March 2010

Next month - Stakeholder Council

Next month’s Stakeholder Council is an important milestone in the history of the Bushfire CRC as it marks the final such meeting of the successful seven year research program as well as an introduction to the new research program. I urge all Bushfire CRC Stakeholder representatives to attend on Wednesday 21 April. The meeting will be hosted by the Bureau of Meteorology at its Melbourne office. More details and an agenda will be emailed to all Stakeholder representatives shortly.

New research moves forward

All partners will get the opportunity to have their input into refining the project outputs in the new research program for the Bushfire CRC extension at the Research Advisory Forum in Sydney on 6-7 May. Project Leaders will present detail on objectives and timelines for all the projects. This is another opportunity for all Bushfire CRC partners to make sure their organisations are fully involved in this exciting new research program.  It is important representatives of both our agency and research partners come along to this important forum for a shared understanding of expectations.  More details will be sent out shortly.

Student places open

Opportunities are still open for qualified people to take up a Bushfire CRC scholarship for postgraduate study. The education program of the Bushfire CRC has been an outstanding success in recent years, with more than 40 students building the overall research capacity of our industry. A new round of students is currently been sought to continue this program into the future. The advantage of undertaking postgraduate study through the Bushfire CRC is that the research is fully supported by the broader industry - there are many opportunities for students to find suitable industry mentors, to conduct their studies within partner organisations, to present findings at industry conferences, and work with leading researchers in these fields. More details at www.bushfirecrc.com/students/opportunities/index.html

Canadian links

International collaboration has been advanced with the Bushfire CRC and Natural Resources Canada - Canadian Forest Service entering into a Memorandum of Understanding. Former Program Leader Jim Gould, on behalf of the Bushfire CRC, carried our flag while in Canada last year and assisted in the development of this MOU. This new agreement will enable cooperation in areas including: student and researcher exchanges; collaborative research in areas of mutual interest; cooperative program development; and, opportunities for joint or complementary funding.

The Bushfire CRC will continue to develop MOUs with other international research organisations. If any partners have already developed international relationships with organisations that are relevant to the Bushfire CRC please let me know – this may be an opportunity for a suitable research MOU with the Bushfire CRC.

Gary Morgan
CEO
Bushfire CRC