At Natural Hazards Research Australia (the Centre), the commissioned research program complements our ongoing programs of core, education and response disaster research. Commissioned research is specifically Participant[1]-driven and is developed to meet specific organisational needs.
In addition to individual projects being commissioned by its Participants, the Centre also currently manages two large-scale commissioned programs of research on behalf of the Victorian Government’s Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) and Victoria’s Country Fire Authority (CFA).
These programs – in which the Centre provides end-to-end research project development, coordination and delivery – are producing a suite of quality research outcomes that are entirely informed by the organisational needs of DEECA and CFA.
The research is conducted via the Centre’s extensive research provider network to inform organisational direction on issues such as planned burning, bushfire prediction and mitigation, climatology, ecosystem resilience, smoke modelling and more.
For example, agreements between DEECA and the Centre (and its predecessor the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC) have delivered more than a decade of investment in research that improves understanding of bushfires and risk to the environment and communities. This research program management has reframed how these values are managed and enabled DEECA to be responsive to new or emerging policy and operational evidence needs, including critical responsiveness to post event inquiries.
Participants of the Centre can access this bespoke broader research program support or can commission individual projects based on specific needs.
For more information on delivering commissioned programs of research or individual projects for your organisation, please get in touch with Partnership Development Director Sarah Mizzi sarah.mizzi@naturalhazards.com.au.
[1] A Participant is an organisation or entity (or representative thereof) that has been contracted through a Participant Agreement with the Centre.