to meet with government officials to communicate these findings with them.”
She is also set to take up a post-doctoral research fellowship at the University of Melbourne in July. “I’ll be working on evaluating an experimental trial in rural Pakistan which gave cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) to pregnant women with depression,” she said.
“So, I’ll be moving from studying the problem to studying the solutions, which is very exciting.”
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