Change and volunteering highlighted on the Gold Coast

Research from the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC was featured on the Gold Coast on 21-22 May.

Research Director Dr John Bates featured as a keynote speaker at the Australia and New Zealand Disaster and Emergency Management conference where he spoke about the importance of perspective and how the CRC is driving change in research utilisation.

Dr Bates also spoke about what the CRC has learned so far and outlined the challenges for conducting research into the future.

The conference included presentations from CRC researchers including Darja Kragt (University of Western Australia) who presented on her project that looks into sustainable is investigating how to sustain volunteering in emergency services.

A panel session on personal grievances and experiences of disaster also occurred at the conference where people with direct linkages to the September 11 attacks, London bombings and Black Saturday were in attendance.

The conference also saw stakeholders from key agencies sit into presentations lessons management, recovery, leadership, the role of the media, education and community engagement.

This is the seventh year of the conference and the fourth time the CRC has been directly affiliated with the event. The conference was held at the Star Gold Coast and attracted delegates from across the emergency and disaster management sectors.

ANZDMC is a joint initiative of four organisations: the Australian Institute of Emergency Services, the Australian and New Zealand Mental Health Association Inc., the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, and the Association for Sustainability in Business Inc.