Student research boosts sector

Six more CRC students have recently completed their PhDs, further increasing the knowledge that emergency service agencies have access to through the CRC’s postgraduate student scholarship program.

Dr Heather Bancroft’s PhD project improved on the knowledge of the prevalence of mental health disorders amongst Australian volunteer and career firefighters. The Country Fire Service in South Australia, ACT Fire and Rescue, ACT Rural Fire Service and the Northern Territory Fire and Rescue Service were all participants of Dr Bancroft’s project, in which 335 firefighters were part of a pair of surveys that assessed depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, exposure to personal trauma and firefighter-related potentially traumatic events. Dr Bancroft completed her PhD with the University of Melbourne and her thesis is available here: https://www.bnhcrc.com.au/publications/biblio/bnh-6162

Dr Bryan Hally’s PhD focused on the role background temperature estimation plays in the detection and attribution of active fire using satellite remote sensing. His work firstly examined the errors associated with the current spatio-contextual model of background temperature estimation and the causes behind these errors. Dr Hally’s thesis also presents a new method of temperature estimation known as the Spatio-Temporal Selection method that uses similarities of temperatures measured in a search radius around the target to be estimated, in order to derive suitable candidate pixels for estimation from a single image. Dr Hally completed his PhD with RMIT University and his thesis is available here: https://www.bnhcrc.com.au/publications/biblio/bnh-5777

Dr Gabriela Raducan’s PhD project designed a spatial approach to support the planning of the water quality in areas subjected to bushfires. Dr Raducan used a hydrological model in order to predict river water quality for her research, allowing her to analyse the highly-variable water quality parameters. Bushfires can have a large impact on surrounding water quality through air, soil and debris pollution, and Dr Raducan’s model allows for the accurate measuring of water quality impacts. Dr Raducan completed her PhD with RMIT University and her thesis is available here: https://www.bnhcrc.com.au/publications/biblio/bnh-6159

Associate student Dr Alan Green’s PhD thesis, Sprinkler systems for the protection of buildings from wildfire, focused on the analysis of external water spray systems that are designed to protect buildings from bushfires. Dr Green conducted experiments into the performance of these systems, the mechanisms by which water sprays mitigate the impacts of fire on buildings and the degree of protection that can be achieved. The results indicated that these fire sprinkler systems can provide significant protection to buildings during a bushfire. Dr Green completed his PhD with the University of Wollongong and his thesis is available here: https://www.bnhcrc.com.au/publications/biblio/bnh-6114

CRC associate student Dr Ismail Qeshta completed his PhD project on the fragility and resilience of bridges. Bridges are susceptible to severe damage due to wave-induced forces during floods, cyclones, storm surges and tsunamis. As a direct impact of climate change, the frequency and intensity of these events are also expected to increase in the future. Dr Qeshta’s research provides a comprehensive vulnerability assessment framework for bridges subjected to extreme hydrodynamic forces. Dr Qeshta completed his PhD with RMIT University and his thesis is available here: https://www.bnhcrc.com.au/publications/biblio/bnh-6161

Associate student Dr Raven Cretney’s research looks at how communities engage with recovery and how this influences forms of social and political change. Dr Cretney draws on critical geographies of crisis and hope to frame the potential that emerges from disruption to foster different forms of change. This involves an understanding of the complex dynamics of political and social change in response to disaster, as well as the inter-connected relationship between community led recovery and the actions of the state in responding to crisis. Through investigating this contestation and politicisation, Dr Cretney outlines a case study to ground the discourses and practices of a politics of crisis and hope at the everyday level. Dr Cretney completed her PhD with RMIT University and her thesis is available here: https://www.bnhcrc.com.au/publications/biblio/bnh-6163

Congratulations Heather, Bryan, Gabriela, Alan, Ismail and Raven!