Donna focuses on human-environment interactions, specifically on social and economical vulnerability, adaptation and risk. Her current research program uses indigenous and non-indigenous knowledge to understand climate impacts on remote communities in northern Australia. Her second area of research links human health impacts with climate extremes in urban areas. Her teaching focuses on linking energy policy, climate change and environmental impacts in Australia and internationally.Donna was a contributing author in the UN World Energy Assessment and for the IPCC’s Fourth and Fifth Assessment Report WGII.

She was a founding member of the Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW. She is an Associate Investigator of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes; and the NHMRC Centre for energy, air pollution and health Research, UNSW. As part of the UNSW Strategy 2025, she was a member of the VC’s Grand Challenge of Climate Change steering committee. She leads a national researcher network, the Climate Health Partnership.