Active in practice research and education, Kanako Iuchi has worked in the field of international development planning and disaster risk management for more than 25 years, specializing in disaster management planning, urban and regional planning, and community development. Since joining the International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS) at Tohoku University, she has focused on disaster research and advocating better rebuilding after disasters. As a former World Bank urban specialist and international development planner for international agencies, she pursues the model of scholar-in-practice and continues consulting with the World Bank (WB), Inter-American Development Bank (IaDB), and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Her recent work has primarily centered on planning and researching post-disaster rebuilding after large-scale disasters in urban and coastal areas, including Aceh, Yogyakarta, and Central Sulawesi in Indonesia (post-Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, post-Merapi eruption of 2010, post-central Sulawesi earthquake of 2018); Tohoku, Japan (post-Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011); New York City and Boston metropolitan region, USA (post-Hurricane Sandy of 2012, sea-level rise and recurrent nor'easters); Tacloban, Philippines (post-Haiyan typhoon of 2013); Kathmandu, Nepal (post-Gorkha earthquake of 2015); and Palu, Indonesia (post-Central Sulawesi earthquake of 2018). More recently, she is engaged with Tonga-Fiji-Vanuatu (Hung Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai eruption and tsunami of 2022) post-disaster activities. She holds an MRP from Cornell University and a PhD from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, in urban and regional planning.