Preetish Kakoty
Preetish Kakoty

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow

Hi, Welcome to my cyber space!

I am a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at University College London, based in the DE|RISC Lab with Professor Carmine Galasso. My fellowship project focuses on resilience enhancement through multi-hazard recovery analysis of earthquake and flood-affected infrastructure.

My work sits at the intersection of natural hazards simulation, structural engineering, risk quantification, and decision science. I use statistical and physics-based simulation tools to estimate disaster impacts and support risk-informed decision making for the built environment.

I am deeply interested in how societies shape disasters — and how disasters, in turn, reshape societies. You will find my musings on this theme here.

Please connect if anything here piques your interest!

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Education
  • PhD Structural & Earthquake Engineering, 2024

    University of British Columbia, Vancouver

  • MSE Systems Engineering, 2018

    Johns Hopkins University

  • MS Structural Engineering, 2017

    University of California, Irvine

  • BE Civil Engineering, 2015

    Assam Engineering College

Featured Publications
Recent Publications

For a detailed and updated list please visit Google Scholar

(2025). Collapse Risk of Tall Nonductile Reinforced Concrete Shear Wall Buildings. Journal of Structural Engineering.
(2021). Toward functional recovery performance in the seismic design of modern tall buildings. Earthquake Spectra.
(2021). Effects of the Georgia Sedimentary Basin on the Response of Modern Tall RC Shear-Wall Buildings to M9 Cascadia Subduction Zone Earthquakes. Journal of Structural Engineering.
Recent Updates
Selected as an ABSW Media Fellow for 2026
Selected as an ABSW Media Fellow for 2026

I was selected as one of three UCL Engineering ABSW Media Fellows for 2026, through the Association of British Science Writers Media Fellowship Scheme. The fellowship places practising scientists and engineers in media outlets for two to six weeks.

Jun 11, 2026

Leveraging physics-based ground motion simulations for portfolio risk — a poster at RIAGE 2026
Leveraging physics-based ground motion simulations for portfolio risk — a poster at RIAGE 2026

I presented a poster at the inaugural RIAGE (Re)Insurance-Academia Global Earthquake Workshop at UCL. This was a unique mix of catastrophe modelers, underwriters, and earthquake scientists sat together to share recent developments and future paths.

May 19, 2026

Spring school on climate change and natural hazard risk at IUSS Pavia
Spring school on climate change and natural hazard risk at IUSS Pavia

I attended the NEXT-GEN Spring School at IUSS Pavia, bringing together PhD students and researchers working across earthquakes, floods, droughts, and climate adaptation. The clearest takeaway: meaningful multi-hazard risk assessment and mitigation cannot be done within a single discipline.

Apr 28, 2026

A love letter from the epicenter — talking about the 1897 Great Assam Earthquake at UCL
A love letter from the epicenter — talking about the 1897 Great Assam Earthquake at UCL

I gave a talk at UCL’s Department of CEGE on one of the largest earthquakes in recorded history — and one that happened in my hometown. The talk traces the 1897 Great Assam Earthquake through an unlikely cast of characters from British-raj India: an administrator whose bungalow crumbled to dust, a geologist improvising a seismometer from tin and bamboo, and a field scientist whose memoir would anchor scientific debate for over a century.

Mar 18, 2026

Vancouver built up fast — now its older towers face an earthquake reckoning
Vancouver built up fast — now its older towers face an earthquake reckoning

Carlos Molina Hutt and I wrote about Vancouver’s seismically vulnerable 1960s-70s concrete towers for The Conversation — who bears the risk, who should pay for retrofits, and what cities like Los Angeles have tried.

Feb 25, 2026