Next generation of industry influencers

This article first appeared in the Spring 2016 edition of Fire Australia. By Freya Jones, Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC.

The first wave of PhD students from the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC will graduate this year. The students are making their mark, ensuring that science and research continue to play vital roles in emergency and land management.

Building the capacity and capability of emergency and land management agencies to undertake high quality research is a key goal of the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC. To achieve this, highly skilled researchers are needed. The Bushfire CRC began this eye to the future in 2003 to provide tangible benefits to the sector through dedicated PhD students exploring a range of challenges across multiple hazards.

Current graduates sit at 68 since the scholarship program was established in 2003. The program has expanded significantly through the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC and currently supports a further 100 students – comprising scholarship recipients and associate students, all of whom can access a range of CRC events.

The program allows postgraduate students with a desire to work in emergency management to make valuable connections to the sector. As well as offering financial support, the program provides students with access to a network of peers, opportunities to present their research at conferences, connections with end-users and industry professionals, access to channels to promote their research and most importantly an underpinning support system.

Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC Contract Research and Education Manager, Lyndsey Wright has overseen the scholarship program since 2008 with the Bushfire CRC and continues to do so for the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC.

“It is the strength of the opportunities given to the students which enables them to move into the industry so much more practically on completion of their studies,” she says.

“We work very hard to make students feel part of the CRC family. They can pick up the phone and talk to people in the industry. This access gives them enormous benefits which are not normally available to students.”

A number of completed CRC PhD students are proving their influence through continued work in the sector. Dr Claire Cooper, Dr Adam Leavesley, Dr Valerie Densmore and Dr Felipe Aires have all successfully transitioned from student researchers to emergency management professionals. 

Human factors and decision making

Dr Claire Cooper completed her CRC PhD with La Trobe University in 2011, considering firefighter decision making and worst case scenario thinking. Dr Cooper was part of a team of researchers who studied organisational psychology and human factors with a particular focus on fire and emergency service workers.

“In terms of the process of the PhD I found that the CRC was really beneficial. It was another group of people you could connect with that were separate to your university group,” she says.

The connections made through the CRC proved essential in Dr Cooper’s career, as well as in ensuring her research was providing real benefits to the sector.

“The CRC gave me the opportunity to connect to lots of end-users to make sure the research was practical, useful and beneficial to the sector, rather than just a means to get a PhD or publish research articles.”

Since completing her studies Dr Cooper has worked at Victoria’s Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning and the Country Fire Authority. Currently she is at Emergency Management Victoria as Manager, Standards and Review, a role that correlates to her research background.

“My role has two aspects, to develop performance standards for responder agencies across the sector and establish a coordinated approach to continuous improvement across the emergency management sector” Dr Cooper says.

“A lot of the work I did through my PhD exploring human factors and psychological approaches to training and decision-making directly relates to what I am working on at the moment.”

Dr Cooper noted several advantages to being part of the CRC, including attending and presenting at conferences and the encouragement to promote her research through various channels.

“The CRC did a lot of work to encourage us to write in different ways for different audiences. The conferences were part of that, but there were also publications like Fire Notes, regular updates and research reports that were part of the requirement.”

“That was a really good form of training, to think about how you are going to talk to each type of audience. I was terrified of presenting when I first started but because I had lots of opportunities to do that and was pushed and encouraged, I was able to adapt my message for the audience.”

Fire mosaic and biodiversity

Dr Adam Leavesley completed his CRC PhD in 2008 with the Australian National University, investigating the effect of fire mosaics on birds in mulga woodlands of central Australia.

Since completing his studies, Dr Leavesley worked with Bushfires NT in Alice Springs, learning about the practical side of fire management, before moving to Canberra to work with the ACT Parks and Conservation Service as a Fire Management Officer. He says it was the connections he made through the CRC that allowed him to find his place in the industry.

“Being part of the CRC was vital to my career progression. I knew the people and importantly, they knew me when I’ve been looking for a job,” he says.

