As Jazmin Scarlett (MSc Volcanology and Geological Hazards, 2014) goes about her work as a Flood Resilience Officer for the Environment Agency, she is often using techniques of measurement, monitoring and management of alerts and warnings which she learned about in her studies of volcanic eruptions.

The contrast between the two environments could not be greater, but they both tap into her passion for natural disasters and how they shape people’s lives. She spent her childhood and teenage years watching television documentaries on hurricanes and glued to the National Geographic channel and says: “I’m fascinated by how destructive they are and also by what is created by that destruction, how they bring people together and how small they make you feel.”

Her initial passion for volcanoes helped her overcome difficulties that might have stopped others in their tracks. Since before the age of two she has suffered from Systemic Onset Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis which forced her to spend long periods of time in hospital in agonising pain and which disrupted her education. But her love for science and in particular for the fire, magma and power of volcanoes gave her a reason to study and overcome her disabilities.

Jazmin’s decision to walk away from volcanology is a bitter sweet one motivated by the cost of living and the absence of jobs in the field in the UK. “Volcanoes are very different from flooding,” she laughs. “But there are similarities in the techniques of monitoring and raising alerts, talking to communities, emergency management and working to understanding people’s frustration.”

Jazmin arrived at Lancaster University hooked on natural hazards, following her first degree at Coventry University in Geography and Natural Hazards.

Volcanoes scared Jazmin, so she wanted to know more. Having learned about volcanoes during her undergraduate studies at Coventry University, she was determined to take her studies further and become a volcanologist. This was put into sharper focus, when she discovered for the first time that her grandfather came from the Caribbean Island of St Vincent and had captivating stories about the 1979 eruption of La Soufrière.

Other universities had been unhelpful, but Lancaster University experts in natural hazards welcomed her with open arms when she approached them with a clear plan for a Master’s study looking as the human impact on the population living in its shadow.

“It was not like any research project that anyone had done at Lancaster University,” recalls Jazmin, but course director and volcanologist Hugh Tuffen encouraged her and accepted her. Once there she received strong support from Earth Scientists Stephen Lane and Professor Nigel Watson.

These same people encouraged her to apply to do a PhD at Hull University in Earth Science, History and Social Volcanology.

She immediately signed up with Lancaster’s disability services, who alerted the lecturers to the fact that she was sometimes unable to take notes, and asked her peers to do so in these circumstances. She was impressed by the university disability service’s response to her condition. Staff had already come across the condition and understood how to handle her difficulties. Although the acute phase of her illness burned itself out around the age of 18, the 32-year-old is left with a legacy of pain and fatigue, requiring constant management.

She lived off campus for financial reasons, but loved the atmosphere on campus and involved herself in activities at the Graduate College, taking photographs for the student newspaper Scan and especially socialising with the eight-strong Masters cohort to which she belonged.

The course field trip to Mt Etna was a challenge, but she did everything at a slower pace - with one staff member accompanying her up the mountain lecturing her en route so she would not have missed anything by the time she caught up with the others.

Her informal ethnographic study required a month-long stay in St Vincent, to establish local people’s understanding of volcanoes, their knowledge of how to react to activity and their confidence in the authorities coordinating the responses to eruptions. Not only did she gain a distinction but she also met family members on the island, who she did not know existed.

After her PhD studies Jazmin lectured at a university and did research for a number of others. She has just finished a three-year term as Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Officer for the Volcanic and Magmatic Studies Group. She was also awarded the President’s Award from the Geological Society of London - the first Black woman to do so.

Now as a Flood Resilience Officer for the Environment agency, Jazmin Scarlett is constantly on the go. She covers the whole of Hertfordshire and all the boroughs of London North of the Thames - carrying out site visits, taking river readings, working on statistics and holding meetings with businesses and local residents to ensure they understand how to respond to flooding.

She could be called into the office at a moment’s notice as a first responder in the event of a flood in her area. She says: “As a teenager I did not imagine that I would end up doing a job like this. I hoped I’d be some kind of scientist but never thought it would take such an active form. I am ready now for a new career and fresh aspirations. Lancaster University gave me the confidence that what I carry in my brain is useful and that it’s good to keep on learning.”