Arshad Khalafzai is a disaster risk reduction/management, humanitarian aid, and climate change adaptation and resilience-building practitioner. He has worked with several national and international public sector organizations, the United Nations agencies, not-for-profit organizations and higher education institutions. He also has worked as a mixed-methods researcher, teacher and scholar for several universities both in Canada and abroad.
His doctoral research adopted a post-positivist, case study approach and mixed methods research explored climate change vulnerabilities and impacts on a Subarctic Canadian Indigenous community and their adaptation options concerning the elevated risk of ice breakup and ice jamming-related phenomenon of spring flooding.
Experience
Dr. Khalafzai has taught several courses concerning disaster risk reduction, emergency management, human dimensions of disasters, fundaments of disaster management and social research methods. The research methods course provided hands-on experience to graduate and undergraduate students on how to research in the social sciences using qualitative and quantitative approaches, orientations and methods. His professional work includes disaster risk reduction/management, contingency planning, emergency preparedness and response planning, humanitarian aid, climate change adaptation, vulnerability-reduction and resilience-building.
Dr. Khalafzai has several postgraduate diplomas and certificates. These include Refugee and Migration Studies and International and Security Studies from York University, Applied Information Technology from Hamdard University and Development Banking from NIBAF, Pakistan. He also holds a certificate in Climate Change Vulnerabilities, Impacts and Adaptation from the World Bank.
Education
2020
PhD
University of Alberta
2010
MA Disaster & Emergency Management from York University
York University
2006
MS Development Studies
Iqra University, Pakistan
n.d.
Master of Business Administration
Gomal University, Pakistan
Publications
Khalafzai, M-A.K., & McGee, T.K. (2021). Spring Flooding Impacts and Evacuations Experiences of an Indigenous Community: The Case of Kashechewan First Nation in Northern Ontario, Canada. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction.
Khalafzai, M-A.K., McGee, T.K, & Parlee, B. (2020). Frequent Flooding and Perceived Adaptive Capacity of Subarctic Kashechewan First Nation, Canada, Arctic Journal.
Khalafzai, M-A.K. (2020). Frequent Spring Flooding Impacts, Evacuation Experiences, and Perceived Adaptive Capacity of Kashechewan First Nation, Northern Ontario. PhD Thesis, The University of Alberta Libraries and Archives.
Khalafzai, M-A.K., McGee, T.K, & Parlee, B. (2019). Flooding in the James Bay region of Northern Ontario, Canada: Learning from traditional knowledge of Kashechewan First Nation, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, Vol. 36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2019.101100.
Khalafzai, M-A.K., & Nawaz, J. (2016). Traditional Knowledge and Disaster Resilience. HazNet, 8(2): 38-40.
Khalafzai, M-A.K., & Niazi, J. (2012). Hydro-meteorological Early Warning System: People-centered Integrated Model for Sustainable Development in Pakistan. In Proceedings of the 2nd World Sustain. Forum, 1–30 November 2012; Sciforum Electronic Conference Series, Vol 2.
Khalafzai, M-A.K., & Nirupama, N. (2011). Building Resilient Communities through Empowering Women with Information and Communication Technologies: A Pakistan Case Study. Sustainability, 3(1):82-96.
Khalafzai, M-A.K. (2011). Culture of School Safety. Featuring Disaster Risk Management in Pakistan. Pakistan Association for Continuing and Adult Education (PACADE). PACADE Issue 6(12).