A meeting room with a wooden table covered with natural hazard maps, notepads, and pens, beside a large window showing a coastal scene with mountains, trees, and a park.

Helping people make better decisions about natural hazards & risk

“Natural hazard information rarely gives you a simple answer. It gives you evidence, uncertainty and choices. Making sense of that is where the challenge begins.”

Services

How I can help

Often I hear the same concerns: Will people understand this? Will they trust it? Could it be misunderstood? Will it help people make better decisions or unintentionally do the opposite?

These questions matter because if natural hazard information is misunderstood, it can create confusion, unnecessary fear, undermine trust or lead to poor decisions.

I work with researchers, scientists, council experts, and emergency managers bridge the gap between complex natural hazard information and the people who need to use it.

Every project is different, but my role is the same: connecting the science, the decision-making context and the people involved.

I work comfortably across disciplines - from researchers and engineers to elected members, policy teams and communities - to build shared understanding and help projects achieve better outcomes.

  • Natural hazard information is often complex, uncertain and highly technical.

    I help translate technical information without oversimplifying it, so people understand what the information means and what they should do with it.

    This can include:

    • Communication strategies

    • Knowledge translation

    • Plain-language technical writing

    • Reports and briefings

    • Digital communications products

  • Many natural hazard projects involve competing priorities, different disciplines and difficult conversations.

    I help navigate complex decisions, build shared understanding and move decisions forward.

    This can include:

    • Project management from scoping to final outputs

    • Workshop design and facilitation

    • Stakeholder engagement

    • Executive and governance presentations and briefings

  • Helping people make better decisions also means building their confidence to communicate and use hazard information.

    I deliver presentations, workshops and training that make natural hazards, uncertainty and risk easier to understand, and so others develop the confidence to engage with others.

    This might include

    • Training

    • Speaking

    • Workshops

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Experience

What I do

Over the past decade, I've worked alongside researchers, emergency managers, councils, infrastructure providers and government agencies across Aotearoa, New Zealand, helping to make hazard information something people can actually use.

That means I understand how natural hazard information is produced, how decisions are made, and the challenges of communicating uncertainty to different audiences. I connect the science, the decision-making context and the people involved so that complex information leads to better outcomes.

  • Helping Taranaki prepare for future volcanic future


    The science around volcanic risk in Taranaki is complex, and the challenge was making sure it did not stay within research reports or even worse, in people’s heads.

    I worked alongside scientists, emergency managers, iwi, councils and infrastructure providers to develop an engagement and communication approach, facilitate conversations across organisations, and turn research into information people could understand and use.

    This included running public events and webinars, supporting workshops with key sectors, and creating resources for different audiences.

    The work helped bring the science into wider conversations and support further investment in planning for a future volcanic eruption.

  • Making flood information easier to understand and use


    Flood maps contain important information, but they can also be easily misinterpreted. A line on a map can mean very different things to an engineer, a planner, a councillor or a homeowner. My role is helping ensure everyone is working from the same understanding.

    I worked alongside engineers, planners, GIS specialists and communications teams to improve how flood information was named, described and presented to the public. This involved bringing together different perspectives, understanding how the information would be used, and identifying where misunderstandings could occur.

    My role included reviewing technical language, challenging assumptions about how people would interpret the information, developing guidance for online hazard information, advising on how uncertainty and modelling limitations should be explained, and helping ensure the final content supported confident, consistent decision-making and better conversations with communities, elected members and decision-makers.

  • Helping research lead to better decisions


    The Hikurangi Subduction Zone is one of New Zealand's largest and most active faults, but much of the research is highly technical and primarily shared within the scientific community.

    I worked alongside researchers from the University of Otago and partner organisations to identify who needed the information, what decisions it could support, and how the findings could be communicated to maximise their impact.

    This included developing communication plans, preparing media releases, creating factsheets and planning webinars for emergency managers and other stakeholders.

    The work helped connect new research with the people responsible for planning, emergency management and policy, making it more likely the science would influence real-world decisions.

Who I’ve worked with

I’ve worked with councils, Civil Defence Emergency Management Groups, universities, researchers, infrastructure providers and government agencies across Aotearoa New Zealand.

