Dr Joseph has an MPhil and a PhD in psychiatric social work from the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences, Bangalore. She has been associated with the Jamsetji Tata School of Disaster Studies since its inception and has been its chairperson since 2009. She was also dean of the school from 2015 to 2017. Her research, field action, and teaching in the school are around psychosocial care and support in disaster and humanitarian contexts. Her long-term engagement through research and field action in the psychosocial domain have seen her study the 2004 tsunami, the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, the 2011 Zaveri Bazaar blast, the 2011 AMRI hospital fire, the 2012 Assam violence, and the 2015 Nepal Earthquake. She has been studying the effects of the agrarian crisis in Maharashtra, India on collective stress and well-being since 2009. Since 2017, she has also had field engagement on the subject. Dr Joseph was a member of the social work faculty before she moved into the field of disaster management. Her other areas of interest and work are disaster risk, vulnerability, and recovery; measurement; indices; disaster resilience leadership; and disaster management competency for entry-level professionals and leaders.