Scientific diversity - project update

This is the May 2016 newsletter from the Scientific diversity, scientific uncertainty and risk mitigation policy and planning project (RMPP), with updates for project end-users.

Research Advisory Forum

The 2016 Research Advisory Forum for the CRC’s social science projects was held 11-12 May in Hobart, Tasmania. Dr Jessica Weir, Dr Tim Neale and Associate-Professor Michael Eburn from the project team attended, as did end-users John Schauble, Ed Pikusa and Chris Irvine. As always, the RAF was a great opportunity from project team members, end-users, CRC representatives and others to get together and discuss the progress and future of this and other projects. 

Utilisation plan 2.0

An important aspect of the RAF was the discussion of the project’s self-assessment matrix and utilisation roadmap. As end-users will already know, the project team drafted a research utilisation plan at the end of 2015 that was then circulated to end-users for comment. Following discussions between the project team and end-users at the RAF, the next step is for the project team to finalise the utilisation roadmap.

Reporting seminar - Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning

One item included in the draft utilisation plan is to hold seminars reporting research results directly back to the agencies involved in project case studies. In April, Dr Neale presented the first of these seminar at Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning offices in Melbourne. Sixteen staff members from the Department’s Forest, Fire and Regions group attended, as well as lead end-user John Schauble, Lyndsey Wright from the CRC and Professor John Handmer (RMIT).   

Publication update

As mentioned in the pervious newsletter, the project’s most recent peer-review publication is:

• Neale T, Weir JK and Dovers S. (2016) Science in Motion: integrating scientific knowledge into bushfire risk mitigation in southwest Victoria. Australian Journal of Emergency Management.

This paper is available Open Access on the AJEM website here. Another paper based on the Barwon-Otway case study, written by Dr Neale, has recently been accepted for the geography journal Environment & Planning A. Details of when this paper will be published will be included in a future newsletter. 

Dr Neale also has an article in the autumn edition of Fire Australia, discussing the routes between science, policy and planning, and why they are complex and variable. Read the article here.

Staffing transition

Dr Neale, who has been the project’s Principal Investigator since July 2014, is going to be stepping down from this role in July 2016 to take up a research position at Deakin University in Melbourne. Dr Neale will be continuing to work in the area of natural hazards research and will stay attached to the project as part of the project team. The project team will seek to appoint a replacement Principal Investigator in the coming months.

Case studies update

Dr Neale travelled to Darwin at the end of May to complete the final interviews for that case study. As noted previously, the project team had intended the third case study to focus upon flood risk in the Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley. However, for reasons beyond our control, this case study is no longer viable within the timespan of the project. As such, the project team have begun scoping a case study of flood risk in the Queanbeyan area of NSW.