Dr Katja Samuel

Dr Katja Samuel is Director of Global Security and Disaster Management Limited (www.gsdm.global), a consultancy company offering specialist legal and interdisciplinary expertise across wide ranging security and disaster (risk) management issues, including terrorism, organised crime, piracy, migration, CBRN, cyber and other technology threats.

Drawing upon her military, legal, academic, private sector and civil society backgrounds, Katja specialises in security (especially counter-terrorism) and disaster risk management, including their growing interrelationship. A current priority focus is on how legal instruments may be better utilised as dynamic tools of disaster risk mitigation to strengthen existing security and disaster approaches through the development of more innovative, effective, multi-sectoral responses.

Katja undertakes a range of consultancy activities, including with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (Terrorism Prevention Branch). Collaborating also with the UN Office on Disaster Risk Reduction, she is also the co-lead and moderator for the forthcoming working session on ‘man made and technological disasters’ at the European Forum on Disaster Risk Reduction. Widely published, her current research focus includes organised crime/terrorism risk posed by dual use technology (e.g. 3 D printers) from an international law perspective, and critiquing terrorist attacks against critical national infrastructures as multi-hazard, catastrophic disaster events.