The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report warns that climate change impacts—hazards such as bushfires, drought and flooding—are becoming more frequent and more intense, damaging nature, people and infrastructure. Yet measures to reduce carbon emissions, while important, will not slow this trend in the short-term. Even if greenhouse gas emissions stop tomorrow, the impacts of climate change will continue to increase due to past emissions.

With every new bushfire and flood, Australia is spending more on disaster recovery. Under a relatively optimistic low-emissions scenario, the cost of disasters in Australia is estimated to grow to $73 billion annually by 2060. Now is the time to learn how to prepare for—alongside recover from—disasters.

The Disaster Solutions short course is designed for professionals across government, industry and community sectors and provides an understanding of the trajectory of disasters, how Australia and the world are responding to this escalating trend, and the need for going beyond incremental thinking to find transformative solutions for disaster risk reduction (DRR).

Delivered by the ANU Institute for Climate, Energy & Disaster Solutions (ICEDS) and convened by Associate Professor Roslyn Prinsley, the course brings together leading researchers from across the University to discuss with you the science, policy and practice of disaster risk reducation and preparedness.

 

"Excellent presentations, passionate presenters, and professionally facilitated."

(participant of Disaster Solutions, April 2024, online)

 

Course Dates

No courses currently scheduled for 2025.

More courses may be added to the 2025 calendar as the year progresses. To stay informed of future courses and dates, express your interest here.

To enquire about a private course for your organisation or community group, contact the ICEDS professional learning experiences team via icedscourses@anu.edu.au.

 

Scope

This Disaster Solutions professional short course provides decision-makers in government, industry, non-government and community sectors with the latest research and ANU expertise on disaster risk reduction and preparedness. It explores the impacts of climate change on disasters, systems thinking for disaster risk reduction, the relationship of disaster risk reduction with climate change adaptation, financing for disaster solutions, and the challenges and opportunities in enabling disaster solutions.

The course is delivered in real-time, either online or in-person, and is centred on six topic-based sessions with six ANU-affiliated researchers who work at the interface of science-policymaking-practice. Group discussions are also a feature of the course—during the topic sessions and at nominated group discussion times—between you, the ANU team and fellow participants who typically come from a diverse range of workplaces and sectors.

During the course, participants are encouraged to share their thoughts/experiences and will discuss ways that the research relates to their broader work contexts. On completion of the course, participants will have/be able to:

• Understand the shared challenges, complexities and contextual differences in disaster preparedness, reduction and recovery in Australia and its neighbouring region.
• Appreciate key concepts and practices for effective disaster solutions (science and policy) in the future.
• Understand national and international frameworks for disaster policy.
• Apply foundational mainstreaming and systems thinking concepts and approaches for disaster scenarios.
• Understand the need for a resilience approach, and nature-based approaches for disaster solutions.
• Identify roles and perspectives for good governance and coordination in disaster preparedness, reduction, and recovery.
• Recognise financing options for disaster preparedness, reduction and recovery. 
• A broader network of people who are working on disaster risk and solutions, including the ANU ICEDS team.

 

"The course content was relevant and delivery was excellent. It was great to have time for questions and discussions which developed new knowledge and understanding."

(participant of Disaster Solutions,  May 2024, online)

 

In-Person vs Online vs Tailored

The in-person Disaster Solutions course is a full-day, fully catered professional short course delivered from 9:00am - 5:30pm at the Australian National University (Acton campus, ACT). Six 1-hour topic sessions, plus group discussions and networking breaks, are featured across the day.

The online Disaster Solutions course is a 3 x half-day professional short course delivered via video conferencing software, e.g. Zoom Meetings or Microsoft Teams. Across three consecutive half-days (9:30am - 1:00pm), six 1.25-hour topic sessions are featured (two topic sessions per day), plus group discussions and breaks.

A tailored Disaster Solutions course features 5-6 topic sessions (1 - 1.5 hours each) delivered across a timeframe that works best for your organisation or the target participant group.

Each delivery of the Disaster Solutions course differs slightly to ensure that the sessions stay relevant to the rapidly evolving disaster risk reduction and preparedness context. The location, logistics, presenters and specific lecture titles of each course are provided to registrants in the week before the course begins.

An overarching course program is provided in the table below as a guide.

