Dr. Emily Kirk is a specialist in public health policy and disaster risk reduction. She holds a BA (Hons.) from Dalhousie University, an MPhil from the University of Cambridge, and a PhD from the University of Nottingham. She was also the recipient of a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Award, as well as a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Award. In addition to teaching International Development and Political Science at the University of Nottingham, UK (2012-2016) and Dalhousie University, Canada (2016-2020), she has published widely on themes of global health, gender and sexual diversity (2SPLGBTQ2+), and disaster management. She has also served as a researcher for several national and international bodies, including the World Health Organization (WHO), Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Global Affairs Canada, and the British Commonwealth Office, where her work focused on gender equity and preventive healthcare strategies. She has extensive experience working with Indigenous communities, including a year (2021-2022) as the Health Policy Analyst for the Atlantic Policy Congress for First Nations Chiefs Secretariat.