Celebrating women in research and emergency management

With International Women’s Day just around the corner, the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC wanted to acknowledge the great work the women of the CRC are doing.

Women are working in a diverse range of roles across the CRC from the Chair and board members, to staff and researchers. This includes Dr Katherine Woodthorpe as CRC Chair; board members Kathy Gramp, Naomi Stephens and Sandra Whight; and researchers Dr Katherine Haynes and Prof Vivienne Tippett who featured on the ministerial Bushfire Science Roundtable. The entire CRC network of valued researchers, end-users and postgraduate students play a crucial role in the centre’s projects and research endeavours.

The CRC staff comprises of Leanne Beattie as the CEO’s Executive Assistant, Dr Desiree Beekharry as the Core Research Program Manager, Loriana Bethune as the Utilisation and DELWP Program Manager, Events Officer Vaia Smirneos, Kelsey Tarabini as the Research Utilisation Program Support Officer, Graphic Designer Catrin Harris, Radhiya Fanham interning as the new Communications Assistant, and Director of Partnership Relationships Sarah Mizzi on maternity leave with her first baby.

This article highlights a few of the various roles women at the CRC play and how they contribute to the emergency management sector. 

Loriana Bethune – Utilisation and DELWP Project Manager

In her role at the CRC, Loriana handles utilisation for all workforce capability and communications projects, working with researchers and end-users to bring ideas to fruition and enable CRC research to be used in the emergency management sector and related academia.

Loriana has been working in this sector for 15 years and has passionately advocated for diversity and inclusion by chairing the emergency management culturally and linguistically diverse network and being involved in countless other diversity and inclusion projects. She is currently the Secretary for Women and Firefighting Australasia (WAFA), providing administration and support to all the active firefighters on the board. Read her blog detailing her experiences here.

Being a new mum and working four days has been a challenging learning curve for Loriana. It’s taken considerable adjustment to figure out efficiencies wherever possible. She now says she has become the personification of ‘working smarter not harder’, and the support from the CRC management is something that pushes her to work even smarter.

Vaia Smirneos – Events Officer

As the Events Officer for the CRC, Vaia’s primary responsibility is organising and coordinating the calendar of CRC events and meetings, including conferences, workshops, seminars and forums. If you have participated in any CRC-related event, you have probably been contacted by Vaia. Without her contribution, the CRC’s events could not run as smoothly and successfully as they tend to. Vaia’s role requires passion and organisation, as well as problem-solving and multitasking skills.

Vaia has been working for the CRC for 13 years (previously with the Bushfire CRC) and when she started in 2007 there were only three women working in the office. Now women make up 50 per cent of the CRC staff.

Like Loriana, Vaia is a new mum and sometimes finds it hard to balance being a good mum and a working woman. CRC events often require travelling interstate, requiring her to leave her son at home which is tough for any new mother. She says the balance comes through adult interaction and stimulation which is irreplaceable.

Kelsey Tarabini – Research Utilisation Program Support Officer

In her role as Research Utilisation Program Support Officer, Kelsey supports the Research Utilisation Managers with project management, contracting and other administrative tasks. Kelsey is highly passionate about her work with the DELWP program as she has worked on these projects throughout their lifespans from going out for Expressions of Interest to the projects’ commencement and completion.

As a volunteer firefighter and Youth Ambassador for WAFA, Kelsey has met many young women who are similarly passionate about the emergency services sector, inspiring her to help forge career paths for women in this field. She hopes to reach out and educate more women on the variety of roles and pathways into the sector.

Kelsey says she feels inspired to follow her passions and career goals thanks to the women in the CRC who offer her advice and guidance. She fosters her aspirations and passion for research and practice in the emergency services through the CRC’s female researchers and network of end-users, specifically Dr Mika Peace who inspired Kelsey to think about how to progress with her career in this sector.

Catrin Harris – Graphic Designer

Catrin’s position as the Graphic Designer for the CRC Communications team is a varied, diverse and crucial role. She designs for print and digital platforms, corporate publications, marketing collateral, animation and video editing. Catrin plays a vital role in creating templates and graphics for all CRC research publications, providing innovative and creative solutions to present research in a visually appealing manner.

Working as a graphic designer in the emergency management sector means often engaging with disaster affected communities and facing tragedies in many forms. Catrin describes her experience as having given her greater awareness, understanding and empathy towards others, which she translates through her work in a visual narrative. 

Catrin says she’s grateful to have the opportunity at the CRC to apply her skills in a sector that creates such a positive and lasting impact, and encourages other young designers to think outside the box and pursue a career in the challenging, dynamic and inspiring field that is emergency management.

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The CRC is proud to have such a dynamic team of powerful women and supports the promotion of women and diversity in research and emergency management.

Happy International Women’s Day!