Biography

Oktavi Andaresta is currently pursuing a Master of Disaster Management at the University of Auckland with the support of the Manaaki New Zealand Scholarship. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science (International Relations) from Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia, where she participated as a research assistant for the Program on Humanitarian Action at the Institute of International Studies and was involved in field deployments to disaster-affected areas as a student volunteer. Following her undergraduate studies, she began her professional career at the National Disaster Management Authority of Indonesia (BNPB), continuing her work on disaster preparedness and strategy development while contributing to Indonesia’s engagement in key regional, global, and multilateral forums. Her research interests include disaster diplomacy, particularly the production, representation, and management of knowledge in disaster risk reduction. She is fluent in Bahasa Indonesia and English, has basic proficiency in German, and an understanding of Javanese and Minangkabau languages.