Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council (AFAC)

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AFAC Knowledge Web > Members area > Projects > Strategic Plan 2010-2012 > Leadership & Advocacy > Research Institute

Creating a Research Institue

The Need

The Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) will cease on 30 June 2013. AFAC has been informed that it is highly unlikely that any further funding will be made available through the CRC program. AFAC Council supports the need for an ongoing collaborative research effort by and for the industry. Without this, the research effort will revert to the uncoordinated and fragmented approach that existed pre 2003

Benefits and Strategic Alignment

An ongoing research capacity is needed for the industry to support the ongoing pursuit of evidenced based decision making. The creation of an ongoing research institute has the following benefits:

It supports coordinated and collaborative research
It is more efficient than individually commissioned research
Allows all stakeholders to benefit from the findings
Provides a focus for setting new research questions
Allows for systematic adoption of new knowledge
It provides industry driven research

Proposal

Create a sustainable fire and emergency service research institute to replace the Bushfire CRC and secure ongoing government and stakeholder funding to support it.

This project involves:

Development of an institute model suited to the stakeholders
Obtaining a source/sources of ongoing funding from the Federal and State Governments, industry and other stakeholders
Creation and ongoing management of the Institute

The project is to be completed within the next 24 months