@inbook {bnh-8362, title = {Reimagining Education in a Pandemic: Children and Young People as Powerful Educators}, booktitle = {COVID-10 and Education in the Global North}, year = {2022}, publisher = {Palgrave Macmillan}, organization = {Palgrave Macmillan}, chapter = {Reimagining Education in a Pandemic: Children and Young People as Powerful Educators}, address = {Cham}, abstract = {

COVID-19 has caused unprecedented levels of worldwide disruption to the education of children and young people, who have been among the worst affected by the socio-economic impacts of the global pandemic. However, it is crucial to acknowledge that children and young people are not passive victims. Conversely, during lockdown it has been impossible to ignore the ways in which so many children and young people have emerged as powerful educators. Our youngest citizens have been at the forefront of protests regarding Black Lives Matter and systemic racism, climate change and, in the UK, class-based bias in examination results during COVID-19. The lessons they have taught us have resulted in policy change at local and national levels and created conversations across the generations about desirable futures and the importance of making change happen.

This chapter uses examples from a Social Justice Makerspace in a New York City school and a Student-led Education for Disaster Risk Reduction in Naarm (Melbourne), Australia, to explore how more relational, creative and democratic approaches to education can continue to recognise and support children and young people{\textquoteright}s power to initiate, develop and lead change and create more inclusive, socially just futures for us all.

}, keywords = {student-led; relational; democratic; creative practices; protests; policy change; social justice makerspace; New York; disaster risk reduction; Melbourne; COVID-19}, issn = {978-3-031-02464-1}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-02469-6_1}, url = {https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-02469-6_1$\#$citeas}, author = {Deborah Ralls and Lou Lahana and Briony Towers and Leigh Johnson} } @article {bnh-6986, title = {Building best practice in child-centred disaster risk reduction: annual project report 2018-2019}, number = {575}, year = {2020}, month = {06/2020}, institution = {Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC}, address = {Melbourne}, abstract = {

Emerging as a distinct approach to disaster risk reduction (DRR) over the last 15 years, the primary objective of Child-Centred Disaster Risk Reduction (CCDRR) is to strengthen children{\textquoteright}s knowledge and skills so that they understand the disaster risks that exist in their communities and can take a lead role in reducing those risks. In the Australian context, the most commonly practiced form of CCDRR is school-based Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience Education (DRRRE).

To support the delivery of effective and sustainable in DRRRE in Australian schools, research conducted in the first phase of this project (2014-2017) was focused on the development of guiding models and frameworks and the evaluation and redevelopment of End-User DRRRE programs and resources.

For second phase of the project (2017-2020), the focus has shifted toward school-led DRRRE programs and initiatives, which will enable bottom-up processes to inform end-user policy and practice. The project is also addressing the vexing issue of scaled implementation through the development of an evidence-based national framework which brings together the concerns and priorities of emergency management agencies and the education sector.\ 

This Annual Report provides a summary of progress to date, including a discussion of how cumulative research outputs from the first four years of the project are being utilised by End-User agencies to inform DRRRE program design, implementation and evaluation. It then provides the details on the various research activities which comprise the 2017-2020 research program, including:

  1. Project-based learning for disaster risk reduction and resilience: an explanatory case study from Harkaway Primary School;
  2. Descriptive case studies of good practice in DRRRE;
  3. A national study of DRRRE implementation: the 3Rs of disaster education;
  4. The redevelopment of the DRRRE Practice Framework.

The report also includes a summary of current PhD projects and a comprehensive list of publications that have been produced over the course of the project.

