Publications

Technically speaking, my research focuses on the intersections between individual risk perception and decision making under uncertainty. I have published in peer-reviewed scientific journals including 'Disasters', the flagship journal in the field of Disaster Risk Reduction.

My Research Follows Risk & Where It Leads: When disaster strikes, the gap between what people know and what they do can cost lives, and money. This collection of research cuts into that gap. It asks why residents in flood-prone communities resist the insurance meant to protect them, why past flood experiences can make us more — not less — prepared, and why your next-door neighbor may be your most reliable line of defense when the water rises. It examines the counterintuitive psychology behind why people trust dams even when the data says otherwise, and unpacks how Australians actually weigh flood risk against daily life — a tension that protection motivation theory alone cannot explain. Beyond floods, this work tracks how crises are communicated, mismanaged, and occasionally handled well. A close comparison of Brazil and New Zealand's pandemic leadership reveals how tone and transparency at the top determine outcomes at the bottom. A philosophical audit of crisis journalism through a Kantian lens asks what honest reporting actually demands of us. On the ground, my research shows how social media can make emergencies visible before official channels even respond -- and goes further to examine how leaderless digital networks coordinate collective action during crises, with no one in charge and everyone contributing. That same logic -- autonomous acts producing organized outcomes without centralized direction -- is the subject of a more recent line of inquiry. Drawing on Grassé's stigmergy theory, this work examines how self-referencing in academic publishing functions as a stigmergic strategy; that is, a trace-based mechanism that builds scholarly impact and sustains intellectual visibility over time.

At the policy level, the stakes get bigger and the answers harder. Climate change is already unraveling the actuarial logic that keeps insurance markets solvent, and Kauai's experience shows in sharp relief why Hawaii's risk management infrastructure is failing to keep pace. Meanwhile, unconventional proposals — like strategic island resizing as a protective policy tool — challenge us to think beyond incremental fixes. And when certainty itself is off the table, reflective reporting offers a structured way to make decisions under pressure. Taken together, these publications form a body of work at the intersection of risk perception, crisis governance, climate adaptation, and the human behavior that quietly determines whether policy succeeds or fails.

I am currently developing and testing a collaboration theory in the field of human stigmergy on how autonomous acts leave digital traces that become reproducible in domains and scalable by platforms. This theory is called 'Stigmergy Network Theory (SNT)' and key concepts it measures and evaluates are: (i) mediated digital environments; (ii) uncoordinated flow and error-control; (iii) recurrent collective needs; (iv) perceived reward satisfaction; and (v) deliberate algorithmic manipulation.

You can explore the full scope of my academic contributions and peer-reviewed studies through the official repositories below.