A new leadership group has been set up that oversees the various aspects of the University’s response to the bushfires.

Led by Emeritus Professor Steve Dovers and established by the ANU Institute for Integrated Research on Disaster Risk Science, the group will help coordinate interactions between areas within the University and external agencies and organisations that call on ANU support.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Keith Nugent said several external groups have approached ANU to ask for research capability mapping or specific expertise on short turnaround times.

“The response of ANU to the bushfire crisis has been extremely heartening, and many of our researchers have demonstrated outstanding leadership under very difficult circumstances,” Professor Nugent said.

“ANU has much to offer across diverse fields of research and it can be hard to get a handle on all of our engagements.”

“This has naturally led to some overlapping of efforts and a potential for lack of coordination, and it is therefore timely to draw this all together in a coordinated university response.”

The leadership group has held its first meeting and will be in touch with our academic community to advise them the plan for coordinating work.

For more information on the ANU Institute for Integrated Research on Disaster Risk Science, contact Dr Anna Lukasiewicz (anna.lukasiewicz@anu.edu.au).