“That made a vast difference because they already knew a bit about what they were getting and I understood a bit about their business.”

“My current role involves planning relating to new developments in the ACT, making sure that the designs meet the standards for bushfire prone areas.”

Dr Leavesley was an end-user in the Fire in the Landscape project in the second phase of the Bushfire CRC and is now working to implement the research.

“We worked with the University of Melbourne researchers to prepare AFAC national guidelines on bushfires, erosion and sedimentation; and we’re also implementing the research in the ACT where water catchment is a very high proportion of the landscape.

“We’re leveraging our relationships with researchers to help implement other research including fire severity mapping, fuel mapping using Lidar and benefit: cost analysis.

“It’s a fantastic role that I really enjoy, looking at the work people are doing and making judgements about how it might be implemented and how you might use it going forward,” he says

Dr Leavesley is also involved in the new suite of research from the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, supporting its utilisation as end end-user for five current projects.

Dr Leavesley says his background in research has proven beneficial in his position.

“The analytical skills and being able to interface with researchers and understand the limitations of research and science have helped me in my role.”

Restoring ecosystems

Valerie Densmore conducting a prescribed burn near Kununurra, WA.

For her CRC PhD, Dr Valerie Densmore explored how woody legumes, typified by wattles, can play a central role in restoring ecosystems following bushfires. Dr Densmore completed her PhD studies at the University of Sydney, graduating in 2014.

She says that during her time as a student she realised she needed to increase her involvement in the sector and the CRC provided her the platform to do so.

“Attending the annual AFAC and Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC conference during my studies made me realise I needed more industry experience for better perspective,” Dr Densmore said.

“I joined NSW Rural Fire Service as a volunteer firefighter, and discovered how much I enjoy fuel management. It made me want to find a career that integrated fireground operations with research.”

Dr Densmore has since joined the Department of Parks and Wildlife in Western Australia and works within their training and development program.

“I work as an operations officer in different fuel types. The Department has also given me opportunities to help develop a fire ecology course to be given to other officers to help ground our operational activities with ecological and conservation principles.”

Dr Densmore says the CRC was vital to her career progression.

“The financial support was a great help, as was the perspective I gained by being exposed to the emergency services industry.”

Measuring flammability

Dr Felipe Aires investigated the effects of woody weeds on fuels and fire behaviour of eastern Australian forests and woodlands for his CRC PhD, completed in 2014 at the University of Sydney.

“There is very little knowledge about how weed plants alter fuel flammability and fire behaviour anywhere, not just in Australia,” he says.

“When I started my research there was no standard methodology to measure leaf flammability. This was something I proposed in my thesis and that I am still working on my through my papers.”

Dr Aires says the support from the CRC was instrumental to his studies.

“Without the CRC I would not have been able to complete my PhD.”

Dr Aires notes that the financial support, networking and connections to the sector were immensely beneficial.

“Getting to attend the annual AFAC and Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC conference and meet new people who were able to help with the science was highly valuable,” he says.

Dr Aires, originally from Brazil, found the network of CRC PhD students to be particularly important.

“Getting to know a lot of the other students – especially being a foreigner – was really helpful, particularly as there were several other students from overseas. That network was very strong.”

Dr Aires is now the Fire Science Interpretation Officer with the Office of Environment and Heritage NSW, which is part of the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

“My role involves assisting in the development of policies and procedures, integrating the scientific knowledge and findings into our fire management practices.”

“I act as a knowledge broker and science communicator. I have to be on top of the latest science and research and make sure we are using the data and results,” he says.

Dr Aires says that his background in research has aided him professionally.

“Being involved with science was fundamental to my role. You have to understand how the academic world works.”

From research to practice

The Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC student scholarship program continues to provide important outputs to the sector. The next generation of students are already demonstrating their impact and with more set to graduate, the future of science in Australia’s emergency services and land management agencies is in safe hands. Find out more about the program.