Natural Hazards Research Australia (the Centre) consolidated its position as Australia's premier natural hazards research capability at the AFAC25 and ADRC25 conference in Perth in August, with CEO Andrew Gissing delivering the opening address and Centre researchers leading the evidence-based learnings.
Over the next three days, the research presented showcased Australia’s natural hazards research capability and demonstrated how the Centre’s end-user driven model addresses critical questions and key knowledge gaps.
“The AFAC and ADRC conferences are an invaluable opportunity to share the latest research insights with emergency management and associated practitioners, and build stronger connections between science and practice,” said Andrew.
“Our strong participation in this year’s program highlights the Centre’s pivotal role in producing and translating natural hazards research into real-world impact for communities across Australia.”
Built on 21 years of groundbreaking research, the Centre’s fourth year continues to deliver research that is useful, useable and used to ensure Australian communities are safer, more resilient and sustainable in the face of increasingly frequent and severe natural hazards.
Research showcased at AFAC25 and ADRC25 covered themes from fire behaviour and risk reduction to community resilience and disaster recovery:
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Mitigating fire through water management in the wildland-urban interface, exploring water-based fire prevention strategies in high-risk residential areas (Dr Jady Smith - Natural Hazards Research Australia and University of the Sunshine Coast)
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Workplace exposures of wildland firefighters in WA: Novel insights and real-world impact, shedding light on the health risks faced by firefighters and developing protective measures (Dr Kiam Padamsey - Natural Hazards Research Australia and Edith Cowan University)
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Bridging science and practice: NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service approach for enhanced research utilisation demonstrating how research findings are translated into operational emergency management practices (Dr Felipe Aires – NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service & Shabnam Varzeshi - Natural Hazards Research Australia and RMIT University)
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Building community communication networks during disasters: Lessons from recent bushfires and floods, examining effective community information sharing during emergencies (Dr Susan Atkinson - Natural Hazards Research Australia and University of Canberra)
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The future of emergency management professionalisation: The role of the Australian practitioner, advancing professional standards and capabilities in emergency management (Dr Russell Dippy - Natural Hazards Research Australia and Charles Sturt University)
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Innovation the doorway to a sustainable volunteering workforce, developing strategies to support and retain emergency service volunteers (Celeste Young - Natural Hazards Research Australia and Victoria University)
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Developing a bushfire spread database and Bayesian rate of spread model, creating predictive tools to forecast fire behaviour and spread patterns (Dr Michael Storey - Natural Hazards Research Australia and University of Wollongong)
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Optimising bushfire risk reduction: AI helps to balance trade-offs in risk reduction planning, using artificial intelligence to improve fire prevention decision-making (Dr Douglas Radford - Natural Hazards Research Australia and University of Adelaide)
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Applied pyrogeography to achieve sustainable coexistence with fire the Wildland Urban Interface, understanding fire patterns to reduce risks in residential fire-prone areas (Prof David Bowman - Natural Hazards Research Australia and University of Tasmania)
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Why fly? What has Australia's largest assessment of operational aerial suppression drop data found?, evaluating the effectiveness and optimal use of aerial firefighting resources (Dr Matt Plucinski - Natural Hazards Research Australia and CSIRO)
These projects, researchers and cutting-edge findings on bushfire spread modelling, aerial suppression effectiveness, cultural burning partnerships and tools for climate change resilience demonstrate the breadth and depth of the Centre's research portfolio.