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Researchers from a Centre-funded project received an Excellence in Research award at the Emergency Media and Public Affairs Australia (EMPA) Awards 2026 in May, honouring their improvement and design of effective public-facing fire spread prediction maps.
Presented in Brisbane, the award recognised researchers from the Predictions in public: understanding the design, communication and dissemination of predictive maps to the public project, where the team is working to produce an evidence-based, nationally consistent approach to designing, communicating and disseminating public-facing fire spread prediction maps during bushfire emergencies.
The project team includes lead researcher Dr Chloe Begg from the Victorian Country Fire Authority; Angela Gardner from the Victorian Department of Education; Dr Erica Kuligowski, Dr Amy Griffin, Gita Pupedis and Phillippa Perry from RMIT University; A/Prof Paula Dootson and A/Prof Deanna Grant-Smith from the Queensland University of Technology and A/Prof Timothy Neale and Gabrielle Miller from Deakin University.
The use of fire predictions has received increasing attention since the 2019/2020 fire season when 'Red Maps' were released to the public in New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory.
The project was motivated by a recognition that these maps — historically an operational tool used by subject matter experts — were being released to communities who had no guidance on how to interpret or use them.
Fire agencies are encouraged to publicly release fire prediction maps, despite limited empirical evidence guiding effective design, communication, and comprehension.
Predictions in Public aims to address this, with the following objectives:
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To understand how members of the fire and emergency services sector would prefer predictive maps to be distributed and used by members of the public.
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To understand how members of the public use, comprehend, perceive, and take-action in response to existing predictive map designs and other types of maps used by agencies across Australia.
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To develop a set of evidence-based guidelines/principles for the design and dissemination of predictive maps to the public based on existing research on hazard mapping.
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To work with the fire and emergency services sector to develop practical project outputs to translate the research findings into fire agency policy and practice.
The project has delivered measurable outcomes across all four objectives, with impact extending from individual community comprehension through to national doctrine and operational deployment during active fire seasons.
The Centre congratulates the research team for this outstanding achievement.
Photo: A/Prof Paula Dootson receiving the award on behalf of the Predictions in Public project team.