He has authored and co-authored over 100 publications which includes peer reviewed articles, books and chapters in books and international and national research reports. Dewald has been project leader for local, national as well as international disaster risk reduction projects, and has undertaken disaster risk reduction research and consultancy in countries such as Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Tanzania, Ethiopia, United Arab Emirates, Sweden, UK, and India. He has been successful in attracting and obtaining multi-year research and project grants from national as well as international donors such as USAID, Save the Children, Help the Aged UK, the World Bank, the German Government through GIZ, the Fiscal and Financial Commission of South Africa and the National Disaster Management Centre of South Africa.  

Dewald is the programme manager for the M.Sc and Ph.D in Geography and Environmental Sciences focussing on Disaster Risk Studies, as well the Research Theme leader on “Socio-ecological Resilience". Dewald is the founder and Editor in Chief of Jàmbá: Journal of Disaster Risk Studies. In 2012 he played a significant role in the establishment of the Southern Africa Society for Disaster Reduction.

His research are motivated by a desire to reduce the possible impacts of natural hazards and unknowns like climate change on communities most at-risk. His interests includes community based disaster risk management, disaster risk assessment, disaster risk governance, building institutional capacities for disaster risk reduction, and transdisciplinary disaster risk reduction.