July already! So much happening.

July already! Not quite sure where this year has gone. Well a number of significant events are now behind us and all seem to be getting better and better. The RAF meeting in Hobart was an ideal opportunity to hear from a number of our researchers, all presentations were of very high quality, and again a highlight was the student presentations. We have also conducted a well-attended seminar from Dr Marty Alexander from Canada on the art and science of fire danger ratings, the video of this seminar is now the available on our website.

I also had the opportunity to attend the recent forum held by Scion in Rotorua, the fourth one they have held, this one coincided with the twenty year anniversary of fire science in New Zealand. The Bushfire CRC was well represented with presentations from researchers Dr Sally Ferguson and Dr Fabienne Reisen; lead-end user Neil Cooper, and Bushfire CRC staff Dr Noreen Krusel, Gary Morgan and myself. There was a lot of interest in the work being conducted in the Bushfire CRC.

More recently we have held our Participant Council meeting in Adelaide. The meeting was addressed by the South Australian Minister for Emergency Services, the Hon Jennifer Rankine. Also discussed was the future of the Bushfire CRC and plans to transition into a Research Institute, and the steps need to secure funding from the Commonwealth. Also there was a presentation on the outcomes and response to the recent performance review of the Bushfire CRC by the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science, Research and Tertiary Education.

Coming up very soon is the annual conference, where once again the Bushfire CRC is partnering with AFAC for Australasia’s biggest emergency management conference. The research forum held on the Tuesday of the conference week will showcase much of the work of the Bushfire CRC as well as presentations from outside the Bushfire CRC including from within end-user organisations once again details can be found on our website. I look forward to meeting many of you there.