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Staff Profile

Dr Gainbi Park

Lecturer in Quantitative Human Geography

  • Email: gainbi.park@ncl.ac.uk
  • Telephone: +44 191 208 4615
  • Address: Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS), Henry Daysh Building,
    Office 3.39, Newcastle University, NE1 7RU
Background

I am a Lecturer in Quantitative Human Geography in the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS) and the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology. For the past year and a half (September 2021-December 2022), I was a postdoctoral researcher in CURDS. 

I completed my Ph.D.  in Geography at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in August 2021 with a specialization in social vulnerability to natural hazards, geodemographics, and geospatial data analysis. My research leans toward socio-spatial inequalities to environmental hazards and health risks in urban areas, adopting various spatial demographic datasets and quantitative methodologies. 

Research

I am broadly interested in population vulnerability with particular emphasis on social vulnerability to natural hazards using geospatial data analytics. My ongoing and future research agenda is interdisciplinary in nature given that human-environment interactions are largely rooted in an integrative framework of place-based vulnerability, which considers the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of people and places that would situate them in more vulnerable situations. My research seeks to better understand the extent to which human society is susceptible to extreme natural disasters and health-related risks.

Currently, I am involved in several research projects:  

  • Depopulation and Shrinking Cities in the United States”, School of Geography, Politics and Sociology (PI: Professor Rachel Franklin)
  • Estimating Pandemic Effects on Publication in Regional Studies Journals”, funded by The Regional Studies Association (PI: Professor Rachel Franklin) 
  • Synthetic Data Sandpit Research Grant “Sea level rise and coastal population impact in the Northeast England regions using synthetic population data (PI: Gainbi Park) 

Recent Awards

2022

  • Post-Doctoral Enrichment Award, The Alan Turing Institute  (£2,000) 
  • GISRUK Early Career Researcher Scholarship (£130)
  • International Geographical Union (IGU) Early Career Researcher - Conference Grant (€385)
  • Synthetic Data Sandpit Research Grant “Sea level rise and coastal population impact in the Northeast England regions using synthetic population data”, The Alan Turing Institute (£7,980) 
Teaching

₊₊₊Office Hours on Monday (13:00 to 15:00) and Thursday (14:00-15:00)₊₊₊

For the second semester of 2022-2023, I am co-teaching the following modules: 

  • GEO2043 Key methods for human geographers 
  • GEO3130 Mapping the city 
  • GEO3098/3099 Dissertation 

Before joining Newcastle, I served as a lab Instructor during my Ph.D. program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the Department of Geography. I have developed the course materials and taught the following courses.  

  • Geographic Information System
  • ArcGIS Programming with Python
  • Introduction to Data Science with R, Python, and ArcGIS
  • Spatial Analysis 
  • Quantitative Analysis in Geography 
  • Introduction to Environmental Geography 
Publications