}, keywords = {child-centred, Disaster risk reduction, education, practice}, issn = {575}, author = {Briony Towers} } @article {bnh-6828, title = {Children, bushfire and climate change}, journal = {Advocate: Journal of the National Tertiary Education Union}, volume = {27}, year = {2020}, month = {03/2020}, abstract = {

In November 2008, I sat around a table at Warrandyte Primary School with a small group of 10-year-old students. I was interviewing them for my doctoral research on children{\textquoteright}s knowledge of vulnerability and resilience to bushfire in south-eastern Australia. The children told me what they loved about their beautiful bush suburb on the edge of the city: the trees, the river, the wildlife, and all the great places to play and explore. They also told me about the extreme bushfire risk. {\textquoteright}It{\textquoteright}s going to be a really bad bushfire season{\textquoteright}, one of them said. {\textquoteright}It{\textquoteright}s been a really long drought and the bush around here is really dry. Everything could go up. Just like that{\textquoteright}. They all agreed that everyone needed to get prepared before summer arrived. A few months later, on 7 February 2009, the Black Saturday bushfires razed dozens of communities around Victoria: 173 people were killed, including 24 children. Hundreds of people were injured. Over 2000 homes were destroyed. Natural ecosystems were devastated. Everything went up. Just like that.

}, url = {https://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=034005191172667;res=IELBUS}, author = {Briony Towers} } @article {bnh-5687, title = {Building best practice in child-centred disaster risk reduction: project report 2014-2016}, number = {485}, year = {2019}, month = {07/2019}, institution = {Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC}, address = {Melbourne}, abstract = {

This Final Report summarises progress on Building Best Practice in Child-Centred Disaster Risk Reduction (CC-DRR), with a focus on the 3 year project, 2014-16.\  The first 3 years has included scoping and review, the development of a conceptual framework to guide the research, a utilisation roadmap, and the initiation of pilot and main research.\  The CC-DRR Project conceptual framework reflects a parsimonious research narrative designed to build on research-policy-practice progress to date but, critically, solve problems and challenges across that nexus

}, keywords = {child-centred disaster risk reduction, Emergency; Disaster; Citizen action; Emergence; Informal volunteerism; Resilience}, issn = {485}, author = {Kevin Ronan and Briony Towers} } @article {bnh-5479, title = {The disaster resilience project: a school-based feasibility and acceptability study}, number = {471}, year = {2019}, month = {03/2019}, institution = {Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC}, address = {Melbourne}, abstract = {

The aim of school-based Disaster Resilience Education (DRE) is to build students{\textquoteright} understanding of the causes, nature and effects of hazards, while also fostering a range of competencies and skills that will enable them to contribute proactively to disaster prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. The development and delivery of school-based DRE has been identified as a key priority for action in disaster resilience policy frameworks and strategies from the international to the local level. To support the delivery of the quality DRE in Victorian secondary schools, the Country Fire Authority (CFA) and the Victorian State Emergency Service (VicSES) in collaboration with secondary school teachers and students, have developed the Disaster Resilience Project (DRP) - a multi-hazard, teacher-delivered, web-based DRE program for students in Years 7 to 9. The program aims to increase students{\textquoteright} knowledge and awareness of local disaster risks and build their capacity for initiating and participating in practical action for disaster risk reduction and resilience.
The pilot version of the Disaster Resilience Project (DRP) was informed by extensive consultations with Victorian secondary school teachers, policy frameworks for disaster risk reduction (DRR) and resilience, and the academic literature. It was comprised of a structured set of five lessons designed to guide students through an exploration of key concepts in DRR and resilience, support them to apply those concepts to their own local context, and encourage them to plan and implement a DRR or resilience building activity at home, school or in the wider community. To support the teacher-delivered model of implementation, the pilot version also included a 45-60 minute face-to-face professional development session in which CFA project staff guided teachers through the learning intentions and the teaching and learning activities for each lesson.

}, keywords = {Disaster risk reduction, Emergency; Disaster; Citizen action; Emergence; Informal volunteerism; Resilience, school}, author = {Briony Towers and Sophie Perillo and Kevin Ronan} } @conference {bnh-6508, title = {School-based bushfire education: advancing teaching and learning for risk reduction and resilience}, booktitle = {AFAC19 powered by INTERSCHUTZ - Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC Research Forum}, year = {2019}, month = {12/2019}, publisher = {Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience}, organization = {Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience}, address = {Melbourne}, abstract = {

