The July 2026 edition of the Australian Journal of Emergency Management (AJEM) continues its 40-year history of showcasing impactful natural hazards research findings that address Australia’s resilience needs – including those from projects funded by Natural Hazards Research Australia (the Centre).
In this edition, the journal features a project providing tangible and practical steps to address Australia’s challenges and barriers to sustainable emergency management volunteering: the Emergency management volunteering: more than just words project.
This project addresses longstanding concerns and questions among emergency managers, policymakers and researchers around how to sustain an effective and resilient emergency management volunteering sector.
Led by Prof Roger Jones and Celeste Young from Victoria University and supported by the Australasian Fire Authorities Council (AFAC), Australian Red Cross and the New South Wales Rural Fire Service, the project equips emergency management organisations with information and resources to adapt and innovate throughout an uncertain future.
The project:
- reframes and reimagines emergency management volunteering challenges and opportunities in different ways compared to the past to reveal new kinds of solutions
- identifies and undertakes action research that supports volunteers and organisations to engage with and learn from many different perspectives and experiences, and to create opportunities to influence the sector toward investing in new, innovative, and sustainable approaches
- develops and refines a National Volunteer Sustainability Blueprint as a living document to guide strategic, national-level, and collaborative action to support emergency management volunteers (the people), volunteering (the activities) and volunteerism (the culture).
In the news and views article published by AJEM, Ms Young and Prof Jones describe why national action towards these improvements has been “elusive”, how organisations can build collaborative and connected pathways towards a sustainable volunteering future and a comprehensive overview of the project’s Volunteering Blueprint and how it can be applied in practice.
The Centre thanks AJEM for its 40 years of contributions to the natural hazards research sector and for continuing to draw attention to research that shows the path to safer people and properties across Australia.
Read the article here.