This mapping exercise highlights Australia’s breadth of research capability in foundational and applied research related to bushfires across the national coordination initiatives (including the Australian Institute for Disaster Relief (AIDR), Emergency Management Australia (EMA), and the Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre (BNHCRC), the university sector, and publicly funded research agencies (including the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Bureau of Meteorology (BoM), and Geoscience Australia (GA). 

On 15 January 2020, Australia’s Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, the Hon Karen Andrews MP, held a bushfire science roundtable to help better understand how the Australian science and research sector can contribute to bushfire response, resilience, and recovery.

Following this roundtable, Minister Andrews requested that the Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS) develop a map of Australia’s research and technology capability relevant to bushfire response, resilience, and recovery to inform the activities of the National Bushfire Recovery Agency, Commonwealth, state and territory and local governments, research organisations, non-government and volunteer organisations, and philanthropic initiatives.

Download the report here.