In response to Recommendation 6 of the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission, the topic of bushfire has been incorporated into the Australian school curriculum. To support the implementation of this new curriculum content, fire agencies and education authorities have invested in a range of bushfire education programs and resources. Research in the field of school-based bushfire education has also intensified. Drawing on key findings from a suite of recent Australian studies, this paper outlines two key elements of effective school-based bushfire education that have the potential to advance teaching and learning for risk reduction and resilience. The first is a holistic risk framework that builds children{\textquoteright}s conceptual understanding of bushfire risk as a socioenvironmental phenomenon that derives from the interaction a physical hazard, the vulnerability of exposed people and assets, and the capacities people possess for disaster risk reduction. The second is a place-based pedagogy of bushfire risk, which grounds teaching and learning in the socioenvironmental contexts of children{\textquoteright}s lives.\  The paper concludes with some key recommendations for the continued development of good practice in this emergent field.

Download the full non-peer reviewed research proceedings\ from the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC Research Forumhere.

}, keywords = {Bushfire, education, resilience, risk management, risk reduction, schools, Vulnerability}, url = {https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/resources/australian-journal-of-emergency-management-monograph-series/}, author = {Briony Towers} } @article {bnh-4547, title = {Evaluation of Survive and Thrive}, number = {359}, year = {2018}, month = {04/2018}, pages = {94}, institution = {Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC}, address = {Melbourne}, abstract = {

The Survive and Thrive pilot program is an intensive two year bushfire education program for primary school students in Grade 5/6. It is delivered through a community-based partnership between local CFA brigades and local primary schools. To date, the program has been delivered in the localities of Anglesea and Strathewen. In Anglesea, the partnership between Anglesea CFA and Anglesea Primary School was established in 2013 and the program has been running for four years. In Strathewen, the partnership between Strathewen Primary School and Arthurs Creek Fire Brigade was established in 2016 and the program has been running for 18 months.

The purpose of this evaluation was to examine the short-term and intermediate-term outcomes of the program in both Anglesea and Strathewen and to identify the key mechanisms and processes that contributed to those outcomes. By identifying the mechanisms and processes that contributed to program outcomes, the evaluation also seeks to identify what aspects of the program generated the most valuable outcomes for the resources invested. An additional aim of the evaluation was to examine key factors influencing the ongoing sustainability of the program in Anglesea and Strathewen and to identify a possible pathway toward scaled implementation.

The evaluation employed a mixed-methods design involving both quantitative and qualitative methods. The qualitative measures, which included semi-structured interviews and focus group interviews were the main focus; however, these were supplemented by a quantitative survey that was administered to both children and parents.\ \ 

}, keywords = {Bushfire, child, communities., Emergency management, Natural disasters, recovery, reduction, risk}, issn = {359}, author = {Briony Towers and Kevin Ronan} } @article {bnh-4678, title = {A formative evaluation of the Triple Zero Kids{\textquoteright} Challenge Teacher{\textquoteright}s Guide}, journal = {Australian Journal of Emergency Management }, volume = {33}, year = {2018}, month = {07/2018}, pages = {6}, chapter = {64}, abstract = {

The\ Triple Zero Kids{\textquoteright} Challenge\ is an online, interactive safety game and a mobile application. It provides young children in Australia with essential information on how to identify and report legitimate emergencies by calling Triple Zero (000). As a companion resource, the Triple Zero Kids{\textquoteright} Challenge Teacher{\textquoteright}s Guide provides educators of lower-primary school students with a series of structured learning activities to consolidate and extend the key messages of the online game. To ensure that the learning activities in the guide are both feasible and appropriate for the target age group, a formative evaluation was conducted with lower-primary students and their teachers. This paper reports on the results of the evaluation and highlights the importance of formative evaluation to the development of safety education programs for children. While the evaluation indicated that the learning activities were feasible and appropriate for lower-primary school students, it also identified the need for numerous modifications and improvements that have been incorporated into a revised 2017 version of the guide.

