Research, networks and capabilities are continuing to be built by Natural Hazards Research Australia. Throughout 2023 the Centre has continued to foster the utilisation of research funded through the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC with many success stories. Find out more below.
Developing community resilience
Backed by CRC research at the University of New England, with support from agencies and governments around Australia, the Australian Disaster Resilience Index (ADRI) provides the first nationally standardised snapshot of the capacities for disaster resilience in Australian communities.
Communities, government and emergency services can use the Australian Disaster Resilience Index to take informed and practical steps towards improving the disaster resilience of local communities before, during and after natural hazards.
Index access includes:
- 466 users that have created accounts on the system. This is noteworthy as users are not forced to create an account to get information, only to access the more advanced functions like storing searches. This means the actual usage is much higher. User accounts are created on a regular basis; between 3 – 12 per month.
- Users from more than 220 different organisations, consisting of state and territory emergency organisations, numerous federal and state departments, 16 Australian universities, 97 organisations with a “.gov.au” URL, public good organisations including the Red Cross and St. Vincent de Paul Society, and a number of private and public companies. There are also several international organisations that created accounts.
- More than 491k unique user sessions – registered in the last three years.
An API (Application Programming Interface) that delivers the data used in the Index has been integrated into several other systems by external organisations. Some of these have resulted in formal data agreements. A total of 15 unique API keys have been issued to date, to a mix of emergency service agencies, state and federal departments, community support services, philanthropic organisations and academic institutions, and most of them are accessed by these users on a regular basis.
Developing the non-technical skills of emergency managers
Developing the non-technical skills of emergency managers, The Learning and Development Group of AFAC is drawing on CRC research for its training guides.
Embedding Non-Technical Skills into Emergency Management Training, published in July 2021, builds on the work of Dr Peter Hayes and A/Prof Chris Bearman from CQUniversity.
This work highlights the importance of non-technical skill development for emergency management practitioners. It provides guidance, tools and activities to help instructors and organisations better integrate non-technical skills into training and operations. Peter and Chris co-authored the guide with the contributions from Queensland Fire and Emergency Services and NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service who provided their training materials to assist with the development of the industry case studies within the guide.
Peter and Chris’ work on nontechnical skills is also being utilised by QFES as an input to the EMNoTS (Emergency Management Non-Technical Skills) checklist for the organisation’s Incident Supervision/Crew Leader training program.
The researchers are currently seeking Australian emergency management personnel to participate in the first phase of their new research from the Centre’s Enhancing decision-making in emergency management project. Learn more about the research survey here.
Self-leadership skills
Research on developing positive mental health for young adult emergency services personnel through the CRC developed a framework and resources to minimise the short- and long-term impacts of exposure to potentially traumatising events. For use at an individual, local or organisation-wide level, the resources also promote mental health and wellbeing more generally among young people in the emergency services.
These resources are now being used by the consultancy Obvious Choice to create a suite of eLearning modules for Emergency Management Victoria to develop leadership capability for disaster risk, in members of Australia’s emergency management community. The modules are intended for use across the country for the advancement of leadership skills in planning, preparedness, response, and recovery to disasters.
Community engagement – volunteer toolkit
Community engagement frameworks and tools that are used by agencies were evaluated by the CRC.
These tools are now being further adapted by lead researcher Dr Barbara Ryan, from the University of Southern Queensland, to develop community engagement training for Queensland SES volunteers. This includes an updated community engagement toolkit based on the findings of this research, and monitoring and evaluation tools that will be supported by a short training course.
These tools will be central to helping Queensland SES volunteers progress from an informal information delivery model of community engagement to a more targeted and collaborative approach to working with their communities.
Supporting disaster recovery
Recovery Capitals supports wellbeing after disasters with evidence-based resources for people and organisations engaged in recovery.
Online resource materials include:
- A Guide – A snapshot of evidence-based findings and key considerations for recovery workers.
- Recovery Stories – told by those who have experienced disasters.
- Applying Recovery Capitals – resources including activities, podcasts and presentation slides.
- Background materials – Reports, academic publications and other background materials.
Download the Guide here.
The Recovery Capitals resources were co-developed with 21 government and non-government emergency management and recovery agencies and service providers across Australia and New Zealand in 2021 and embedded into practice including by Red Cross as the lead end-user organisation. Soon after, they received the 2021 Resilient Australia National Mental Health and Wellbeing Award and the 2022 EMPA Award for Excellence in Emergency Communication. They have now been widely circulated and adopted beyond the original stakeholders.
Helping people to care for their animals during disasters
Animals are a key determinator in how people respond to a natural hazard and CRC research, led by A/Prof Mel Taylor from Macquarie University, is generating further research utilisation opportunities for the Centre.
The NSW State Emergency Service hosts resources from this research on its Get Ready Animals | NSW State Emergency Service website with resources to help NSW animal owners plan for their animals in emergencies. Hard copies of the resources have also been distributed at community events and pre-bushfire season activities. Several NSW Government videos generated from this research have also been created that have been supported by NSW SES, Infrastructure NSW, NSW DPI, Greater Sydney LLS, Hawkesbury City Council, Agnes Banks Equine Centre.
Small Companion Animal Incident Management Project – Skills Impact also references the CRC research importance in its Australian Animal Care and Management Industry Sector Annual Update 2021: IRC Skills Forecast and Proposed Schedule of Work, to support the development of a TAFE unit in Companion Animal Emergency Management.