Rosie Gallagher

Rosie is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at The University of Queensland Business School. Her research focuses on institutional disruption and the governance of disaster recovery, with particular attention to how policies and programs shape community resilience.

She completed her PhD in Strategy at The University of Queensland, examining how communities in New South Wales responded to institutional disruption during the 2019–2020 bushfires and 2022 Northern Rivers floods. Her research demonstrated how institutional failure contributed to sensemaking breakdown, leaving residents uncertain, unsupported, and forced to improvise their own responses. These community-led efforts were shaped by strong attachments to place and the mobilisation of local resources. The study developed a process model of improvised place custodianship, offering new insight into how people navigate governance breakdowns during extreme weather events.

Rosie has taught at UQ since 2018 across a range of management, strategy, and marketing courses. She is currently involved in evaluating large-scale disaster recovery programs, analysing how resilience and reconstruction strategies are implemented on the ground. Her work explores how responsibility for resilience is shared across governments, communities, and industries as extreme weather events become more frequent and severe.

Guided by a research ethos grounded in care and engaged scholarship, Rosie is committed to bridging research and practice to support more accountable, equitable, and locally informed disaster recovery efforts.