}, keywords = {children, communication, Emergency management, information., Kids}, url = {https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/resources/ajem-jul-2018-a-formative-evaluation-of-the-triple-zero-kids-challenge-teacher-s-guide/}, author = {Briony Towers and Mark Whyrbo} } @article {bnh-4239, title = {Disaster risk reduction education in Indonesia: challenges and recommendations for scaling up}, journal = {Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences}, volume = {17}, year = {2017}, month = {04/2017}, pages = {595-612}, chapter = {595}, abstract = {

This article investigates the implementation of disaster risk reduction education for children in Indonesia. In the last decade, education programmes related to this subject have been promoted as capable of reducing disaster losses and increasing resilience, based on several studies that have identified positive outcomes. Therefore, it is critical to evaluate and address any potential challenges that might impede their success. The article uses a case study in Jakarta, a rapidly growing megacity that is highly prone to disasters and natural hazards, especially floods and fires, to explore the scaling up and sustainability of disaster risk reduction in Indonesian schools. Based on previous studies, a new approach was developed for evaluating the implementation of education programmes related to these subjects. This study captured the perspectives of children, school personnel, and non-governmental organisations on the challenges of scaling up the implementation of disaster risk reduction education in schools. The study revealed seven key issues and suggests several policy recommendations to move forward. These key issues may also be apparent in many other developing and developed countries, and the suggested recommendations may well be applicable beyond Indonesia.

}, doi = {10.5194/nhess-17-595-2017}, url = {https://www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/17/595/2017/}, author = {Avianto Amri and Deanne Bird and Kevin Ronan and Katharine Haynes and Briony Towers} } @article {bnh-3050, title = {Building best practice in child-centred disaster risk reduction: Annual project report 2015-2016}, number = {188}, year = {2016}, month = {09/2016}, institution = {Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC}, address = {Melbourne}, abstract = {

This Annual Report summarises progress to date on Building Best Practice in Child-Centred Disaster Risk Reduction (CC-DRR), with a focus on 2015-16.\  The first 2.5 years has included scoping and review, the development of a conceptual framework to guide the research, an utilisation roadmap, and the initiation of pilot and main research.\  The CC-DRR Project conceptual framework reflects a parsimonious research narrative designed to build on research-policy-practice progress to date but, critically, solve problems and challenges across that nexus.\  The narrative itself has two guiding questions as follows:

Research to date has commenced and is ongoing across these major areas.\  This includes research started in 2014-15, but continuing in 2015-16, focused on major stakeholders{\textquoteright} views, including children and youth, households and parents/caregivers, teachers and school personnel, emergency management/DRR professionals. It includes in 2015-16 initial research on CC-DRR-related student learning and DRR/resilience program outcomes, commencement of costings-related research, and research on implementation obstacles and facilitators for schools and emergency management agencies.\  With project End Users as primary stakeholders, 2015-16 reflected many consultations and end user capacity-building workshopping. This included their direct involvement in the Project to ensure that current CC-DRR-focused disaster resilience education (DRE) programs reflect their needs and reflect theory and promising, good and best practices (i.e., Through a {\textquotedblleft}co-development and co-evaluation{\textquotedblright} process with End Users, 2015-16 included developing and refining a CC-DRR Practice Framework. Since its development, the Framework has begun to be used to systematically evaluate End User agency DRE programs to ensure they reflect evidence-based practices (EBP{\textquoteright}s). The framework incorporates three core dimensions (design, implementation, evaluation) and three guiding principles (collaboration and partnership, protection and participation, diversity and equity) (see Figure 1 on p. 24).\ 

These agency-based DRE programs are now being examined for {\textquotedblleft}practice-based evidence{\textquotedblright} (PBE), including child learning outcomes and DRR and resilience outcomes.\  Both EBP and PBE steps are couched within an implementation framework, with project research designed to support both policy- and practice-based implementation of CC-DRR/DRE programs. Research on implementation began in 2014-15 and continues in 2015-16, including the commencement of a PhD study on EM agency implementation policies and practices.\  This report goes into more detail on this program of research and related activities, including summarising progress in CC-DRR research to date, as well as some important challenges that have been identified.

