Focus on social science in Sydney

CRC end-user partners, researchers and PhD students from across the country gathered in Sydney last week to attend the CRC’s biannual Research Advisory Forum.

Held at the NSW Rural Fire Service, 136 people attended the two-day event featuring project updates from the CRC’s research project program, alongside focused discussions on utilisation and opportunities to network. 

Four CRC PhD students; Liberty Pascua, Darryl Dixon, Alan Green and Peter Middleton also presented findings on their research, as part of the returning Three Minute Thesis format. This followed on from a presentation skill workshop the previous day, where 11 CRC PhD students were shown how to best present to an audience and engage the crowd on their science.

A utilisation workshop on economics in natural hazards also took place at the NSW Fire & Rescue training centre. The workshop discussed ideas surrounding policy adaptation and how primary policy-making agencies in Australia can adopt the latest research on the economics of disaster recovery. The workshop was led by CRC researcher Prof Mehmet Ulubasoglou.

The Research Advisory Forum focused on projects from the social science clusters including:

• Practical decision tools for improved decision-making in complex, time-constrained and multi-team environments
• Building strength and capability through diversity
• Effective risk and warnings communication during natural hazards
• Hazards, culture and Indigenous communities
• Economics of natural hazards
• Enabling sustainable emergency volunteering.

The RAF supports both the research and the utilisation aims of the CRC by allowing for a more intensive discussion on the progress of each project through various breakout sessions.

All the presentations from the RAF are available from the resources tab on the events page.