Coordinated approach to uptake of research

Over the past few years the Bushfire CRC and the fire and emergency management industry have worked closely together to build new research into the policy and practices of the industry.  This has been encapsulated in the AFAC Approach to Knowledge Management and is reflected in our new Research Utilisation Strategy. 

In practical terms, this means that time taken to consider the meaning of new research is a valuable step in the creation of new knowledge.

Here are two recent examples:

• The new AFAC Learning and Development Strategy has ‘Research adoption and utilisation in learning and development’ as one of its five priorities. It is supported by action including the incorporation of all relevant Bushfire CRC research into the appropriate learning and development frameworks and materials.  This is a significant step in embedding new research findings into practice.
• A recent workshop was hosted by the AFAC Community Safety Group in Launceston for the purpose of considering some of the Bushfire CRC research on Risk Communication and on Evaluation of Community Education Programs (two projects from the former Program C). Two researchers, Professors Douglas Paton and John Fein, presented an overview of the research findings.  There was robust discussion about what it meant to the agencies, both individually and as a group.  It was agreed that there was value in having the researchers involved in this conversation and that there were implications that should be addressed at the national level.  These include the potential to develop an AFAC Position on Community Education and Engagement and Evaluation and possibly to develop supporting guidelines or documentation informed by the research. It was also suggested that the inclusion of community safety needs into training should be advocated at a national level and that there could be professional development activities that use some of the research utilisation products that have been developed. It was agreed that individual agency initiatives should be shared within the group.