Emergency management capability

Evidence from inquiries into major disasters, as well as government--‐based policy research suggests that incidents associated with natural hazards are increasing in complexity, duration, and the number of agencies that are involved. At the same time financial constraints from government, declining volunteer numbers, an aging workforce and workforce restructuring are presenting Agencies with significant challenges. Together these factors have the potential to compromise the effectiveness of an Agency’s capacity to respond and recover to emergencies.

As a consequence during response and recovery efforts, there is likely to be an increased frequency of degraded situations, breakdowns within and between teams and the occurrence of errors. These problems will play out within the context of a decreasing tolerance in the community and their political representatives to emergency management coordination failure.

This cluster of research projects covers improving real-time decision making, catastrophic event planning, diversity and inclusion, impact-based forecasting and mental health and wellbeing.