Timeline: July 2022 - June 2023
Project partner(s): Erica Kuligowski, RMIT University; Upwey High School, VIC
Funding: Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation Seed Innovation Grant, VIC
Project summary: In Victoria, there are 47 secondary schools listed on the Department of Education (DET) Bushfire At-Risk Register (BARR). Inclusion on the BARR requires the school to pre-emptively close on Code Red days and take other pre-emptive emergency planning and preparedness activities. The DET policy guidance for BARR schools states that “when students are actively involved in school emergency planning and preparedness, they will also be better equipped to follow the necessary procedures in the event of a bushfire emergency”. However, research that can inform student involvement in school bushfire planning is lacking. This project, to be conducted at Upwey High School on Melbourne’s bushfire prone peri-urban fringe, will investigate students’ existing knowledge of the school’s bushfire plan and analyse the extent of their involvement in the design and implementation of that plan. It will also engage students in participatory workshops where they will identify the benefits and challenges of involving students in school bushfire planning and develop their own recommendations for policy and practice. Students will then present their recommendations to teachers, school leaders and local emergency managers and engage them in critical dialogue about student involvement in school bushfire planning. The project will culminate in the design of an evidence-based conceptual framework for student involvement that can inform future work at Upwey High School and other schools around Victoria.

Timeline: March 2022 - 2023
Project partner(s): Colac Otway Shire/Surf Coast Shire; DELWP; CFA; EMV
Funding: Safer Together: Strengthening Community Partnerships for Bushfire Management with Local Government, VIC Government
Project summary: For over 10 years communities and agencies in the COS/SCS footprint have been working with a strategic intent of building connections, understandings and resilience in the bushfire (and other emergency) risk landscapes of the Otways.

Key communities have developed varying collaborations and activities to create different, localised planning systems. These have been ad-hoc, separate and dependent on key community leaders/ organisations and various department projects and programs, that are subject to funding streams and/or agency capacity. This has been effective to a point and now requires investment in these community leaders/organisations in partnership with key agencies. Community Based Emergency Leadership (CBEL) provides a progressive model that will complement the existing strategic intent in the Otways.

Key objectives are:
• To provide an opportunity for the community and government to share information via existing and emerging systems, which will support planning and decision making processes as they continue to be developed
• To develop current and emerging leaders within the communities, to lesson future dependency on government
• Build relationships via existing networks, workshops and scenarios towards strategic, sustainable PPRR practices in a localised setting.
• Build on existing connections between communities, Local Government, and other agencies, based on a a strengths based approach

Details coming soon…

Timeline: July - November 2023 Project partner(s): NSW Rural Fire Service, NSW Office of the Chief Scientist and Engineer Funding: NSW Office of the Chief Scientist and Engineer

Details coming soon…