}, issn = {188}, author = {Kevin Ronan and Briony Towers and John Handmer and Katharine Haynes and Eva Alisic and Nick Ireland and Marla Petal and Susan Davie and David Johnston and Vicki Johnson} } @article {bnh-2723, title = {Child Health and Survival in a Changing Climate: Vulnerability, Mitigation, and Adaptation}, journal = {Geographies of Children and Young People}, volume = {8}, year = {2016}, month = {02/2016}, abstract = {

The effects of climate change include increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events as well as adverse changes in air pollution, increased spread of climate-sensitive disease, and heightened food insecurity. All of these effects are predicted to have a significant impact on global mortality and morbidity, and the available evidence indicates that children are most at risk. In order to protect child health, immediate action to both mitigate further climate change and adapt to existing and expected impacts is required. This chapter reviews the existing literature on the health impacts of climate change on children. It identifies children as key stakeholders in action and decision-making for mitigation and adaptation at a variety of scales. It also highlights how child participation in research, policy, and practice will increase the effectiveness and sustainability of solutions for addressing the health impacts of climate change. The chapter concludes with a call for the climate change community to make a more concerted effort to incorporate the needs and capacities of children into its core agenda.

}, url = {http://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-981-4585-95-8_34-1}, author = {Briony Towers and Kevin Ronan and Mayeda Rashid} } @article {bnh-2853, title = {Child-centered disaster risk reduction: Can disaster resilience programs reduce risk and increase the resilience of children and households?}, journal = {The Australian Journal of Emergency Management}, volume = {31}, year = {2016}, month = {07/2016}, abstract = {

There has been an increasing research and policy focus internationally on the role of child-centred disaster risk reduction and resilience (CC-DRR), including disaster risk reduction and resilience education programs for children and youth. This paper summarises developments and emphasises current progress and challenges. While research has increased in the past 15 years, there are significant research gaps, including those regarding the effectiveness of programs and their relatively patchy implementation. How to solve these problems has been the focus of a world-first national program of research funded by the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC. Building on international and national research to date, this paper focuses on the question of {\~A}{\textdaggerdbl}how can we create, evaluate, implement and scale up CC-DRR programs that work over time, including during disasters and into adulthood, to reduce risk and increase resilience for children, youth, schools, households and communities? This includes a guiding model for research and use, and a set of research-informed tools either developed or being developed to facilitate further progress.

}, url = {https://ajem.infoservices.com.au/items/AJEM-31-03-16}, author = {Kevin Ronan and Katharine Haynes and Avianto Amri and Briony Towers and Eva Alisic and Susan Davie and Nick Ireland and Marla Petal} } @inbook {bnh-4383, title = {Children as change agents in reducing risks of disasters}, booktitle = {Education in Times of Environmental Crisis: Teaching Children to be Agents of Change}, year = {2016}, publisher = {Routledge}, organization = {Routledge}, chapter = {21}, address = {New York}, issn = {978-1-138-94435-0}, author = {Mayeda Rashid and Kevin Ronan and Briony Towers} } @article {bnh-2803, title = {Disaster resilience education: A practice framework for Australian emergency management agencies}, number = {185}, year = {2016}, month = {08/2016}, institution = {Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC}, address = {Melbourne}, abstract = {

This paper presents a practice framework for the development and delivery of school-based disaster resilience (DRE) education in the Australian national context. The purpose of the framework is to provide Australian emergency management agencies with a strategic, evidence-based approach to the development of DRE programs that reduce risk, increase resilience and can be implemented at scale. The framework is comprised of three guiding principles (Collaboration and Partnership, Protection and Participation, and Diversity and Equity) and three core dimensions (Design, Implementation, Evaluation). The structure and content of the framework has been informed by current international and national policy frameworks, existing DRE practice guidelines, and peer-reviewed research evidence. It has also been informed by consultations with representatives from the emergency management and education sectors. The framework should be viewed as a work-in-progress, which as it evolves, can assist in building capacity for best practice in DRE. To this end, the authors welcome and encourage critical feedback and commentary from both key stakeholders and the wider public.

