Emin Y. Menteşe
Emin Y. Menteşe is an Associate Senior Researcher at CUDRR+R.
Dr. Emin Y. Menteşe’s work focuses on different aspects of disaster risk reduction and urban resilience with an interdisciplinary perspective. As a geomatic engineer and an urban planner, an expert in the field of GIS, one of his core skills and interests is developing geospatial solutions that address different components of disaster risk such as modelling exposure, visualising impacts and web-based tools to analyse disaster risk. In addition to his GIS skills, his PhD (Istanbul Technical University, 2019) is on urban planning with a particular focus on assessing the environmental sustainability performance of spatial plans. Combined with his experience in Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality’s “earthquake department”, his skillset provides an interdisciplinary background that spans urban planning, geospatial modelling, resilience and sustainability. He has taken part in several projects on earthquake risk assessment, landslide modelling, and tsunami risk management in the Istanbul context.
As a post-doctoral researcher at Boğaziçi University, Emin Mentese conducted research in the fields of exposure modelling, geospatial infrastructure development and risk-informed participatory urban planning in different contexts such as Kathmandu, Quito, Nablus and Nairobi. He is also the co-founder and co-director of the start-up company Anofa Engineering, Planning and Informatics Ltd. (based in Turkey) working in the fields of disaster risk assessment, urban planning and geospatial solutions for decision-making.
Supriya Krishnan
Supriya Krishnan is an Associate Researcher at CUDRR+R.
Supriya Krishnan is an urban planner and architect specializing in the intersection of cities, disaster risk, and climate change, with a strong focus on physical and spatial planning. Her work emphasizes bridging the knowledge divide in implementing climate goals between the Global North and Global South to ensure urban resilience is equitable and inclusive.
During her doctoral research at TU Delft’s Faculty of Technology, Policy, and Management, Supriya integrated empirical research, design thinking, scenario development, and land use modeling to develop frameworks and methods for urban planning under climate uncertainty. Her work on proactive urban planning to manage extreme risks earned her the Allianz Climate Risk Award in 2024.
Supriya has been recognized with the C40 Cities Women4Climate mentorship and a TU Delft Global Fellowship, to focus on resilience planning in India. Previously, she worked with the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), a global partnership dedicated to embedding resilience into infrastructure systems. She has contributed her expertise to the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, the National Disaster Management Authority of India, and the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, India.
Supriya holds professional degrees in Architecture and Urbanism from the University of Mumbai, India and TU Delft, The Netherlands. Her research and teaching are shaped by her prior experience as a practicing architect.
Alissara (Niew) Holmes
Alissara (Niew) Holmes is an Associate Junior Researcher at CUDRR+R.
Niewis an urban planner and sustainability consultant with a passion for creating equitable, resilient, and inclusive cities. Originally from Bangkok, Thailand, Niew’s experiences growing up in a rapid urbanizing and complex urban environment has given her dynamic perspectives on the challenges cities face and the importance of context-sensitive solutions. She holds a Master’s degree in Urban Planning from Columbia University and a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science from the University of Washington.
Niew’s work encompasses a wide range of contexts, driven by a comprehensive approach to understanding how cities function as interconnected systems. She has been involved in projects that ranged from resilience planning for Barcelona’s Superblocks to strategic foresight and policy analysis for cities like Bangkok. She examines the interplay of equity in urban mobility systems and design, climate challenges such as urban heat and flooding, and infrastructure design, leveraging solutions like green infrastructure to create more sustainable and resilient cities.
Dian (Eric) Xia
Dian (Eric) Xia is an Associate Junior Researcher at CUDRR+R.
Eric is an urban planner with interest in urban data analytics, built environment resiliency, and international planning. He holds a Master’s degree in Urban Planning from Columbia University and a Bachelor’s degree in Geography from the University of California, Berkeley. His thesis focused on climate and social resilience of the transit systems in New York City. As an environmental planner, Eric is working on environmental impact evaluation and resilience assessments for development projects and is interested in combining international planning with resilience development. With experiences in graphic design, at CUDRR+R he is responsible for the design of research project outputs and website updates.