Natural Hazards Research Australia announced the winners of its inaugural awards, recognising exceptional research demonstrating real-world impact in supporting Australian communities to be safer, more resilient and sustainable from natural hazards.
Presented at the Natural Hazards Research Forum 2025 in Adelaide, the awards honour collaborative, end-user driven research enabling better decision-making to save lives and protect communities.
Natural Hazards Research Australia CEO, Andrew Gissing said the awards highlight the organisation's commitment to research excellence that translates directly into community protection.
“These awards celebrate research that goes beyond academic achievement to create tangible outcomes for emergency services, government agencies and the communities they serve,” Andrew said. “The winners demonstrate how high-quality research combined with genuine collaboration and effective translation can drive real change in natural hazards preparedness and response.”
Student Research Award (joint winners)
Two submissions were considered of equal merit for the 2025 Student Research Award, reflecting the exceptional standard of emerging research talent in the natural hazards field.
Dr Kiam Padamdsey was recognised for his research into the impacts of smoke exposure to firefighters. Dr Padamdsey's work has achieved remarkable academic impact, with more than 740 citations from researchers worldwide.
The research has generated significant practical outcomes, informing a research project with Western Australian government department to better understand contamination risks for firefighters. The research findings from this project were used to make an unprecedented decision to procure and deploy P3 respiratory protection for firefighters ahead of the 2024-25 fire season.
The research has also influenced operational practices, with washing machines being installed and onsite showering encouraged in Western Australia, generating international interest in these personal protective equipment and behavioural changes.
Dr Nouman Khattak was awarded for his research project on characterisation and seismic vulnerability assessment of existing unreinforced masonry buildings in Queensland.
Dr Khattak's research produced two major outcomes: a specialised seismic vulnerability assessment framework for these buildings; and improved emergency preparedness insights for at-risk building stock. The work has resulted in publications in high-impact structural engineering journals and presentations to the Australian Earthquake Society conference.
Dr Khattak has developed clear plans for enabling consistent seismic vulnerability assessment across Australia and supporting national emergency response coordination, with potential application in considering building stock resilience to severe wind events such as cyclones.
Research Project Team Award (joint winners)
Two submissions were considered of equal merit for the 2025 Research Team Award, both demonstrating outstanding collaboration between researchers and end-users to deliver practical solutions for emergency management.
Predictions in public: Understanding the design, communication and dissemination of predictive maps to the public is delivering practical guidance that emergency management agencies can readily implement to improve public information during bushfire emergencies, ultimately enhancing community safety and resilience.
The project highlights opportunities for strong project delivery using a co-design approach between researchers and end-users, demonstrating a new model for university-government collaboration in disaster research. The project's 'Design Principles' address a critical gap in existing resources, embedding guidance and consistency in map design into the Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience's national doctrine on public information and warnings.
Bushfire risk at the rural-urban interface is tackling a complex challenge of significant interest following the California fires earlier this year. The project focuses on challenges facing Hobart and demonstrates opportunities for rapid lesson learning and disaster risk reduction through engaging communities in property-based garden management.
The team has produced diverse outputs for decision makers and community members, including garden fire hazard assessment using an app, house loss analysis, ember attack simulation and fire spread modelling. This project and others carried out by the team were recognised with a 2024 Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience National Resilient Australia Awards, winning the National Research for Impact Award.
The awards were judged against four key criteria, assessing how submissions demonstrated excellence in research quality, collaboration and engagement between researchers and end-users, translation of research findings to ensure usability, and research outcomes that ensure findings are actively used.
Natural Hazards Research Australia established the awards to recognise the critical role of collaborative, applied research in building Australia's resilience to natural hazards. The awards reflect the organisation's position as the nation's leading natural hazards research hub, coordinating efforts across universities, government agencies, and emergency services.
“These inaugural award winners exemplify the type of research that Natural Hazards Research Australia champions – rigorous science that engages with end-users from the outset and delivers outcomes that directly benefit community safety,” Andrew said.
The awards program will continue annually, supporting Natural Hazards Research Australia's mission to foster collaborative research that addresses Australia's most pressing natural hazard challenges.