Special address to honour public benefit research pioneer

The value of public benefit research in solving national problems is the focus of a new annual oration at the premier Australasian conference for the fire and emergency services sector in Melbourne on 27 August.

This year marks the inaugural Dr Laurie Hammond Oration, to be presented by Prof Mary O’Kane, AC at the close of the Research Forum held at 4:25pm on Tuesday 27 August at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Prof O’Kane has a long and distinguished history of working closely with many research organisations, including Cooperative Research Centres, and with state and federal governments on research challenges. She is the chair of the NSW Planning Assessment Commission and was previously the NSW Chief Engineer and Scientist. 

Prof O’Kane will draw on her extensive experience in research, academia and public policy when speaking on the value of public benefit research through the Cooperative Research Centre Program.

Prof O’Kane’s oration will be held in honour of the CRC’s former Chairman Dr Laurie Hammond, who passed away late last year. Her talk on 'Best research organisation structures for solving hard and intractable national problems' is a fitting legacy to his belief in the importance of transferring science into practice.

Dr Hammond was appointed independent Chairman of the CRC when it began in 2013 and was integral to the growth and development of the Centre.

The AFAC19 powered by INTERSCHUTZ conference and Research Forum are great ways to showcase how CRC research is being used by the sector.

The forum includes topics on a diverse range of emergency management aspects; from fire behaviour, predictive services and smoke modelling, to community preparedness, health and wellbeing and resilience and recovery.

CRC CEO Dr Richard Thornton said that the CRC’s research is all about practical outcomes.

“You will hear about the latest research findings and how they are informing change right now.

“The conference is also all about meeting our scientists and creating the networks to enable you to embed the latest knowledge into your business,” Dr Thornton said.  

On the following two days (28 and 29 August) the AFAC19 conference and exhibition will continue before a final day (30 August) of field trips and professional development programs including a forum on personal protective clothing and equipment, firefighter safety research and a workshop on emergency management’s digital future.