}, issn = {185}, author = {Briony Towers and Kevin Ronan and Katharine Haynes and Marla Petal and Susan Davie and Liz Addison and Tony Jarrett and Brenda Doren-Higgins and Conrad Walsh and Matthew Henry and Gwynne Brennan and Liz Tomazic and Peta O{\textquoteright}Donohue and John Richardson and Antonia Mackay and Ruth Noonan} } @conference {bnh-2945, title = {Evidence-based practice, practice-based evidence: moving towards scaled implementation in child-centred disaster risk reduction}, booktitle = {AFAC16}, year = {2016}, month = {08/2016}, publisher = {Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC}, organization = {Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC}, address = {Brisbane}, abstract = {

Disaster risk reduction (DRR) research conducted through the Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) is intended to have a focus on utilisation, translation and tightening the policy-practice-research nexus. An important link within this nexus relates to a fundamental proposition: Does the subject under empirical scrutiny have sufficient empirical support to be translated in both practice and policy sectors? In the case of our program of research in child-centered disaster risk reduction (CC-DRR), research has made some bona fide strides in the past 15 years producing data that supports two key questions linked to this fundamental proposition. The first question is {\textquoteleft}Are CC-DRR initiatives effective in reducing risk and increasing resilience for children, families, communities?{\textquoteright} The second question is {\textquoteleft}Can CC-DRR initiatives be sustainably implemented at scale?{\textquoteright}
Against this backdrop, this symposium intends to present findings of our program of research from 2014 to the present. These findings are drawn from a major scoping and review exercise, pilot research, co-development and co-evaluation of a practice framework for disaster resilience education and, in 2016, the evaluation of several flagship CC-DRR programs. The symposium will also present our CC-DRR research narrative, the accompanying conceptual framework and utilisation roadmap, and new perspectives on the sustainable and scaled implementation of evidence-based programs.\ 

}, author = {Kevin Ronan and Briony Towers} } @article {bnh-2350, title = {Building best practice in child-centred disaster risk reduction: Annual project report 2014-2015}, number = {142}, year = {2015}, month = {02/11/2015}, institution = {Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC}, address = {Melbourne}, abstract = {

This Annual Report summarises progress to date on Building Best Practice in Child-Centred Disaster Risk Reduction (CC-DRR), with a focus on 2014-2015, but also including the first half of 2014.\  The first 1.5 years has included both scoping and review and the initiation of both pilot and main research.\  A scoping exercise reviewed progress in theory development and across the CC-DRR policy-practice-research nexus.\  In doing so, a parsimonious research narrative emerged intended to build on progress to date but, critically, solve problems and challenges across that nexus.\  The narrative has two main parts to it as follows:

Research to date has included pilot research focused on major stakeholders{\textquoteright} views, including children and youth, households and parents/caregivers, teachers and school personnel, emergency management/DRR professionals.\  With an ultimate research focus squarely on reflecting End User needs, particularly those focused on utilization, many consultations and end user workshopping have been successful in defining a stepwise project and utilisation draft roadmap. \ A first step is to ascertain whether current CC-DRR-focused disaster resilience education (DRE) programs reflect stakeholder needs and reflect theory and promising, good and best practices through developing a CC-DRR Practice and Evaluation Framework. Through an End User/Project Team co-development process, the Framework is then planned to be used to {\textquotedblleft}co-evaluate{\textquotedblright} End User agency DRE programs.

Following this {\textquotedblleft}stakeholder-supported, evidence-based practice{\textquotedblright} step, then DRE programs will be examined for {\textquotedblleft}practice-based evidence{\textquotedblright}, including child learning outcomes, DRR and resilience outcomes and cost effectiveness outcomes.\  Both EBP and PBE steps are couched within an implementation framework, with project research designed to support both policy- and practice-based implementation of CC-DRR/DRE programs.\  The diagram on the next page provides a visual overview of this narrative.\ \  Finally, the report documents the various research and related activities that are intended to support this overall program of research.

