Systemic Risk Disaster & Resilience Group
About us
The Systemic Risk, Disaster and Resilience Group brings together diverse expertise to develop useful and useable research. Their award-winning work focuses on achieving tangible outcomes across complex areas such as climate change, natural disasters, sustainable development and the future workforce. Operating for over a decade, their work is internationally recognised and used by decision-makers and practitioners. Informed by their deep expertise and experience in systemic and transdisciplinary approaches, they work collaboratively across institutions, organisations and communities to develop tangible solutions. Their unique methodology focuses on understanding the decision-making context and brings together stakeholder experience with formal knowledge drawn from the physical and social sciences, and economics. They specialise in systemic assessments and outputs such as frameworks, strategies, training and communication tools which integrate new knowledge into existing systems and practice. They are also Co-conveners of the Risk Disaster and Resilience Network which was developed to support systemic approaches and collaboration across the university in the risk, disaster and resilience areas and have acted in advisory roles to government.
This group is co-led by Celeste Young and Prof Roger Jones.
To learn more about Risk Disaster and Resilience Network click here.
Featured programs & impacts
Link
Natural hazards Research Australia
Description of project
This aim of this project was to move the emergency management sector past discussing challenges for emergency management volunteering and the need for change in the sector, and into practical, tangible action. Using a collaborative systems-based approach, the team produced an evidence-based Volunteering Blueprint, Strategic Framework, Interim Action Plan and a Practitioner Manual.
Summary impact statement
The AFAC Volunteering Management Technical Group have taken ownership of The Interim Action Plan and endorsed The Blueprint Strategic Framework.
It has also contributed to the development of the NEMA funded National Volunteering Strategy being led by NSW Premier's Department and built a bridge between these two national initiatives. It has also contributed to the national conversation through interviews on ABC Radio, Volunteering Magazines and industry forums.
Link
Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC and Planetary health
Description of project
To aim of this project was to examine the capabilities of those effected by the 2019/2020 bushfires to develop a greater understanding of what constitutes and enables recovery of different cohorts within communities in the context of community led recovery. The Growing the Seeds report analyses disaster recovery in Gippsland following the 2019/20 bushfires and COVID-19, highlighting local strengths and capabilities over a victim-centric approach. It emphasises that identifying and building upon local capabilities such as local knowledge and face-to-face communication, while addressing the compounding effects of intersecting crises, is crucial for effective recovery.
Summary impact statement
This research initiated a national conversation around community capability and the multiple roles that community members and groups can and need to play in the increasingly dynamic environment they live and work in. It also reinforced and the importance of the inclusion of local knowledge and communities in emergency management planning and of working with communities and of building on and supporting existing capabilities. It Established the narrative of preparing for the unexpected and the need to have more salient measures that relevant for communities and resulted in the inclusion of the Arts by Bushfire Recovery Victoria as a specific sector.
Podcast ABC July 18 2021 How communities can recover from disasters like bushfires and COVID-19
Conversation Article April 29 2021 We know our communities better than they do
Link
Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC
Description of project
In 2016, the emergency management sector (EMS) acknowledged that action was needed to address the low representation of diversity in its workforce. This was being driven by a moral imperative to better represent the communities they serve (AFAC, 2016). The role of the EMS was also changing in response to ongoing unprecedented natural hazard events and the need for more strategic approaches to building resilience. This meant renegotiating the relationship between emergency management organisations (EMOs) and their communities, reinforcing the importance of D&I. This brought to the fore the need to understand how to improve the effectiveness and value of D&I in EMOs. The main goal of the three-year project was to work with those in the sector engaged in D&I practice and develop an evidence-based framework capable of supporting more effective management and measurement of D&I.
Summary impact statement
The work has shaped the national conversation around diversity and inclusion reframing it through a risk lens and bringing to the forefront the need to build specific skills and capabilities. It has been featured Multi Cultural Action Plan, 2023 - 2026 and Research featured in the AFAC Champions of Change report Gender Balance in Emergency Services, Going beyond it is the right thing to do: the case for change. It also influenced the NSW Public Sector Capability Framework. Reports from this project also of the articulate the value of the Women and Firefighting Australasia and to demonstrate the economic value NSW Fire and Rescue of their Indigenous Fire and Rescue Employment Strategy Program and support further development of the program for another cultural cohort.
Link
Department of transport and the Rail Manufacturing CRC
Description of project
'Reimagining the workforce: building smart, sustainable, safe public transport' was a collaborative research project between the Department of Transport, the Rail Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre, Victoria University and industry representatives. Its purpose was to understand the practical steps needed to address critical skills shortages currently facing the sector, so it could build a sustainable and resilient future workforce. Through assessing the industry, community and educational aspects of the of the sector systemically, this study provided a starting point for addressing the knowledge-gaps in the transport-industry workforce, with a specific focus on above-track rolling stock.
Summary impact statement
The research directly influenced workforce policy development within the Victorian Department of Transport and generated seven publicly available reports that have been adopted as industry resources to support best practice and future workforce planning. Findings from the project have informed coordinated industry responses through Victorian government reference groups and have been recognised nationally as a key foundation for addressing emerging skills shortages across the rail sector. Importantly, the research was incorporated into the development of Australia's National Rail Action Plan, with reports provided to the National Transport Commission and national rail workforce committees to inform policy deliberations. It was also endorsed publicly by Dr Amanda Sharples, Lead Scientist Department of Jobs Skills Industry and Regions Victoria.