These are some of the organisations I’ve supported to better understand, communicate and use information about natural hazards, disaster risk and climate change.

Logo for Alpine Fault Magnitude 8 (AF8)
Logo for the Natural Hazards Commission Toka Tū Ake
Logo for Massey University
Logo for Taranaki Emergency Management
Logo for University of Canterbury
Logo for Hawke's Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management Group
Close-up of Kate Boersen smiling wearing a black top, standing outside with green trees in the background.

About

Kia ora, I’m Kate

I'm a natural hazards communicator, emergency manager, and engagement specialist who helps people understand complex information on natural hazards, disaster risk, and climate change so they can make better decisions.

While studying for my Master's, I learned something that has shaped my entire career: disasters aren't natural. They're the result of natural hazards colliding with the decisions we make. I also came to understand that the impacts of disasters can last for decades, reinforcing just how important those decisions are.

For more than a decade, I've worked alongside scientists, researchers, councils and emergency managers across Aotearoa, helping connect the science with the people who need to use it.

My work sits at the intersection of science, decision-making and people. I translate science, broker knowledge, communicate risk, navigate uncertainty, ask better questions and connect the dots between research, policy, practice and communities to build shared understanding and help move projects and decisions forward.

I believe good information doesn't automatically lead to good decisions. People need to understand what it means, why it matters and how it applies to the decisions they're making, and that’s what I help people, like you, do.

I'm passionate about reshaping how we talk about and tackle natural hazards and disasters. I care about plain English, evidence-based advice, practical solutions and building shared understanding. Because I believe when people understand their risks, they're far more likely to do something about them.

Forever an optimist,

- Kate

What people say about me:

  • "Kate is an excellent science communicator who makes scientific topics accessible, fun and appealing. She has a national reputation as a recognised science communicator, particularly in geosciences. I’ve always found Kate to be professional in her approach, keeping everyone updated on project work, and delivering on time. She is also diligent about collecting information for research projects and presenting it in innovative and informative ways."

    — Lisa Pearse

  • "Kate has built up a huge reputation as a science communicator and was instrumental in building this [project] into a very successful project that is at the leading edge of collaborative risk reduction for a significant national hazard through multiagency and multidisciplinary communication with strong community involvement."

    — Ian Macdonald

  • "Every time we have collaborated and contributed, it has been an absolute joy and privilege. Your professionalism, organisation, passion and general awesomeness always shone through in all settings and contexts. We also all really valued how you put the community at the heart of everything – which is often promised but rarely effectively achieved. I also want to acknowledge and compliment your leadership, vision and industry."

    — Professor Tom Wilson

  • "Kate was great to work with, she was objective and open-minded and was sure to check in regularly which made project management easy. When facilitating conversations she worked hard to understand where others are coming from and ensure that different viewpoints were heard. The final report was well received by the sector."

    — Alison Prins

  • "Kate was a pleasure to work with and extremely knowledgeable. She brought great ideas to our community engagement project and took the time to discuss technical information with whānau. She was also very responsive and easy to work with."

    — Pip Mckay

Approach

How I work

Every project starts with understanding the decision. I take time to understand the challenge you're trying to solve, who needs to make decisions, what information they need and what might be getting in the way.

From there, I design an approach that fits your context, whether that's strategic advice, facilitation, stakeholder engagement, communication or decision support. 

  • We'll talk about what you're trying to achieve, who you're trying to influence and where things are getting stuck.

    I’ll ask questions like:

    • Who needs to use the information?

    • What decisions are you trying to support?

    • What's making this difficult?

    • Where are people getting stuck?

    • What does success look like?

  • Once we understand the challenge, I'll recommend the approach that best fits your situation. Whether that’s starting a project or reviewing what you’re already doing.

    Every project is different, so I tailor my approach to your goals, your audience and your decision-making context.

  • We’ll work together to turn complex information into something that's easier to understand without losing the important detail.

    Along the way, we'll adapt and refine the approach based on stakeholder feedback, emerging insights and a growing understanding of what's needed.

  • We'll work together to deliver practical outcomes and evaluate whether they're making the difference we intended.

    By reflecting on what's working and what could be improved, we can continue to strengthen decision-making over time.

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Resources

How to stay up to date

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Contact

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