Ricardo Camacho
rcamachocast@student.unimelb.edu.au
Personal website
My name is Ricardo. I’m a PhD candidate in Geomatics at the Centre for Spatial Data Infrastructure and Land Administration (CSDILA), the Centre for Disaster Management and Public Safety (CDPMS), and the Research Group in EO and AI at The University of Melbourne. I am co-supervised by Assoc. Prof. Jagannath Aryal and Prof. Abbas Rajabifard. Before I started my PhD, I was fortunate enough to work as a Lecturer and Researcher in Geomatics at Universidad de Los Andes, where I collaborated closely with the Research Group on Urban and Regional Sustainability (SUR) and the Research Portfolio on Historical Ecology and Social Memory (EHMS).
I obtained a BS in Civil Engineering and a BS in Environmental Engineering at the Universidad de Los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia. After this, I obtained my MSc in Civil Engineering for Risk Mitigation at Politecnico di Milan in Italy.
What is my research about?
Informal urban growth presents a challenge that some cities worldwide have seen during the past few decades. As the population grows and spreads, the informal settlements expand, joining the urban dynamics that characterise a city. However, these dynamics are usually disrupted after a disastrous event, challenging public policies.
My research involves understanding how informal urban settlements’ spatial dynamics and distribution change before and after a disaster and how this change challenges the public policies on legalisation, recovery, and resilience. I am dealing with spatial, social, and policy aspects surrounding informal urban settlements in disaster-prone cities.
Latest news
30/12/2024: Second PhD article published!
18/06/2024: Presented a piece of my PhD research at the 43rd EARSeL Symposium at the Manchester Metropolitan University.
31/05/2024: Attended the 2024 Disaster Management Training Course by the Centre for Disaster Management and Public Safety (CDPMS) of the University of Melbourne, and the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC).
15/05/2024: Accepted in to the 2024 Horizons Doctoral Academy of the Melbourne Centre for Cities and RMIT University’s Centre for Urban Research.
05/05/2024: First PhD article published!
01/05/2024: Back from the Leave of Absence, ready to continue my PhD journey.
30/10/2023: Took a 6-month leave of absence from the PhD to focus on mental and physical health.
24/10/2023: Oral presentation at the Infrastructure Engineering Graduate Research Conference (IEGRC 2023) at Unimelb.
10/05/2023: Oral presentation at the LOCATE23 Conference .
02/11/2022: Oral presentation at the Infrastructure Engineering Graduate Research Conference (IEGRC 2022) at Unimelb.
21/03/2022: I passed my confirmation and became a PhD Candidate.
22/02/2022: Oral presentation at the Infrastructure Engineering Postgraduate Conference (IEPC 2021/2022) at Unimelb.
13/12/2021: Oral presentation at the International Symposium on Rebuilding Communities after Displacement Online.
14/12/2020: Officially started my PhD at Unimelb.
Latest publications
How do disasters disrupt the spatial growth of informal settlements? A multi-temporal remote sensing approach – The case study of Mocoa, Colombia
R. Camacho, J. Aryal, and A. Rajabifard.
Habitat International
2024
DOI: 10.1016/j.habitatint.2024.103272
Disaster-induced disruption of policies for informal urban settlements
R. Camacho, J. Aryal, and A. Rajabifard.
Cities
2024
DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2024.105098
Late Holocene volcanic stratigraphy and eruption chronology of the dacitic Young Doña Juana volcano, Colombia
N. Pardo, R. Sulpizio, F. Lucchi, G. Giordano, S. Cronin, B. Pulgarin, M. Roverato, A. M. Correa, R. Camacho, and M. Cabrera.
GSA Bulletin
2023
DOI: 10.1130/B36557.1
Geomorphology on a tropical volcanic setting: interplay of fluvial, gravitational, structural, and volcanic processes in the Doña Juana Volcanic Complex, Colombia
S. Salazar, R. Camacho, S. Villota, N. Pardo, A. Velasquez, M. Cabrera and , B. Pulgarin
Journal of Maps
2022
DOI: 10.1080/17445647.2022.2101948
Modeling population density guided by land use cover change model: a case study of Bogotá
L.A. Guzman, R. Camacho, D.A. Rodriguez, and C. Beltrán
Population and Environment
2022
DOI: 10.1007/s11111-022-00400-5
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Teaching Experience
- Jul - Nov 2023: Tutor at University of Melbourne of the course Digital Infrastructure Systems Capstone (GEOM30012).
- Jul - Nov 2022: Tutor at University of Melbourne of the course Integrated Spatial Systems (GEOM30012).
- Jan 2017 - Dec 2019: Course coordinator and Lecturer at Universidad de Los Andes of the course Geomatics (ICYA1125).
- Jan 2017 - Dec 2017: Lecturer at Universidad de Los Andes of the course Statics (ICYA1116).
Awards
- November 2022: Dejar Huella Award: Best Impactful Project. Universidad de Los Andes.
- September 2021: Biannual Javeriana Award in Research.
- January 2020: PhD scholarship from Colombia’s Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation to undertake doctoral studies abroad and a partial Melbourne Research Scholarship.
- September 2014: UniverLecco Gold Scholarship.