Collaborative research recognised with government grant

Research about improving decision making of emergency management teams in crisis situations has been recognised with a prestigious Australian Government grant.

Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC researcher Dr Steven Curnin (University of Tasmania) has been awarded a research grant under the Discovery Early Career Research Award for 2021, which will allow him to continue his longstanding history of effective collaboration with emergency management agencies.

The grant will allow Dr Curnin to build on both his previous Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC research, and his PhD which began with the Bushfire CRC, exploring tangible ways for agencies to nurture positive working cultures and improve decision making during natural hazard emergencies.

In acknowledgement of Dr Curnin’s contribution to research, the Australian Research Council reiterated the important of his longstanding history of industry engagement with end-users.

“Trust is the crucial but often neglected element that determines the success of collaboration. Expected outcomes [of this project] include the creation of the first rigorously established knowledge base for understanding what mechanisms are effective to overcome conflicting cultures in Australian emergency management arrangements and successfully building trusting relationships,” the Council said.

Dr Curnin has been involved with the CRC for many years – as a researcher on the Improving decision making in complex multi-team environments project examining specific characteristics of the strategic decision-making process, as well as his PhD study that developed a conceptual framework of the core requirements of liaison officers working at state-level control centres.

As director of the Disaster Resilience Research Group at the University of Tasmania, Dr Curnin and his colleagues also conduct regular masterclasses drawing on his CRC research for the critical infrastructure sector, emergency managers and local councils on how to optimise decision making. Dr Curnin’s research also informs a decision making guide released by the Commonwealth Department of Home Affairs.

Alongside fellow CRC and University of Tasmania researcher A/Prof Ben Brooks, Dr Curnin has also developed a set of easy-to-use cognitive decision tools and training aides to help improve decisions in emergencies. The Psychological Safety Checklist can be used to create a psychologically safe decision-making environment. The Cognitive Bias Aide Memoire can be used by teams to identify cognitive biases in the decision-making process.

CRC CEO, Dr Richard Thornton, congratulated Dr Curnin on his new grant.

“This Discovery Early Career Research Award is a fantastic recognition of Steve’s work over many years. Making the right decisions in high stress emergency environments is critical, and Steve’s research has made many contributions to improving this decision making for emergency managers across Australia,” Dr Thornton said.

A full list of Discovery Early Researcher Award scheme grants can be seen here.