Recovery research honoured with Resilient Australia Award

The Recovery Capitals project has been named a joint winner at the 2021 Resilient Australia Awards, hosted by the Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience on 8 December, while two more Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC projects were also recognised.

Producing practical guides to strengthen recovery for any type of emergency, large or small, the Recovery Capitals project was one of two initiatives to take out the winning spot of the Resilient Australia Mental Health and Wellbeing Award category.

The project was a cross-Tasman collaboration between the CRC, the University of Melbourne, the Australian Red Cross and Massey University, alongside many key emergency management, government and recovery organisations across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. The Recovery Capitals resources, which come in both Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand versions, support wellbeing after disasters with evidence-based resources for people and organisations engaged in recovery, with significant focus on the strengths of Indigenous communities during recovery.

Minister for Emergency Management and National Recovery and Resilience, the Hon Senator Bridget McKenzie, attended the ceremony and congratulated the projects on their collective strengthening of disaster resilience.

“All of these winners inspire us to think about what we can do in our communities, and lay the foundations for us to build our own capability for resilience,” Senator McKenzie said.

Natural Hazards Research Australia CEO Dr Richard Thornton said the award showed how much impact the research had already had in shaping recovery.

“It’s great to see this CRC project recognised with a Resilient Australia Award. Recovery Capitals was a truly collaborative effort, bringing together research expertise from Australia and New Zealand with resilience practitioners to focus on community and individual strengths during recovery. The project team have done an excellent job and these resources are sure to strengthen recovery across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand for years to come.”

The recently launched Recovery Capitals resources – available here – are based around seven ‘recovery capitals’: social, cultural, natural, financial, built, human and political capital. Looking at recovery through this capitals-based lens helps people and organisations use strengths-based, holistic and inclusive recovery approaches before, during and after a disaster.

The Recovery Capitals research project examined evidence for disaster recovery risk and protective factors. Researchers developed a Recovery Capitals Framework that highlighted the interconnectedness between the multiple dimensions (capitals) that contribute to recovery through people, places and times, and highlight diversity and equality. This framework was then used to develop the suite of community resources now available to guide recovery.

The project was named joint winner of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Award category, alongside Beyond Blue’s Be You Bushfire Response Program.

Highly commended in this same category was the CRC’s Positive mental health in young adult emergency services personnel project. This project was a collaboration between the CRC, AFAC, the University of Adelaide, the University of Western Australia, Flinders University, the University of British Columbia (Canada), the Hospital Research Foundation, Military and Emergency Services Health Australia, and key fire and emergency services as well as young adult members of the Young Volunteers Advisory Committee. This project co-designed new resources that are strengthening and promoting positive mental health in young adult fire and emergency service volunteers across Australia.

CRC research was also recognised as a finalist in the overall national award, with the Australian Flammability Monitoring System developed as part of the Mapping bushfire hazards and impacts project. Led by A/Prof Marta Yebra at the Australian National University, the Australian Flammability Monitoring System provides a clearer picture of immediate bushfire risk by using satellite data to collect information on live moisture content in trees, shurbs and grass. The NSW Rural Fire Service used the system to inform their decision making during the 2019-20 fire season, while it was also utilised for further research to better understand that devasting fire season.