The Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC will be joining forces with Australian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council (AFAC) to host the AFAC14 conference addressing the theme “After Disaster Strikes, Learning from Adversity.”

This conference is designed to bring together and share the combined wisdom of experience, research and analysis from across the sector to enable a deeper understanding of the approaches needed to secure the region’s future and prosperity. Examining how emergency management services, land managers and communities prepared, responded to and assisted with recovery is vital to developing evidence-based policy and practice for the future.

Keynote Speakers include:

Professor David Johnston
Director, Joint Centre for Disaster Research, GNS Science / Massey University New Zealand

Professor David Johnston is a Senior Scientist at GNS Science (New Zealand’s Geological Survey), and Director of the Joint Centre for Disaster Research in the School of Psychology at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand. His research has developed as part of multi-disciplinary theoretical and applied research program, involving the collaboration of physical and social scientists from several organisations and countries. His research focuses on human responses to volcano, tsunami and weather warnings, crisis decision-making and the role of public education and participation in building community resilience and recovery.

David is the Chair of the Integrated Research on Disaster Risk Scientific Committee (IRDR), a program co-sponsored by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the International Social Science Council (ISCC), and the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster reduction (UNISDR); on New Zealand’s Royal Society Social Science Advisory Panel; the Editor of The Australasian Journal of Disaster and Trauma Studies; and founding Editor of the Journal of Applied Volcanology.

Registrations
Registrations for this exciting conference are now open. Register here soon to ensure you get the early bird rate.

Download the Conference Program

About:
The Bushfire & Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre (BNH CRC) is a new member of IRDR National Committee based in Australia. IRDR National Committees (NCs) support and supplement IRDR’s research initiatives, and help to establish or further develop crucial links between national disaster risk reduction programmes and activities within an international framework. NCs will help foster the much-needed interdisciplinary approach to disaster risk reduction within national scientific and policy-making communities, and can serve as important national focal points between disciplinary scientific unions and associations.

To know more about IRDR National Committees, click here