More than 390 emergency management practitioners and researchers attended the very first Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC Research Forum – a sold out crowd – at our annual conference in Wellington.
The Forum showed why research and innovation are vital precursors for safer communities and better environmental management. 31 researchers from universities and agencies across Australia, New Zealand and the US covered the latest research into severe weather, community safety, heatwaves, flood risk, the economics of natural hazards, infrastructure planning, fire modelling and volunteer management.
Dr Richard Thornton, CEO of the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC said it was great to see a range of hazards covered by the research.
“A sold out crowd shows that the industry is interested in the research that is underway,” Dr Thornton said.
“It was really pleasing to be able cover a broad range of hazards, from many researchers who haven’t previously been involved in the industry. There was also many presentations that were cross disciplinary, covering volunteering, incident management, community safety, resilience and economics.”
This year’s conference was the first for the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, taking on the partnership with AFAC from its predecessor the Bushfire CRC.