Link:
Description of project
This project explored the dynamic nature of natural hazard risk and the economic basis of risk ownership to what was needed to understand how to allocate this effectively across different institutional scales and decision making. Using a systemic approach, we produced developed the Risk Ownership Framework for emergency management policy and practice. Its purpose is to support better strategic management of risks associated with natural hazards through providing a series of tasks that support the allocation of risk ownership as part of strategic planning activities. The framework provides a companion processes to enhance and add value to what is already there.
Summary impact statement:
This work has informed policy at both federal and state levels including the Profiling Australia's Vulnerability: the interconnected causes and cascading effects of systemic disaster risk and the Disaster Risk Reduction Framework, developed by the Department for Home Affairs and the Emergency Management Victoria Risk Management Framework. Invitations to present this work included: UK Climate Impact Program Oxford University, the Global Climate Change and Forest (GCF) Taskforce Annual Meeting, Australian Department of the Environment - Interdepartmental briefing, New South Wales State Risk Mitigation Committee and Australian Fire Authority Council (AFAC) Advisory Committee and the Victorian Government. The team also won best poster prize the European Climate Change Adaptation Conference 2017.
Link
Description of project
This project was sponsored by City of Melbourne, with most funds going to VU, also involving Banyule, Kingston and Moonee Ponds councils. The aim was to put green infrastructure on a similar footing to grey infrastructure by providing a theoretical and practical basis to valuing green infrastructure. It supports the development of business cases that account for green infrastructure's direct and indirect benefits across economic, ecological and social values, including health. The project constructed a comprehensive literature review ), a green paper and developed a framework that catered for end user capacity.
Summary impact statement
This project developed the capacities of stakeholders and fed directly into local government strategies. It especially informed Melbourne City Council's urban forest strategy. The results were also picked up by Green Places Better Spaces' 202020 Vision program and presented in a series of masterclasses nationwide, along with other workshops and conferences. At the time, urban greening was expanding in Australia so by linking cultural, social, ecological and economic values, this project presented a holistic business case for doing so.
Description of project: These two projects built on the previous green infrastructure work concentrating on specific aspects. The Laneway Greening project was underway, so a range of indicators, climatic, social and environmental, were explored to inform ongoing assessment. The green roofs and walls project was aimed at the benefits that could be gained from policies and strategies to increase cover of both across the city area.
Summary impact statement: The laneways project found that the local neighbourhood effects were the strongest, where businesses and residents had a strong sense of ownership, adding value through their efforts. The small scale of laneways makes measurement of the ongoing effects difficult, but tailoring planning and by-laws can help smooth the path to greener laneways. The benefits of green infrastructure project contributed directly to the Green Our City Strategic Action Plan (https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/green-our-city-strategic-action-plan) through the final report and Valuing Green Guide. These projects also contributed to the Council's Climate Change Adaptation Strategy Refresh 2017 (https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/climate-change-adaptation-strategy).
Description of project
Coordinating Lead Author (Jones) and Contributing Author (Young) for chapter in the IPCC WGII Fifth Assessment Report focusing on decision making methods for impact and adaptation assessment.
Summary impact statement
The chapter focused on bringing systemic risk management into the decision-making space, moving away from 'predict and act' to a framework that could address simple to complex risks across a range of scales. It aligned itself with the International Risk Standard, emphasised strategies for uncertainty management, such as robust decision-making, the role of institutions and participatory processes, and the importance of assessing values at risk. Its strength was in summarised a wide range of diverse literature into straightforward key findings. The emphasis on understanding real world decision making in assessing climate risk has been widely taken up. The principles articulated in the chapter contribute to the basis of ISO 14090 (Adaptation to Climate Change) and explicitly to ISO 14091 (Vulnerability, Impacts, and Risk Assessment).
Description of project
The main focus of the project was:
a focus on understanding the impacts of changing climate extremes on the economics of valuing adaptations;
identification of critical points where the economics of adaptation has not yet integrated climate science findings and uncertainties and offering suggested improvements;
a practical response to the challenge of providing valuation tools for end-users that cope with the realities of uncertain damage functions, ambiguous climate futures and the potential for non-marginal change.
Summary impact statement
This project countered the 'predict then act' model of adaptation to gradual climate change using orthodox economic tools. It described climate change as being dominated by rapid step changes, those changes transferring into cascading risks that cross institutional and geographic boundaries, and that economics needed to move beyond replacement costs to a broad portfolio of values. For adaptation, the emphasis was on a change from response to resilience, cross-sectoral multi-domain adaptation strategies (institutions to communities) including who owns the risk, and emphasising value rather than cost. The project combined system complexity, institutional economics, a stakeholder focus to decision making in the form of the problem-solution framework, cascading risks, complex climate behaviour and value-driven economics in a way that was unique. Its main benefit was to put these issues on the agenda, and the themes introduced in the work have shaped the group's activities since.
