Introducing our Special Plenary Session on 22 June Dr Sabrina Cohen-Hatton Sabrina Cohen-Hatton is one of the few women to have served at the top of the fire service. She combines her role as one of the most senior female firefighters in the UK with work as a Research Fellow at Cardiff University where she specialises in behavioural neuroscience, in particular how humans make decisions under pressure. She is also the author of The Heat of The Moment – A Firefighter’s Stories of Life and Death Decisions.
high pressure decision making in the emergency services has not only won awards but has also influenced policy at a global level.
Showing resilience and determination from a young age, Sabrina was homeless on the streets of South Wales when she was 15. After two years on the streets selling The Big Issue, she was able to secure accommodation and at 18 joined the fire service. Whilst working as a firefighter she also studied at the Open University and then at Cardiff University, completing her PhD in Psychology. In the fire service, Sabrina became one its highest ranking women officers. She climbed the ranks serving in some of the largest fire brigades in the country, whilst maintaining her academic work with Cardiff University. Her subsequent research into
An Ambassador for The Big Issue, Sabrina has been named as one of their top 100 Changemakers, Marie Claire also named her as one of their Change Makers and Cosmopolitan listed her in their Millennial Power List, and she has appeared on Desert Island Discs.
Interspill 2022: Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Lunch – 22 June 2022 On 18th May 2022 we will celebrate for the first time an International Day for Women in Maritime. This event, organised by the IMO, is closely aligned with the 2030 UN Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goal 5, and it will be an opportunity to highlight the presence of women in the industry and how to promote diversity, equality and inclusion in the workplace, which is seen as one of the major factors that will improve the economy globally. At Interspill 2022, we will have a chance to continue the conversation during a Diversity, Equality & Inclusion session, in the form of an interactive lunch discussion open to all participants of the conference. The event, which will follow on from the work started online during IOSC 2021, will focus on getting together and discussing the main themes around gender equality and female empowerment in the workplace and specifically in the maritime industry. A questionnaire on the main topics under discussion will be distributed to all Interspill participants in advance and will inform the themes of the session. Dr Sabrina Cohen-Hatton will open the session with a short presentation on her experience establishing a career 6
In her best-selling book The Heat of The Moment, Sabrina recounts both her early formative experiences, as well as life on the frontline and the extraordinary insights it has brought. From judging when and how to evacuate a building to which of her colleagues should be sent into a blaze, she takes an honest, human look at the highs and lows of one of the riskiest and most challenging of occupations. And whilst many of these stories seem unique to fire and rescure work, her insights and lessons apply to everyone, in life and in business.
Dr Sabrina Cohen-Hatton will deliver a Special Plenary Session at 0930 hrs 22 June in the Auditorium. Dr Sabrina Cohen-Hatton will also attend the Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Lunch below.
in the fire fighting and emergency management industry. She will also share insights into how she has become an instrument for changing policy at the global level through her research into incident command and decision making under pressure. Following Dr Sabrina CohenHatton’s speech, the participants will have a chance to discuss in smaller groups specific issues related to gender equality. They will then be encouraged to share their opinions and findings in an open forum. We hope that a Diversity, Equality & Inclusion lunch session will enable the delegates to voice their opinions, concerns and challenges and share ideas for ways to sustainably overcome barriers to equality. When you register for Interspill you will receive the questionnaire and how to register for the lunch! For more details please contact: martajanuszewska@oilspillresponse.com