}, issn = {142}, author = {Kevin Ronan and Briony Towers and Katharine Haynes and Eva Alisic and Susan Davie and Marla Petal and Nick Ireland and John Handmer and David Johnston} } @article {bnh-1546, title = {Child-Centred Disaster Risk Reduction Annual Report 2014}, year = {2015}, abstract = {

This is an annual report for the year 2013/14 for the CC-DRR project. Through a scoping and review exercise, and through discussions within the team, including with our end users, we have been developing a {\textquotedblleft}research narrative{\textquotedblright}. That narrative then is to be the basis for a program of research including both pilot and main study research projects. Each study is intended to contribute to the narrative. Main study projects have not yet been finalised, but a summary of projects being planned to date are provided in this report.

}, author = {Kevin Ronan and Briony Towers} } @article {bnh-1657, title = {Children{\textquoteright}s knowledge of bushfire emergency response}, journal = {International Journal of Wildland Fire}, volume = {24}, year = {2015}, month = {10/03/2015}, pages = {179-189}, chapter = {179}, abstract = {

In the aftermath of the Black Saturday bushfire disaster, the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission recommended that bushfire education be made a formal part of the Australian national curriculum. Crucially, the success of any hazards education program depends on the degree to which the learner{\textquoteright}s existing knowledge and experience is accommodated in the education process. Yet accommodating children{\textquoteright}s knowledge in bushfire education is hampered by a lack of research on how children conceptualise bushfire hazards. To address this gap, this paper presents a detailed qualitative analysis of children{\textquoteright}s knowledge of bushfire hazards with a specific focus on emergency response. Across four bushfire-prone locations in south-eastern Australia, 26 focus group interviews were conducted with 87 children aged between 8 and 12 years. To better understand the construction of children{\textquoteright}s knowledge, individual interviews were also conducted with 37 parents. Through their engagement in the research process, children demonstrated a capacity for engaging in serious discussions about bushfire hazards and although their knowledge was often characterised by gaps and misconceptions, they also demonstrated a capacity for understanding the fundamental principles of emergency response, particularly when they had been involved in bushfire planning within their household.

}, keywords = {Emergency management, hazards education, Wildfire}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/WF13153}, url = {http://www.publish.csiro.au/?paper=WF13153}, author = {Briony Towers} } @article {bnh-3433, title = {Disaster preparedness for children and families: a critical review}, journal = {Current Psychiatry Reports}, volume = {17}, year = {2015}, month = {07/2015}, chapter = {58}, abstract = {

Preparedness for disasters is universally low; children and families are particularly vulnerable groups. Against this backdrop, research on disaster preparedness for children and families is reviewed, with a focus on disaster preparedness and prevention education programs. Following definitions and theory/rationale, research is critically analyzed. While findings indicate a large growth in research in the past 15\ years and largely positive findings, significant challenges remain. These challenges include issues related to methodological rigor, long-term effectiveness, and implementation. Recent research reflecting these important challenges is reviewed. At the same time, other recent research documents real potential for these programs, including findings which suggest that increased attention to incorporating theory- and evidence-supported components can enhance outcomes. Thus, despite some important limitations and challenges, research done to date signals promise for these programs in reducing risk and increasing resilience to disasters for children, families, and the households and communities in which they live.

}, doi = {10.1007/s11920-015-0589-6}, url = {https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007\%2Fs11920-015-0589-6}, author = {Kevin Ronan and Eva Alisic and Briony Towers and Vicki Johnson and David Johnston} } @article {bnh-2572, title = {Progress made with public awareness-raising activities aimed at building both rural and urban disaster resilience}, journal = {Australian Journal of Emergency Management}, volume = {30}, year = {2015}, abstract = {

Professor John Handmer and Dr Briony Towers, RMIT, summarise the findings of research into informing populations about disaster risk.

