Irasema Alcántara-Ayala

Alcántara-Ayala was born in Mexico City.[2] She studied geography at National Autonomous University of Mexico and earned her bachelor's degree in 1993.[2] Based on her performance during her undergraduate studies, she was awarded the Gabino Barreda medal. She was a graduate student at King's College London, where she worked on geomorphology and was awarded a PhD in 1997.[3][2][4]

In 1998 Alcántara-Ayala joined Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a postdoctoral research fellow, where she worked in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.[5] In 2000 Alcántara-Ayala joined National Autonomous University of Mexico as an Assistant Professor. She was promoted to Professor and the youngest woman to be made Director of the Institute of Geography in 2008.[6] Her work focuses on Latin America and the Caribbean.[7] She works with the Mexico National Centre for Disasters Prevention and the Natural Hazards Centre.[8] Alcántara-Ayala is a member of the Network of Social Studies on the Prevention of Disasters in Latin America.[9] She has assessed the hazard presented by rainfall-induced landslides, using aerial photographs, field observations and slope instability analysis.[10] She combines this field work with social science studies, including social vulnerability analysis.[7] She has emphasised the need for geomorphologists to be involved with the assessment of risk and management of disasters in the developing world.[11] In general, Alcántara-Ayala believes that disasters are socially constructed, that there is a nexus between risk, the environment and development and that risks can be managed at a local level.[12] She collaborates with other colleagues in the Forensic Investigations of Disaster project, which investigates the causes and drivers of risk creation.[13] Alcántara-Ayala has also proposed transforming the National Civil Protection System in Mexico into a more oriented policy of Integrated Disaster Risk Management.[14]