Volunteer management research features in latest AJEM issue

The latest Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC research enhancing emergency volunteer management has been featured in the April 2021 issue of the Australian Journal of Emergency Management (AJEM).

Published by the Australian Institute of Disaster Resilience, this issue includes Helping volunteers shine as leaders – an article that profiles the latest volunteer management research conducted by the CRC, Curtin University, University of Western Australia and the Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES), Western Australia, as part of the CRC’s Enabling sustainable emergency volunteering project.

This research, which is led by A/Prof Patrick Dunlop at Curtin University’s Future of Work Institute, supports recruitment and retention of the emergency services workforce capability by providing a new evidence-based Recruitment and Retention Toolkit for Emergency Volunteer Leaders that helps emergency volunteer leaders with management processes.

Researchers examined volunteer engagement, motivation, wellbeing and psychological perceptions and used this knowledge to work with emergency services agencies (through collaboration with DFES) to design better recruitment, retention and wellbeing materials that can be used across fire and emergency services to improve volunteer experiences and management. You can find the Toolkit on the CRC’s Driving Change website: www.bnhcrc.com.au/driving-change/tools.

Also featured in this issue of AJEM:

• Former CRC PhD scholarship student, Dr Kamarah Pooley, presents research conducted with Fire and Rescue New South Wales that examined evidence-based practices of effective fire safety education for children.
• Alistair Dawson, Queensland’s Inspector-General Emergency Management, writes about highlights from the 2020 Australian and New Zealand Disaster and Emergency Management Conference, which was co-hosted by the CRC.
• CRC researcher Dr Mel Taylor recounts the experience of establishing the recent Global Animal Disaster Management Conference, sponsored by the CRC that took place online in February 2021.

You can access the entire AJEM issue online for free. To receive printed copies, subscribe here. You can also subscribe to receive email alerts when the online editions are available.