}, url = {https://ajem.infoservices.com.au/items/AJEM-30-01-05}, author = {John Handmer and Briony Towers} } @conference {bnh-1622, title = {Promoting Child Resilience to Disasters: Policy, Practice, Research Conference Paper 2014}, booktitle = {Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC and AFAC Wellington Conference 2014}, year = {2015}, month = {02/2015}, abstract = {

The recently published Synthesis Report on the Post-2015 Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR, 2013) places children at the centre of successful adaptation to disasters: {\textquotedblleft}In particular children and youth have been singled out as having specific needs in terms of school safety, child-centred risk assessments and risk communication. But, more importantly, if appropriately educated and motivated on disaster risk reduction, they will lead and become the drivers of change.{\textquotedblright} Equally, here in Australia, the role of disaster education in managing disaster risk has been recognised as a major priority in the National Strategy for Disaster Resilience (Australian Government, 2011). While Child-Centred Disaster Risk Reduction (CC-DRR) is increasingly popular across agencies and organisations around the world, rigorous empirical research on the efficacy of the approach is limited. This three-year program of research is planning a range of projects, unified through various means, and an integrated narrative, to increase the reach and impact of CC-DRR education within communities in Australia and New Zealand.

}, author = {Kevin Ronan and Briony Towers and Kate McAuslan and Vicki Johnson and Eva Alisic and Susan Davie and John Handmer and Katharine Haynes and Nick Ireland and Marla Petal and Avianto Amri and David Johnston} } @article {bnh-3470, title = {Systems Education for a Sustainable Planet: Preparing Children for Natural Disasters}, journal = {Systems}, volume = {2}, year = {2014}, month = {01/2014}, pages = {1-23}, chapter = {1}, abstract = {

This paper first reviews research linked to the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction focusing on {\textquotedblleft}child-centred disaster risk reduction{\textquotedblright} (CC-DRR), highlighting systemic aspects of disaster prevention and preparedness educational programming to date. However, it is also pointed out that education evaluated to date largely assumes a linear, mechanistic approach to preparedness and related resiliency outcomes. Thus, the main thrust of this paper is to elucidate means by which hazards and disaster preparedness education programs for children can shift to systems-based models, those that incorporate both systemic epistemologies but also more systems-based, and interconnected, curricula. This includes curricula that help children connect the physical world and science with the social world and human factors. It also includes the more systemic idea that natural hazards are but one example of a larger category of problems in life related to risk and uncertainty. Thus, a main aim of a systems educational approach is to help children equip themselves with knowledge, skills, motivation and confidence that they can increasingly manage a range of risks in life. This includes an increasing understanding of the added value that can be gained from approaching problems with systemic tools, including producing increasingly effective and sustainable solutions to what public policy refers to as wicked problems.

}, doi = {10.3390/systems2010001}, url = {http://www.mdpi.com/2079-8954/2/1/1}, author = {Kevin Ronan and Briony Towers} } @article {BF-3336, title = {Visions of Sharing Responsibility for Disaster Resilience - Account of a multi-stakeholder workshop}, year = {2012}, month = {March 2012}, institution = {RMIT}, abstract = {This one-day workshop examined the idea and practice of sharing responsibility for disaster resilience. The idea of {\textquoteleft}shared responsibility{\textquoteright} is shaping emergency management thinking in Australia. It has gained significant policy traction following the Victorian 2009 Bushfires Royal Commission and the release of the National Strategy for Disaster Resilience. Similar ideas have been circulating in other sectors for some time. Yet it is not clear what the idea really means or what its implications are for policy and practice. The workshop, held on Thursday 29th March 2012, aimed to address two general questions: {\textbullet} First, the idea: what does the idea of {\textquoteleft}shared responsibility{\textquoteright} mean, and what are its implications? {\textbullet} Second, the practice: is it a useful policy concept, and if yes what needs to be done to implement it, and what could undermine it? The workshop was hosted by RMIT{\textquoteright}s Centre for Risk and Community Safety (CRaCS) in the School of Mathematical and Geospatial Sciences. It was organised on behalf of the Bushfire CRC and the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility{\textquoteright}s (NCCARF) Emergency Management Network. Carbon credits were purchased to offset the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the event. This public account of the workshop has been prepared so that others who were unable to attend the workshop can also see the range of issues and perspectives that were voiced at the workshop.}, author = {Karyn Bosomworth and Adriana Keating and Tarn Kruger and Briony Towers} }