One year for Institute

The Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience today celebrates one year of operations. The Institute delivers a fresh approach to the delivery of emergency management education, professional development and knowledge sharing for a stronger, disaster-resilient Australia, and is a partnership between the CRC, AFAC, the Australian Red Cross and the federal Attorney-General’s Department.

In its foundation year, the Institute’s main priority has been to understand the needs of the broad emergency management sector, says Institute Director Dr John Bates.

“It has been a fantastic journey so far, as we have seen the idea of cooperatively building and sharing disaster resilience knowledge grow within and among agencies, communities, government, research organisations and education institutions,” Dr Bates said.

“We have enjoyed having the ability to invest in developing the skills and knowledge of people from staff to volunteers to enhance their leadership skills, build their understanding of resilience and influence their practices to support their work in building safer, more resilient communities.”

Each partner in the Institute has brought a unique set of skills and strengths to the table, believes CRC CEO DR Richard Thornton.

“This considerable value it greater than the sum of the parts, from operational, humanitarian and research backgrounds across all hazards” Dr Thornton said.

“The CRC sees the Institute as an important way of getting our research out to people who would benefit from it and in a way that they can understand and use in their daily lives.”

“We have taken a lead role in the publication of the Australian Journal of Emergency Management. The Journal has a long and proud history in the sector and has undergone many developments in the past. We are seeking to retain what is best about the Journal – high quality, credible, and accessible – and introduce new elements with better online access.”

Emergency Management Australia Director-General Mark Crosweller said he was very pleased with the Institute’s progress and was looking forward to its continued growth.

“The Institute has done an enormous amount in 12 months to establish itself and get ready for what I think will make quite a profound difference to the emergency management and resilience community in years to come,” Mr Crosweller said.

From 2017 the Institute is rolling out a suite of programs that further explore emerging areas of disaster resilience knowledge and provide growth opportunities to the workforce. Among the initiatives is the recently launched Resilience Ambassadors Program— a one-year program for staff or volunteers at disaster resilience organisations to strengthen their leadership skills and become champions of resilience within their organisation and region. 

The Institute was launched in Brisbane on 18 November 2015 by the Hon Teresa Gambaro MP, federal member for Brisbane.