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Crafted in collaboration with staff and grounded in a shared respect of research and its impacts – the Centre unveiled its new organisational values this month.
The values articulate the essence of Natural Hazards Research Australia, and the qualities that its members aspire the organisation to be as it advances knowledge, innovation and impact.
The values are:
- Respect – we value every voice and treat all people with dignity and fairness
- Excellence – we commit to leading rigorous evidence-informed outcomes for purposeful impact
- Independent – we maintain autonomy in our research and decision-making for public value
- Innovation – we explore new approaches to provide creative solutions to complex issues
- Collaborative – we enable knowledge sharing and foster connections for mutual goals
- Integrity – we are honest and uphold the highest ethical standards in everything we do.
These values were shaped by the people and leaders of the Centre, are grounded in research excellence and will inform actions and approaches in every project, every partnership, every day.
The six future-focused values will support the organisation’s strategic direction, strengthen organisational culture and will be embedded in the next 10-year Strategic Research Plan 2026–2036, due for release later this year.
They were designed to be authentic, actionable and impact-aligned to reinforce research integrity, transparency, collaboration, and community benefit.
Centre CEO Andrew Gissing said the new values are orientated around “how together we can find ways to be the best together and achieve our mission and vision to make a difference in the face of worsening natural hazard risk.”
The organisation is establishing a behavioural framework to support core behaviours that help define how the Centre and its people work, interact and make decisions.
This will translate these values into clear, practical expectations for everyday conduct and describe the standards expected of all employees, leaders and key stakeholders.
Consistently demonstrating these behaviours will strengthen the Centre’s culture, support the delivery of strategic priorities and bring the new values to life in meaningful ways.
As part of the launch of the new values, the Centre unveiled a design featuring the wattle – Australia’s national floral emblem.
This national cultural icon was chosen as it's uniquely Australian identity reflects our national model and approach; wattle is one of the first plants to regenerate after bushfire and drought, representing resilience and renewal, and there are more than 1000 species of wattle in Australia, representing the diversity of the organisation and coming together in unity.
Australian native wattle in the design is for illustrative purposes only.