BNHCRC - Key Persons
At the beginning of 2016 Andrew started his Doctoral degree in psychology through Central Queensland University (CQU), under the supervision of Professor Kevin Ronan (CQU), Dr Briony Towers (RMIT) and Dr Winyu Chinthammit (UTAS). This project titled 'A Mixed Methodological Evaluation of the effectiveness of Key Safety Messages in dealing with stressful structural fire environments,' focussed on the effectiveness of Key Safety Messages under emergency conditions.
Andrew graduated from CQU with a Graduate Certificate in Research in 2020.
Job Titles:
- Completed Associate Student
Dr Amanda Chong's research centred around voluntary geographic information (VGI) which is a computationally easy and inexpensive alternative approach to acquire geographic data and enables contributors to provide invaluable local knowledge of a given area to those who need it. Considering the lack of current authoritative data nationwide, crowdsourced VGI is a new and unique approach to gathering effective and valuable information for research and analysis. Amanda's Masters research crowd-sourced building locations for use
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- Associate
- Research Fellow at the Swinburne University of Technology
Dr Anita Amirsardari's PhD assessed the seismic performance of reinforced concrete gravity moment resisting frames in buildings that have shear walls or cores as the primary lateral load-resisting system. Her project involved an investigation to obtain the history of the design of reinforced concrete buildings in Australia to provide an understanding of the existing building stock, including typical building configurations and design detailing. This was achieved by speaking to and corresponding with experienced practicing structural engineers and from reviewing older editions of the Australian concrete structures and loading standards. Based on the findings, six archetypal buildings were designed. These findings show whether retrofitting existing buildings is necessary, as well as highlighting potential improvements to the current design philosophy incorporated in the Australian standards and codes.
Anita is currently a Research Fellow at the Swinburne University of Technology.
Job Titles:
- Completed Associate Student
- Research Associate at the University of Osnabrück
With the growing volume of hydrological data available through satellite remote sensing and crowd-sourcing to improve flood forecasting skill, more advanced techniques are needed. Dr Antara Dasgupta's research integrated remote sensing derived water levels with a 2D hydrodynamic model using data assimilation for flooding in both Australia and India. The water levels were calculated by combining flood maps derived from optical and synthetic-aperture radar imagery with topography, and additionally from crowd sourced images. The effect of the inclusion of crowd-sourced information on the modelling was also be evaluated.
Antara is currently a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Osnabrück in Germany.
Job Titles:
- Deputy Director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute
Dr Anthony Bergin, Deputy Director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, whose role has included looking at national security from an all hazards perspective and disaster management planning.
Job Titles:
- Director of the Department of Homeland Security 's Coastal Resilience Center of Excellence
Dr Gavin Smith, Director of the Department of Homeland Security's Coastal Resilience Center of Excellence, and Research Professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Chairman of the Board
- Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors
- Independent Chair of the Bushfire
- Member of the CRC 's Board of Directors
Dr Katherine Woodthorpe AO commenced as Independent Chair of the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC in March 2019.
Dr Woodthorpe brings to the CRC a wealth of experience in innovation and research across many sectors, including the Cooperative Research Centres program.
Dr Woodthorpe is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Academy of Technology and Engineering. She holds a PhD in Chemistry (Manchester) and an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Technology Sydney. In 2017, she received an Order of Australia for her ongoing service to research and technology innovation in Australia.
Dr Woodthorpe has a strong track record of achieving outcomes in a range of technology-oriented industries, including medical devices and health services, and a deep knowledge of governance, leadership and the private equity and financial sectors. She is the current Chair of the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems CRC and the HEARing CRC (both terms end in June 2019) and a director of several other organisations, including the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute. She also Chairs the National Climate Science Advisory Committee through the departments of Environment and Energy, and Industry and Science.
Previously she served as Chief Executive of the Australian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association, which represents the venture capital industry. Prior to that she was the Chief Executive of the Technology Industries Exporters Group, an industry peak body she helped establish to assist technology companies improve their export performance.
She is a former director on several Cooperative Research Centre boards including Smartprint (Chair), Deep Exploration Technologies, Cancer Therapeutics and Capital Markets.
Dr Katherine Woodthorpe AO is a current member of the CRC's Board of Directors.
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- Research Forester With the Fire, Fuel and Smoke Science Program, US Forest Service With 25 Years' Experience in Fire Research
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- Research Utilisation Manager
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- Executive Director, Frontline Services Support at the South Australian Country Fire Service
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- Senior Bushfire Consultant at AFAC
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- Director Knowledge and Planning at the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning
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- Manager Operational Improvement & Lessons at the NSW State Emergency Service
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- Deputy Commissioner, Field Operations at Fire and Rescue NSW
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- Independent Consultant
- Member of the Board
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- Member of the Board
- Member of Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee
- Retired Commissioner of Queensland Fire and Emergency Services
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- Utilisation and DELWP Program Manager
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- Member of the Board
- Member of Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee
- Program Director, Future NPWS at the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NSW Office of Environment and Heritage
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- Research Services Project Officer
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- Partnership Development Director
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- National Manager Disaster Mitigation Policy at the Bureau of Meteorology