Rich Parker

Rich Parker is a humanitarian trainer and security professional whose career has encompassed wide exposure across five global regions to the UN community, international NGOs, regional response organisations and national governments.

As the Surge Training Officer at headquarters of UN OCHA, he managed a global training service preparing hundreds of rostered UN experts for emergency field deployments worldwide, and developed numerous high profile simulation exercises for inter-agency disaster coordination networks. As Senior Humanitarian Trainer for RedR Australia, Rich’s core portfolio covered the Asia-Pacific international NGO and UN community, as well as playing a key role in the emergence of pre-deployment training schemes for different government aid departments.

Since launching Training In Aid in 2015, Rich has extended his services to new partners and client groups, including national and international Emergency Medical Teams, disaster affected government ministries, refugee registration programmes and donor field teams. He has deployed on numerous operational assignments as a field security officer, providing safety advice and crisis management skills to ensure the wellbeing of staff and programmes in hostile and insecure environments.

Before joining the humanitarian profession, Rich served internationally as an officer in the British Army in various operational command appointments, training and civil-military coordination roles. Upon leaving the military, Rich worked for several years as an expedition leader and safety advisor, leading and preparing teams for challenging projects in many developing countries.

Rich holds chartered status in training and development, a degree with honours in psychology, a diploma in security risk management, remote first aid and various leadership qualifications in extreme and austere environments. His written articles in the field of security management and training design are published in professional journals. He also continues to be an active roster member for the UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) system and for RedR Australia as part of the UN Standby Partnership Programme.