Session topics *
Welcome and introduction
Overview of climate change and disasters in our region: Projections, impacts and extremes
Disasters and transformational change
Finance and disasters: one specific finance concept/practice e.g. innovative financing, insurance for disasters, financing loss and damage, etc.
Different ways of doing/knowing disasters: one specific risk, vulnerability and resilience concept/practice e.g. Indigenous approaches to disaster resilience
Mainstreaming disaster risk reduction across multiple sectors
Enabling effective disaster leadership and solutions
Additional group discussion or activity
Closing and reflections

* The example program is provided as a guide only. Session topics and sequencing are subject to change to achieve each course's learning outcomes and to align with contemporary challenges of disaster solutions.

 

Presenters

The Disaster Solutions course features some of the Australian National University's leading climate and disaster risk researchers. Together, our presenters' expertise encompass most facets of disaster risk reduction and preparedness; the conceptual, technological, economic, policy and societal opportunities and challenges. 

Past and regular ANU-affiliated presenters include:

• Mark Howden, Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science (CPAS)
• Roslyn Prinsley, School of Engineering
• Steve Crimp, Institute for Climate, Energy & Disaster Solutions (ICEDS)
• Stephen Dovers, Fenner School of Environment & Society
• Kirsty Wissing, School of Culture, History & Language, and CSIRO
• Paula Jarzabkowski, University of Queensland
• Mark Crosweller, College of Asia and the Pacific
• Jason Alexandra, Institute for Climate, Energy & Disaster Solutions (ICEDS)
• Sibohan McDonnell, Crawford School of Public Policy
• Kate Simmonds, Investor Group on Climate Change
• John Handmer, Institute for Climate, Energy & Disaster Solutions (ICEDS)
• Astrid Vachette, Charles Sturt University
• Robert Glasser, Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI)

 

"Lots of interesting content and excellent speaker lineup. Very good emphasis on interdisciplinarily and holistic systemic perspectives."

(participant of Disaster Solutions,  Aug 2023, in-person)

 

Who Should Attend and Why?

The course is most relevant to policymakers and practitioners in Australia, and across the Asia and Pacific regions. Participants from a range of backgrounds will benefit from the diversity of disciplines covered, which is an essential feature of the course as disasters will impact all sectors of our economy and society.

Disaster Solutions is a relatively young and successful ICEDS course, having been created in late 2023. The 60+ participants who have attended the Disaster Solutions course have given it an overall average rating of 4.3 our of 5 (86%, high distinction!)

 

Feedback from past participants tell us that the Disaster Solutions course is: 

"Enjoyable and eye-opening. This course has made me more curious and ready to do more of a deep dive into vulnerability/resilience and policy making"

(participant of Disaster Solutions,  April 2024, online)

"This ANU short course was a great experience and enhanced/supported the work I do every day for NEMA."

(participant of Disaster Solutions,  May 2024, online)

"I found the course extremely helpful and engaing. I appreciated the wealth of experience that the presenters provided throughout the course."

(participant of Disaster Solutions,  May 2024, online)

 

Important Information

• The course is delivered either as a fully online course or an in-person course. 
• Six broad topics are presented with breaks and group discussions.
• Registrations for our public courses are via Humanitix (with 100% of Humantix profits going to education charities). 
• Registrations close 1 week before the course commences. 
• Each individual course take place subject to demand. Registrants will receive a full refund in the unlikely event that the course is cancelled. Places on our public courses are limited to 30 participants and registrations are on a 'first come - first served' basis. Private or tailored courses have a flexible maximum participant number. For more details on refunds, see our refund policy.
• To receive an ANU Certificate of Participation at the end of the course, participants must attend at least 50% of the topic sessions/group discussions. The ANU Certificate of Participation is not an Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) qualification and cannot be used for course credit or exemption at ANU.
• If you have a registration request after the booking portal closes, please contact the ICEDS professional learning experiences team directly via icedscourses@anu.edu.au.

 

Registration Privacy Notice

By registering for this course, you are also subscribing to the ANU Institute for Climate, Energy & Disaster Solutions mailing list. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe button at the bottom of correspondence. Find out more information in the course registration privacy notice.

 

Event Photography and Recording

ICEDS professional learning experiences may be photographed and recorded. Images and recordings are kept by ICEDS and may be used for monitoring and evaluation purposes, and for promotional purposes including websites, publications, social media and other modern technologies. If you do not want to be recorded at a course, please inform the photographer or course facilitator on the day. If you do not want to be included in a course recording, please contact us at icedscourses@anu.edu.au.