The importance of supervisory and organisational awareness of the risks for an early career natural hazard researcher with personal past-disaster experience

Higher education students are advised that research must be objective, focusing on research outcomes and a strict set of criteria upon which the student will be examined. Yet, for those undertaking natural hazard research, this advice is tested, particularly if the student themselves were also impacted by the same natural hazard. Such was the experience of this author. This paper reflects on the author's personal natural hazard experiences, and the drivers that resulted in the pursuit of a higher education degree which involved the phenomenological investigation of the impact of these disasters on the lives of those residing in isolated exposed locations on the Far North Queensland coast in Australia. The aim of this paper is to highlight the importance of supervisors and organisations charged with ensuring the students well-being understand why a student wishes to pursue emotion-charged research. The article concludes with recommendations that supervisors and Ethics Committees focus not only on the risks to participants, but also to the students themselves, by ensuring they also consider the student's own past-disaster experiences.