Research available in detail

With a focus on the science of natural hazards, the papers from the 2017 Research Forum held in Sydney on 4 September are available. Delve into the science in detail, with a majority of research papers available in full. This includes papers presented during the Research Forum, as well as the research papers that were presented on 5 and 6 September on the AFAC17 program.

In addition, a number of research papers will also appear in the October issue of the Australian Journal of Emergency Management. This includes peer-reviewed papers that accompany the conference talks by:

• Dr Michael Eburn - Reviewing high risk and high consequence decisions: finding a safer way
• Dr Christine Owen - From research insight to agency change - mapping a learning trajectory of opportunities and challenges   
• Dr Daniel Smith - The use of QFES Rapid Damage Assessments in severe wind event research
• Dr Veronique Florec - Where do we put our dollars? Economic analysis of different bushfire management options in Western Australia
• Rachael Westcott - Narrowing  the awareness-action gap: cultivating a culture of routine all-hazards preparedness

Held on the first day of AFAC17 powered by INTERSCHUTZ, the Research Forum attracted 339 emergency service managers, volunteers, researchers and industry representatives. The Forum saw 43 papers presented, with a further nine research papers presented on the following two days. This year's research papers are divided into 13 peer reviewed papers, and 31 non-peer reviewed extended abstracts. The presentations covered projects across all of the CRC's disaster research areas, as well as projects not affiliated with the CRC. 

The papers, available below, appear in the order they were presented during the conference.

Topics covered include fuel reduction burning, heatwaves, resilience, emergency volunteering, economic analysis, mental health, fire spread modelling, decison-making, cyclones, emergency policy and animal emergency management. 

Download the full papers

Papers are also available individually below. Papers from the Tuesday and Wednesday aspects of the conference are available on the AFAC website.

Peer reviewed papers

No ordinary call: factors predicting fire communication officers' job strain and well-being - K Bradley

Including the intangible benefits of bushfire mitigation in economic analyses: a 'value tool' for informed decision making - A A Rogers, F Gibson, V Florec, A Hailu and D Pannell

An assessment of the viability of prescribed burning as a management tool under a changing climate: a Tasmanian case study - R Harris, T Remenyi, P Fox-Hughes, P Love, H Phillips and N Bindoff

Science is critical but it's not everything: our findings - J Weir, T Neale and L Clarke

Implementing disaster resilience policy in the Australian federation - S Hunt

Secondary eyewall formation in tropical cyclones - J Kepert

From research to red tape - the challenges in implementing fir for duty programs amongst emergency management agencies - R Savage, A Silk, C Walker and B Larsen

Identifying lessons from exercising and training for strategic emergency maangement decision-making - B Brooks, S Curnin, C Bearman and C Owen

Extreme weather: improved data products on bushfires, thunderstorms, tropical cyclones and east coast lows - A Dowdy, H Ye, K Tory, D Jones, A Evans, S Lavender, M Thatcher, T Rafter, S Osbrough, K Walsh, L Cavicchia, J Evans and J Catto

Youth justice conferencing for youth misuse of fire: a case study of collaboration - K Pooley

Modelling feedback between fuel-reduction burning and forest carbon and water balance in eucalypt forests - M Gharun, M Possell and T Bell

Thermodynamic considerations of pyrocumulus formation - K Tory, W Thurston and J Kepert

Large-eddy simulation of neutral atmospheric surface layer flow over heterogeneous tree canopies - D Sutherland, K Moinuddin and A Ooi

Non-peer reviewed extended abstracts

A unified approach to fire spread modelling - J Sharples

Heatwaves in New South Wales: how are residents and businesses coping? - M Tofa and A Gissing

Where do we put our dollars? Economic analysis of different bushfire management options in Western Australia - V Florec and D Pannell

National mental health and wellbeing study of police and emergency services - J Bartlett, presented by N Arvanitis

A new quantitative smoke forecasting system for Victoria - M Long, A Wain, M Cope, B Ebert, M Carroll, K Parkyn and N Tostovrsnik

Evidence-based risk communication: an industry-academy research collaboration that enhanced dam release message effectiveness - A Mehta, S Walker, A Tutticci, D Greer, P Dootson, C Hammill and V Tippett

First responder mental health: Fire and Rescue New South Wales experience - J Pert

Unpacking the sectoral income effects of natural disasters: evidence from the 2010-11 Queensland floods - M Ulubasoglu, M Rahman

Sheltering in place during flooding: a case study of ex cyclone Debbie - K Haynes, M Tofa, A Gissing, L Coates and K Roche

Improving flood forecast skill using remote sensing data - Y Li, S Grimaldi, A Wright, J Walker and V Pauwels

A community's experience of bushfire response and recovery - F Jennings

The uncomfortable conversation: understanding value through risk ownership - C Young and R Jones 

Improving resilience to storm sturge hazards - U Gravois, T Baldock, D Callaghan, G Davies, W Jiang, D Moore and S Nichol

Mapping the efficacy of an Australian fuel reduction burn using Fuels3D point clouds - L Wallace, K Reinke, S Jones, B Hally, S Hillman and C Spits

Cultural worldviews and natural hazard risk perception: a pilot study of Australian adults - M Parsons and A Lykins

The Australian Flammability Monitoring System - M Yebra, A van Dijk, G Cary, X Quan, J Rahman, Z Hatfield Dodds and P Rozas

The Australian Natural Disaster Resilience Index: assessing Australia's disaster resilience at a national scale - M Parsons, P Morley, S Glavac, J McGregor, P Hastings, I Reeve, R Stayner, J McNeill and G Marshall

How risk informs natural hazard management: a study of the interface between risk modelling and local government policies and procedures - M Crawford

Enhancing team performance - C Bearman

An organisational response to Stage 3 Geography and the study of a contemporary bushfire event - T Jarrett

Enhanced estimation of background temperature for fire detection using new geostationary sensors - B Hally, L Wallace, K Reinke, C Wickramasinghe and S Jones

Organisational socialisation of volunteers in an Australian emergency services agency - M Jones and Y Berry

The interaction between firefighting boot design and lower body injury risk at work - A Walker, V Vu and W Spratford

When policy, politics and emergency responses collide: managing coordination in crises - G Carayannopoulos

Emergency management and policy: research impact and utilisation - S Dovers

Multi-hazard mitigation planning, combining modelling, scenarios and optimisation: results from South Australia - G Riddell, H van Delden, R Vanhout, H Maier, J Newman, A Zecchin and G Dandy

Too good to be true? How a remote island community developed a 100% effective risk communication strategy and what Australia can learn from it - S Sutton

Implementing CRC research: development of a tool for assessing post-fire hydrologic risk - A Leavesley, P Nyman, N Krusel, G Sheridan and N Cooper

Building an ARC in the mountains: a community-led initiative to build an animal-ready community (ARC) in the NSW Blue Mountains to provide a template for similar initiatives - M Taylor, M McCarthy and J Bigelow

Lessons learned from a multidisciplinary investigation into the Waroona fire - M Peace, J Kepert, L McCaw, N Burrows, B Santos and R Fawcett

Out of uniform (building community resilience through non-traditional emergency volunteering): what have we learnt?  - B McLennan, J Whittaker, T Kruger and J Handmer