Researchers sought for projects

Researchers are needed to lead three new projects with the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC. The projects, which are being undertaken for the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP), cover the effects of fire on ecosystems, the development of a user interface for historical fire weather information and the application of self-evacuation methods during an emergency. Expressions of interest (EOI) are now open for all organisations interested in these projects, and will close on 20 July.

In case you missed it, EOIs covering community resilience, climate change impacts and prescribed burning were released on 22 June, closing 13 July.

Further EOIs will be sought for a further nine research projects in the coming weeks. These will be announced on the CRC’s website, via email and on social media. Topics are detailed at the bottom of this article. This process will stagger the submission deadlines to ensure ample opportunity is provided to researchers who wish to submit proposals for multiple projects.

Effects of fire on specific ecosystems - closing date extended until 27 July

This research will examine how four specific ecosystems respond to fire. The project will create a body of knowledge of how fire effects these ecosystems, and how resilient they are to fire. The knowledge and outcomes of this project will strengthen decision making to enhance bushfire management across Victoria. More information is available here.

User interface for fire weather dataset - closing 20 July

This project will develop a user interface for Victorian bushfire management agencies. The user interface will enable user-friendly access to the Victorian historical fire weather gridded dataset, which will be used to inform risk tools for strategic, tactical and community engagement purposes. More information is available here.

The project also involves incorporating information from the database into the existing Google Climate Engine, which will create a web-based system for users to access data on the trends and variability of fire weather.

Application of self-evacuation archetypes - closing 20 July

To enhance community resilience, this research will examine the behaviour of people evacuating during a bushfire. This will be carried out by testing several archetypes across a range of bushfire risk reduction strategies. The research will support community engagement processes, enhance bushfire human behaviour modelling and support the effectiveness of bushfire risk reduction strategies and their impacts on communities. More information is available here.

Submitting a proposal

Further details on the projects and instructions of the requirements of these EOI can be found here. More information on the first round of EOIs can be found here. Any interested parties are encouraged to put forward a proposal. Responses are due by midnight on 20 July 2018.

Researchers are also encouraged to provide a consortium approach. In this case one party would be nominated as the lead research organisation and have overall responsibility for project delivery. More of these opportunities will be made available in the coming month.

Any enquiries or request for further documentation related to these EOI should be directed to Loriana Bethune: loriana.bethune@bnhcrc.com.au. 

Future topics

EOIs will be sought in the next four weeks for projects investigating:

• Efficiencies of fire resources
• How to best gather data on environmental regulatory systems
• Better seasonal predictions of bushfire
• Wildlife protection
• Environmental compliance
• The impacts of environmental crime.