The Associate Student program has officially kicked off with seven new postgraduate students joining Natural Hazards Research Australia’s research network.
Dr Heba Mohtady Ali (Griffith University) aims to answer the question: How can hospitals improve their resilience and ensure business continuity during disasters? through her PhD project. A medical doctor, Heba’s study will explore the evolving construct of ‘hospital disaster resilience’ to best identify the critical components of hospital preparedness plans and develop innovative strategies to enhance a hospital’s business continuity capabilities toward future resilient communities during disasters and climate change effects.
Sarah Dickson-Hoyle (University of British Columbia) continues her association with the Centre, following on from her involvement with the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC with her PhD project, Restor(y)ing fire-adapted territories: wildfire recovery, Indigenous leadership and restoration in Secwepemcul'ecw. Sarah’s project aims to understand the social and ecological responses of the Secwépemc Nation’s people and territory to the 2017 Elephant Hill bushfire, and to document and inform the development of post-fire restoration and co-management initiatives -grounded in Secwépemc knowledge and traditional governance systems.
Haydn McComas is conducting his PhD with Griffith University on Working together or working apart? Interoperability and organisational culture across RESLEM agencies and organisations during major disaster responses. Haydn’s project aims to explain the impact of interoperability and organisational culture across regulatory, emergency service, law enforcement and military (RESLEM) organisations on joint emergency and disaster operational responses. The objective is to understand how such operations unfold from the perspective of RESLEM front-line and operational leaders to identify opportunities for improved interoperability, collaboration and success in future complex emergencies.
Danielle O’Hara’s research, conducted through the University of Queensland, explores the question: What can conflict transformation perspectives provide disaster recovery? Danielle’s thesis will argue that to accomplish effective disaster recovery collaborations, conflict needs to be accurately and comprehensively understood and managed well. This research will synthesise disaster recovery and conflict resolution to explore the research question.
Douglas Radford’s PhD project, An integrated modelling approach for the planning of collaborative and adaptive wildfire risk-reduction activities, is being completed with the University of Adelaide and aims to create a quantitative model to understand the factors affecting the spatial connectivity of fire processes. Douglas will further develop this model to estimate bushfire risk, explore the temporal development in risk and evaluate treatment cost-effectiveness under different scenarios.
Yunjin Wang’s PhD project, Urban green space is a critical component for children living in urban areas to enrich their mental and physical development, is being conducted with Griffith University and intends to create a new design framework for children’s access to urban nature by collecting multiple parties' perspectives and integrating region variables to ensure its high comprehensiveness and generalisability. This project aims to inspire policymakers and designers to formulate strategies and instruct parents and teachers' actions to achieve the goals of reinforcing children's general engagement with urban green spaces.
Eleanor Williams (University of Queensland) is conducting research on The effectiveness of rapid evidence in fast-paced policy contexts for her PhD project, representing new ground for scholars interested in evidence-based policymaking and crisis management decision making. Eleanor’s research will analyse rapid evidence used by policy-makers in the UK and Australia to provide an international comparison and analysis of rapid evidence under crisis and everyday, but still fast-paced, policy conditions.
Through the Associate Student program, the Centre provides opportunities for students undertaking postgraduate research in a relevant field to become part of the natural hazards research community in Australia and New Zealand. As part of this network, students will be able to participate in professional development activities offered by the Centre, apply for short-term placements in partner organisation, apply for funding support and more. Find out more about the Associate Student program and how to apply here.
As associate students, Heba, Sarah, Haydn, Danielle, Douglas, Yunjin and Eleanor join the Centre’s broader Postgraduate program, which includes PhD students that rolled over from the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC and the Centre’s first Early Career Research Development Fellow, Dr Phillipa McCormack.