Comings and goings at the CRC

April and May have been very busy times for the CRC with many activities occurring. We have attended and presented at the following conference or partner events:

• Research Advisory Forum in Sydney
• Diversity in disaster conference in Melbourne
• CRC Association conference in Sydney
• QFES strategy workshop in Brisbane
• Research briefing to ACT stakeholders in Canberra
• NSW Rural Fire Service Australian Community Engagement and Fire Awareness Conference in Coffs Harbour
• Australian and New Zealand Disaster and Emergency Management Conference at the Gold Coast
• Breakfast briefing to the Parliamentary Friends of Science in Parliament House, Canberra
• Science at the Shine Dome in partnership with the Australian Academy of Science in Canberra

There is more to come in the next few weeks too, including:

• the Floodplain Management Conference at the Gold Coast 
• Australasian Natural Hazards Management and Emergency Management conference in Wellington New Zealand
• A research workshop in Wellington in NZ
• The Emergency Media and Public Affairs conference in Melbourne.

Our formal independent review has also been completed, from 9-11 May, and we have also held Board Research and Utilisation committee and Audit and Compliance committee meetings, as well as a Board meeting in Canberra.

The final report of the independent review is now on our website here. Pleasingly, we received a good review on the quality of our research, our research utilisation activities and governance processes. The independent panel has provided some recommendations that will help the CRC in the coming years, and also suggestions around the transition beyond the current CRC programme funding period. We will develop a plan to address the recommendations and discuss this with the Board at its next meeting in August.

We have also welcomed a new staff member, Kelsey Tarabini. She will be working with the research utilisation team to help ensure our research is used as effectively as possible.

We will also, sadly, be saying goodbye to Amelia Dell, who has been on placement from her undergraduate studies at the University of Coventry in the UK since last August. Amelia is returning to complete her studies and the CRC wishes her well -  it has been great having her in the office. 

Finally, it was great to see one of the former Bushfire CRC project leaders, Prof Alan Andersen, be inducted into the Australian Academy of Science as a Fellow this week. This is one of the highest recognitions for a scientist in Australia and we congratulate Alan for this great achievement.