Meet Jillian Edwards: Disaster Risk Handbook writer

AIDR has engaged Jillian Edwards, Director and Founder of Beyond Business as Usual, to write the new Disaster Risk Handbook.

Jillian brings extensive experience and insight to the role with over 30 years of experience in disaster risk and emergency management in government, not for profit and private sector contexts. She is a specialist in helping solve complex problems and a thought leader in systemic climate and disaster risk management, emergency management, capability building and community services.

Jillian has a history of working with others to find solutions to seemingly intractable problems and is accomplished in building targeted and high-performing networks to achieve shared collective action outcomes.

Jillian was a member of the Australian Government’s National Resilience Taskforce where she was a co-creator of the National Disaster Risk Reduction Framework and strategic guidance materials. She successfully influenced change to the national narrative and policy position on the causes and effects of systemic climate and disaster risk. Jillian is the driving force behind the project to profile Australia’s vulnerability and also led the development of a blueprint for the creation of a multi-sector, advanced climate and disaster risk information national capability.

Prior to joining the National Resilience Taskforce, Jillian was a Director at AFAC.

Jillian is currently a Board Member of the Creative Recovery Network and is a member of the working group to develop the Global Risk Assessment Framework (GRAF) with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.

For more information, visit Jillian's LinkedIn profile.