Bruce has worked as a policy advisor, planning consultant and academic, mainly in New Zealand, South Africa, and the USA. At Massey since 2002, his research centres on how governance shapes societal choices in the Anthropocene, with a focus on coastal governance, climate change adaptation and natural hazards planning.
Bruce is Editor-in-Chief of Ocean & Coastal Management. He held key leadership roles in the IPCCs Working Group II 6th Assessment. He is Lead Author of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) nexus report on biodiversity, water, climate, food and health (2022-2024). Bruce founded Natural Hazards Planning scholarship in New Zealand and taught the first university courses on this subject in the country. More than 620 students have taken these courses. He edited the first Special Issue on Natural Hazards Planning in Australasia (AJDTS, 2010). Recent co-edited books include: The Oxford Encyclopedia of Natural Hazards Governance, Vol1-II (2020) and A Decade of Disaster Experiences in Ōtautahi Christchurch: Critical Disaster Studies Perspectives (2022).
