The way Australia measures, understands and improves community flood and bushfire preparedness is being shaped by Natural Hazards Research Australia Associate Student, Dr Sara Fazeli.
Recently completing her PHD research through the University of New South Wales, Sara is committed to providing practical tools and insights that keep people safer in the face of increasingly frequent and severe natural hazards.
Exploring what drives individuals to prepare, Sara’s PhD aimed to understand how people make critical decisions under pressure. Her work offers new evidence-based approaches to help emergency agencies, councils and policymakers design more effective communication, education and preparedness strategies for diverse communities.
Building on her background in urban and transport planning, Sara set out to understand how preparedness can be meaningfully measured and improved at the individual level.
Sara said that she wanted to contribute practical change helping communities become safer and more resilient.
“I was curious about exploring disaster preparedness for its potential to make a tangible impact, both in saving lives and reducing economic losses,” Sara said.
“As the impacts of climate change and natural hazards intensify, I wanted to contribute to the kind of practical change that helps communities become safer and more resilient.”
Strengthening preparedness and safer decision-making
Sara’s research provides two key ways to improve community safety.
Firstly, she developed validated self-assessment scales to measure how prepared individuals are for flood and bushfires. These standardised tools help identify gaps in preparedness, highlight at-risk groups and inform targeted education campaigns.
Sara’s work also examined driving behaviour during flood and bushfire evacuations, revealing how people make risky driving decisions in high-pressure situations. Her findings help shape more effective public information and communication campaigns, emergency messaging and policy interventions that encourage safer choices during natural hazards.
Together, these insights support emergency agencies and policymakers in designing evidence-based strategies to reduce disaster risk.
Supported through the Centre Associated Student Program
Sara joined the Centre’s Associated Student Program after seeking guidance about survey design and data collection.
She credits the Centre with supporting her research journey, from promoting her flood and bushfire preparedness surveys to providing valuable opportunities to connect with researchers and practitioners.
“Being part of the Centre community has been an invaluable experience,” she said. “I truly value being part of such a collaborative and supportive network.”
Driving research into practice
Sara’s work has already been recognised internationally and nationally, with presentations at the World Bosai Forum 2025 in Sendai, Japan and the Disaster and Emergency Management Conference on the Gold Coast. Her research has also led to three peer-reviewed journal papers, including a scoping review on individual preparedness and behavioural training, a preparedness measurement tool for flood and bushfire emergencies and a study on driving behaviour during emergency evacuations (currently under review).
“By providing validated measurement tools and insights into high-risk driving behaviour, my research aims to support communities, emergency services and policymakers in implementing effective preparedness strategies and risk communication campaigns,” she said.
Through her PhD, Sara has contributed valuable evidence to the growing body of knowledge on disaster preparedness and community resilience, helping ensure that future risk communication and policy decisions are grounded in robust, real-world insights.