Established at the end of 2022, Natural Hazards Research Australia’s (the Centre) the International Research Advisory Panel provides advice to the Research and Implementation Committee of the Centre’s Board about the quality and progress of the Centre’s research program and Biennial Research Plan.
Meeting twice a year, the panel’s April 2024 meeting focused on the Centre’s thought leadership initiatives project, such as the Be Ahead of Ready initiative, and Biennial Research Planning processes. Panel participants offered valuable and differing international perspectives and suggestions on a range of topics central to the Centre’s research strategy, including: First Nations research leadership and community inclusiveness; overcoming barriers to transformational research; utilising outputs from commissions and enquiries to drive systemic change; research governance policy and practice; quality of critical decision making; the importance of data sharing; and catastrophic risk factors which are driving the global research agenda.
The Panel supports the Centre to improve research quality by providing an international perspective on global research trends, collaboration opportunities, as well as professional and research development opportunities.
Panel representatives are drawn from the global research community with expertise relevant to the physical, social and political sciences that reflect the Centre’s research program. Members of the Panel have knowledge and experience relevant to natural hazards and disaster risk reduction.
The panel comprises:
- Dr Amy Cardinal Christianson, Research Scientist, Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada
- Prof Roland De Marco, Pro Vice-Chancellor Research, Fiji National University
- Dr Mark Finney, Senior Scientist and Research Forester, US Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory
- A/Prof Susanna Jenkins, Principal Investigator, Earth Observatory of Singapore and Associate Professor of Hazard and Risk, Nanyang Technological University
- Prof Jessica Lamond, Dean for Research and Enterprise, College of Arts, Technology and Environment and Professor in Real Estate and Climate Risk, University of the West of England, Bristol
- Dr Sarah McCaffrey, US Department of Agriculture Forest Service
- Dr Richard Smith, Director, New Zealand’s Resilience Challenge
- Prof Thomas Wilson, Chief Science Advisor, New Zealand National Emergency Management Agency | Te Rākau Whakamarumaru (NEMA), and Professor of Disaster Risk & Resilience, University of Canterbury | Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha
The committee will meet again in October 2024.