ABOUT
The NSW Bushfire and Natural Hazards Research Centre (BNHRC) is a unique research consortium led from the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment (HIE) at Western Sydney University (WSU) - in partnership with the University of New South Wales (UNSW), University of Wollongong (UOW), The Australian National University (ANU), The University of Melbourne (UMelb) and University of Tasmania (UTAS) – designed to deliver applied research.
A brief history of the Centre
Funded by the NSW Government, the Centre was launched in January 2023 and brings universities together with Aboriginal people, emergency response agencies, decision makers, and public land managers to co-design research that benefits NSW communities and the environment.
The establishment of the Centre is the result of a key recommendation from the inquiry into the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires, calling for enhanced commitment to how the state deals with these disasters.
In response to the 2022 Flood Inquiry, the BNHRC also established a Climate and Weather node. It includes a research master’s program enabling students to study issues relevant to floods, bushfires and other hazards.
A brief history of the Centre
Participating organisations
Based at Western Sydney University, the BNHRC is an extraordinary partnership between participating universities and NSW Government end-user agencies. These include the Science and Insights Division and National Parks and Wildlife Service within the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW), the NSW Rural Fire Service (NSW RFS), the NSW State Emergency Service (NSW SES), Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW), the NSW Department of Customer Service - Spatial Services (DCS), the Office of the NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer (OCSE), and the NSW Reconstruction Agency (NSWRA);.
Following on from the success of the NSW Bushfire Risk Management Research Hub which closed in 2022, the BNHRC establishes NSW as a major world centre for research into bushfires and other natural hazards.
The BNHRC is focused on co-design and co-delivery of a research program that will see development of innovative new solutions for the management of natural hazards, in collaboration with its government and university partners.
Our Vision
Our vision is to build a dynamic centre for bushfire and natural hazards research, knowledge exchange and collaboration. We are leading the co-design, co-development and co-delivery of bushfire and natural hazard research solutions for NSW.