A program of post-disaster research at Natural Hazards Research Australia is supporting vital data collection after a natural hazard.
Given the complex nature of disasters caused by natural hazards, post-disaster research is essential to improve planning, resilience, risk reduction, recovery and community safety. This will remain an essential research requirement as environments and communities are increasingly disrupted by climate change.
The Centre's CEO, Andrew Gissing, explained that post-disaster research is an ongoing capability the Centre offers partners.
“Learning after any disaster is critical and there are many research insights that can be gained for our partners. This type of research will ensure that lived experiences of natural hazards can be incorporated into our sector’s lessons, governance and management processes, to ultimately improve community safety,” Gissing said.
Funding to address time-critical, post-disaster research is available through two research programs: the Responsive Disaster Research program and the Quick Response Fund.
Responsive Disaster Research
This research enables the Centre to engage actively with partners to identify essential research needed in the wake of a disaster caused by natural hazards. This could be through projects established by the Centre or through co-investment with partners.
Responsive Disaster Research can provide important insights into a natural hazard after it has occurred, assisting with learning important lessons from disasters.
Quick Response Fund
Funding is available to support researchers travelling to areas recently affected by natural hazards, to ensure that the impacts are measured in a timely manner. Funds are principally designed to reimburse travel expenses, accommodation and food. Any researcher or postgraduate student working in natural hazards research is eligible to apply.
For more information on post-disaster research, visit www.naturalhazards.com.au/post-disaster-research.
Recent examples of post-disaster research include a program of Black Summer projects that was funded through the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, now being finalised at the Centre. There is also a project being developed to collect social data about community experiences of the 2022 eastern Australia floods, supported by the New South Wales State Emergency Service and Queensland Fire and Emergency Services through the Responsive Disaster Research program. The findings from these projects will be actively implemented within partner organisations to ensure that the lessons learnt can contribute to future safety and disaster resilience.
Post-disaster research – a key focus of the Centre’s recently published Biennial Research Plan 2022–24 – is only one piece of the Centre’s overall research portfolio, which also includes core, commissioned, postgraduate, early career researcher and associate student programs. It builds on the important quick response research from the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC conducted between 2016 and 2021.
To learn more about the Centre's research programs and how to get involved, contact our Partnership Development Director, Sarah Mizzi.