Dr Briony Towers

Researcher
About
Dr Briony Towers

Briony is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Risk and Community Safety at RMIT University. Briony's research is focussed on child-centred disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. Briony holds a Bachelor of Behavioural Science from La Trobe University and an Honours Degree in Science (Psychology) from the University of Tasmania. She completed her PhD in Psychology at the University of Tasmania in 2012. Her PhD research, which was conducted as part of the Bushfire CRC's Community Self Sufficiency for Fire Safety research stream, involved an in-depth exploration of how Australian children living in bushfire prone areas perceive bushfire risk.  Briony has also conducted research on child-centred disaster risk reduction with children in Indonesia and the Phillipines. Briony is the co-field reports editor of the journal Children, Youth and Environments and is the co-chair of the Australian Children and Disaster Community of Practice.  

Project leadership

Children represent the most vulnerable demographic group in disasters – across the globe it is estimated that 30-50% of fatalities are children - while they are also most vulnerable to psychosocial impacts. Early research indicates that children are a resource for reducing current disaster risks and can also mitigate future risks.

The role of children’s disaster education in managing risk has been recognised as a major priority in the federal government’s National Strategy for Disaster Resilience. Yet, despite a recent surge in child-centred disaster research, the social, psychological, economic and political mechanisms that enable children to both understand and take action to reduce disaster risk remain largely unexplored and the evidence-base for best-practice remains limited.

This project is conducting a nationwide evaluation of programs and strategies based on a child-centred disaster risk reduction framework. It will develop cost-effective programs that reduce the risk and increase resilience for children, schools, households and communities.

Problem-based learning for bushfire safety
27 Oct 2020
Key finding: Learner agency is an essential element of effective bushfire education for upper...
27 Aug 2019
The importance of school-based Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience Education (DRRRE) has been...
This should be of alarm to everyone
18 Sep 2018
Tasmanian Fire Service are undergoing a rigorous process of evaluating their School Fire Education...
Amplifying student voice in disaster resilience education: A case study of the disaster resilience project
18 Sep 2018
Developed through a dual agency multi-hazard pilot project led by the Victorian Country Fire...
Disaster resilience education: a practice framework for Australian emergency management agencies
29 Jun 2017
Disaster resilience education for children and young people has been identified as a key mechanism...
Kevin Ronan Conference Poster 2016
12 Aug 2016
The national strategy for disaster resilience recognises disaster resilience education (DRE) as a...
Andrew Clarke Conference Poster 2016
12 Aug 2016
This study investigated the retention of Key Fire Safety Messages (KFSM) by students and their...
Child-centred disaster risk reduction: a holistic, rights-based conceptual framework
12 Aug 2016
Child-centred disaster risk reduction (CC-DRR) is a flexible, rights-based, innovative approach to...
Risk Reduction and Resilience Education: Recommendations for Scaling Up. Views from Indonesia
18 Aug 2015
Nearly one third of the world's population are children. However, much disaster management...
An Evidence-Based Practice Framework for Children's Disaster Education
18 Aug 2015
Disaster education for children has been identified as a key stragety for increasing disaster...

Resources credited

Type Released Title Download Key Topics
Presentation-Audio-Video 01 Sep 2021 Bushfire Education for Kids - A Manifesto from Harkaway Primary School File Save (0 bytes) child-centred, education, risk management
Presentation-Audio-Video 13 Aug 2021 Dr Briony Towers interview: Child-centred disaster risk reduction File Save (0 bytes) child-centred, communities, education
Presentation-Slideshow 24 Sep 2019 Child-centered Disaster Risk Reduction PDF icon Save (3.32 MB) child-centred
Presentation-Slideshow 27 Aug 2019 School-based bushfire education Advancing teaching and learning for risk reduction and resilience PDF icon Save (3.62 MB) child-centred
Presentation-Slideshow 16 Apr 2018 Building best practice in child-centred disaster risk reduction PDF icon Save (2.54 MB) child-centred, emergency management, risk management
Presentation-Slideshow 18 Apr 2017 Building Best Practice in Child-centred Disaster Risk Reduction PDF icon Save (2.13 MB) child-centred, communication, risk management
Presentation-Audio-Video 28 Oct 2016 Child-centred disaster risk reduction - project overview File Save (0 bytes) child-centred, communities, education
Presentation-Slideshow 30 Aug 2016 Moving towards scaled implementation of effective child-centred disaster risk reduction initiatives - Kevin Ronan PDF icon Save (2.96 MB) child-centred, communication, education
Presentation-Slideshow 17 May 2016 Building best practice in Child-centred Disaster Risk Reduction: utilisation as the royal road PDF icon Save (1.6 MB) child-centred, multi-hazard, risk management
HazardNoteEdition 21 Oct 2015 Turning warnings into action PDF icon Save (236.32 KB) communication, tsunami, warnings
Presentation-Slideshow 10 Apr 2015 Child-centred Disaster Risk Reduction 2015 NSW RAF Presentation PDF icon Save (1.35 MB) child-centred, risk analysis

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