Are we dropping the ball? A look to our workforce in 2030

An effective and sustainable emergency services workforce needs to adapt and modernise to meet the challenges and benefit from the opportunities that come with the future - this is what emergency service agency representatives and researchers explored at the latest Research Advisory Forum at the MCG on 8 May.

The workforce and volunteerism 2030 RAF outlined the changes expected to affect the people and culture of emergency service organisations, and explored how contemporary research across Australia is influencing workforce and volunteer management strategies into the future.

Dr Holly Foster of Emergency Management Victoria opened the forum and asked participants to wear two hats when listening to the latest research: that of their agency and of the broader sector. 

“What is it that I’m hearing from these research projects today that would benefit a known gap in my agency? What is it in my agency that’s missing? Is it something we know about, or something we haven’t thought of yet? What is it that our sector, collectively, needs to be pursuing?” Dr Foster asked participants.  

More than 50 delegates heard research presentations around planning and capability requirements for catastrophic events, diversity and inclusion, sustainable volunteering, mental health and more.

Among them was A/Prof Chris Bearman, who spoke of the tools that came out of the CRC research project Improving decision-making in complex multi-team environments, explaining how these are being used for emergency management now and detailing further opportunities for utilisation. The tools help people make better decisions, enable them to better manage teams in emergency management and allow people to be adaptable – a ‘soft-skill’ that A/Prof Bearman says is essential to navigating the changes that lie ahead. The Emergency Management Breakdown Aide Memoire and the Team Process Checklist are available as interactive online tools and for download. 

Mr Steve Sutton, research leader of the CRC project Northern Australia bushfire and natural hazard training, shared that the participative engagement process used throughout this project was transformative. Mr Sutton explained that through participatory engagement, we can empower communities, uncover the basic concepts that underlie cultures and ultimately use this process to identify the ‘unknown unknowns’.

All presentations are available online. 

Participants broke into discussion groups to take a deeper dive on three themes: