Rate My Professor Kristen Macaskill

Dr Kristen MacAskill is a University Associate Professor in Engineering, Environment and Sustainable Development in the Civil Engineering Division of the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge. A civil engineer by training, she holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) in Civil Engineering from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand (2006), a Master of Engineering Management (Distinction, 2007) from the same university, an MPhil (Distinction) in Engineering for Sustainable Development from the University of Cambridge (2012), and a PhD from the University of Cambridge (2016). Her doctoral research examined the application of resilience principles in post-disaster infrastructure reconstruction, using the Christchurch, New Zealand earthquakes as a case study, supported by a Cambridge International Scholarship. Before returning to academia, MacAskill worked as a consulting engineer in the water and transport sectors, gaining experience in strategic options assessment, post-earthquake damage assessment, infrastructure design, project management, and sustainability assessment. She is also the Associate Course Director for the Construction Engineering Masters programme.

MacAskill's research focuses on disaster risk management, post-disaster reconstruction, sustainable development of cities, and resilience of infrastructure systems amid climate change and other disruptions. She employs systems analysis and cross-disciplinary methods to address governance in critical infrastructure and major projects. She leads teaching in Resilience of Infrastructure Systems and the MPhil in Engineering for Sustainable Development Client Consultancy programme, where student teams undertake projects with stakeholders. As a Fellow and Engineering Director of Studies at St Edmund's College, she contributes to college teaching. Key roles include leading initiatives for the Resilience Shift since 2017 (an international programme by Lloyd's Register Foundation and Arup), involvement in the Royal Academy of Engineering and Lloyd's Register Foundation Safer Complex Systems programme, and serving as a founding editorial board member of IOP Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability (launched 2020). Selected publications comprise 'A hierarchy of measures for infrastructure resilience – learning from post-disaster reconstruction in Christchurch, New Zealand' (2015), 'Climate change hazards, physical infrastructure systems, and public health pathways' (2023), 'Assessing flood resilience of urban rail transit systems: Complex network modelling and stress testing in a case study of London' (2024), and 'Supporting urban sustainability through resilient rail transit systems' (2025). She was recognised in the Top 50 Women in Engineering awards (2021).