The threat posed by natural hazards is ever growing, with the immediate need for research-backed disaster risk reduction and resilience-building clearer than ever.
The beginning of 2024 has already been shaped by a summer of disasters with communities recovering from the impact of severe storm, flood, cyclone and bushfire. A key concern raised by communities in each of these settings are emergency warnings from authorities.
Many communities were still recovering from earlier natural hazards when the next hit. Questions about the future of these communities are being raised, along with the need for strategies, such as assisted relocation, to reduce the devastating impact of natural hazards on them.
The compounding storms and bushfires in Victoria last week illustrated the cascading impacts of natural hazards highlighting the importance of several of the Centre’s projects including: modelling impacts of natural hazards on interconnected infrastructure networks; understanding the resilience of lifelines for regional and remote communities; and creating resilient and sustainable critical infrastructure using evidence informed policy.
All these events are occurring in the context of climate change, with 2023 officially named the hottest year recorded globally and this year following suit, with last month named the warmest January ever recorded.
Recent natural hazards are contributing to escalating insurance prices. Today natural hazards are not only an issue of safety, resilience and sustainability they are now directly contributing to cost-of-living pressures across the Australian community.
In response to these challenges, Natural Hazards Research Australia (the Centre) began the year by bringing together in Melbourne more than 100 people from our Participant organisations, researchers and stakeholders to discuss the challenges faced by the sector, the communities we serve, and the natural hazards research needed to meet the challenges of an already challenging year. We will hold similar events in other states over the year.
Right now, our project concept round is open and taking submissions from Centre Participants. This is an important time that allows the users of our research the chance to develop the research questions that will support them to better meet the challenges of our rapidly changing natural hazard landscape. You can learn more about how to submit a concept, including reviewing a briefing held on 12 February, here. Submissions for concepts close on 8 March.
The Centre’s Board this month endorsed a proposal to establish a First Nations scholarship and fellowship program. Co-developed with First Nations sector leaders, this program and the Centre aim to continue to foster and develop First Nations’ research capability now and into the future, helping ensure First Nations cultural practices and research is at the forefront of natural hazards understanding and management in Australia and around the world.
Given the urgency for research informed action, our priorities for 2024 are clear:
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Building the utilisation of the research developed by the Centre as more and more projects come to fruition;
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Support a strong, engaged, and informed sector through the Centre’s multiple channels, including the Natural Hazards Research Forum (Adelaide, 14 - 16 May) and the Hazardous Webinar series – don’t miss the next webinar on 27 February on capturing cyclone data in real-time;
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Measure the impact of the Centre’s research via our evaluation framework; and
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Review the Centre’s Biennial Research Plan to ensure the best return on research investment for the Centre’s Participants, the Commonwealth government and the Australian people. This important strategy document provides an opportunity to further reflect on growing research utilisation opportunities and further align Centre activities with government priorities.
We look forward to working with all our Centre’s stakeholders in 2024 as we work together to achieve the Centre’s mission of working on research that is useful, actionable, and supportive of better decision-making to save lives and protect communities.