Effects of the Black Summer Bushfires and program initiatives on health and wellbeing

F2F-NI-003. Fire to Flourish is a 5 year program that brings together the University’s transdisciplinary research capabilities to work with bushfire-affected communities to advance community-led resilience and shape their trajectories towards a thriving future. Fire to Flourish will develop an inclusive, participatory and evidence-based model for strengthening resilience across social, built, natural, institutional and economic domains. The Program’s core research question is ‘how can community-led action strengthen disaster recovery efforts and resilience in ways that disrupt cycles of disadvantage and improve people’s lives?’. The research framework comprises three work packages: integrated evaluation, practices of community-led resilience and systems change. The Program has a significant focus on supporting communities to lead their own local initiatives and connect with each other to create the capacity, conditions and solutions for their long-term resilience.

As a Primary Chief Investigator Professor Jane Fisher will lead the Health and Wellbeing research project as part of the Integrated Evaluation Work Package, contribute to other research projects as co-CI and be a member of the Transdisciplinary Research Network.