A rewarding year

Created date

Monday, December 17, 2012 - 11:13pm

The year comes to a close with 2012 being one of the most rewarding for a long time. We have continued to deliver great science of use to our end users. Our science metrics have improved out of sight over the last few years. We are now seeing the vast majority of our work appearing in the high quality journals.

We got an extremely positive review from the CRC Program, highlighting the work we are doing with our agencies. This review tested all aspects of the Bushfire CRC’s business and found us to be in a sound position and delivering impacts for the industry. Recently, we were involved in the number of the examples in the list of top twenty impact projects in the trial of the ARC impact metrics. While last week we were awarded a ‘Highly Commended’ in the National Resilient Australia Awards in the Nationally Significant category for the impact of our research. We have also probably run more media on the work of the Bushfire CRC than any other time since Black Saturday.

While we managed to get the Commonwealth to extend the Bushfire CRC’s contract to July 2014 it came with no new money. We do know that our Commonwealth funding finishes in July 2013, meaning that the Commonwealth Government will not be funding national research into fires in Australia, one of the most fire-prone regions of the globe.

The Bushfire CRC is confident in being able to work through this and the Board is working hard about new business models to ensure that the research can continue. But one thing is clear, the best way to ensure our ongoing success is to focus on the delivery of our world class research and ensure that we work with our end users to ensure it is used and continues to demonstrate the impact. We are working in a field which will directly affect community safety and environmental sustainability, so it is important we remain focused.

We the fast approaching end of year I do wish you all a very Happy Christmas and look forward to a productive New Year for all. I am sure that 2013, our tenth year, will see further successes for the Bushfire CRC and whatever we transition into. If you’re taking a break, enjoy it, come back refreshed, and stay safe.