Tourism is one of the most vulnerable sectors in the event of a natural disaster. Such events affect not only tourists but also tourism businesses, resulting in significant declines in visitor numbers and, in some cases, the closure of tourism destinations. Located far from the mainland, small island destinations face multiple challenges in tourism management, as well as in disaster risk mitigation and preparedness. These challenges become even more critical when a small island is home to an active volcano that may erupt at any time. This study aims to evaluate the extent to which tourism business actors undertake mitigation and preparedness activities, supported by other key stakeholders through coordination and collaboration, in order to enhance resilience. Drawing on stakeholder theory, the study adopts the Hexa-Helix Model of Collaboration to operationalize the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) framework. Specifically, the research examines four key elements of DRR: (1) understanding risk, (2) strengthening risk governance, (3) investing in DRR, and (4) enhancing readiness. The findings reveal that small island destinations encounter a range of challenges that require serious commitment from multiple stakeholders. The study underscores that tourism resilience in small island destinations is not the responsibility of a single sector, such as government or business actors alone. Rather, all stakeholders within the destination must engage in comprehensive coordination and collaboration to ensure greater preparedness for future disasters. This research contributes to the literature on Disaster Risk Reduction, particularly in the context of volcanic small island destinations. It also offers practical implications for island communities and local governments in strengthening tourism resilience in small island settings.

Slow-onset disasters such as droughts, climate-related environmental degradation and biological infestations unfold gradually, with unclear starting points and long time horizons. As part of a broader group of complex disasters that also includes compound and cascading events, they contribute to protracted crises in which large segments of the population remain vulnerable and reliant on humanitarian assistance. These dynamics intensify the global polycrisis, where interconnected risks, deepening inequality and climate change amplify human impacts. Yet dominant humanitarian and disaster risk models still prioritise rapid-onset events and short project cycles, reinforcing governance and funding practices that overlook long-term vulnerability.

This paper examines how slow-onset disasters generate layered social, economic, political and institutional risks. For example, on the north coast of Central Java, recurrent tidal flooding and land subsidence in parts of Demak and Kudus have gradually inundated homes and farmland for more than a decade, displacing households and eroding livelihoods. Despite these cumulative impacts, many responses have centred on short-term infrastructure repairs and emergency relief. Recent reforms that introduce anticipatory action and more flexible, risk-informed financing indicate a shift toward recognising crisis as a persistent condition.

To address these challenges, the paper analyses the potential of nationally led, whole-of-society collaboration through Indonesia’s Pentahelix model, which brings together government, academia, business, civil society and media. Although aligned with national strategies and global frameworks, the model’s implementation in slow-onset crises is limited by conceptual ambiguity, power imbalances and hierarchical governance cultures. The paper argues that realising its potential requires stronger coordination, adherence to humanitarian principles and systematic integration of Indigenous and scientific knowledge, assessed through shared indicators such as faster decision processes, greater funding for local actors and reduced risk for the most vulnerable.

“Lessons learnt - researchers embedded in a community organisation, in the disaster management space”.
Community organisations in the disaster management space are under pressure to provide evidenced based outcomes of the impact and efficacy of their work, to both funders and the wider communities they serve. However, limited resources and research expertise hamper their ability to do so effectively and with rigour. Kavanagh, Versace and Mc Namara (2024) suggest that the “embedded research model (i.e., when a researcher is embedded into a “host” organisation) may aid in building research and evaluation capacity”. Further, Vindrola-Padros et al. (2017) state that literature on embedded research in the community services sector is limited. As such, this research aimed to meet a gap in the literature.
Data was generated through ‘embedded researchers’ located within a community-based project in the disaster management area. Researchers from an Australian university with discipline expertise in community services research, undertook the role of ‘embedded researchers’ in a project delivering services across six municipal council areas to young people in communities effected by disasters in regional Victoria. The researchers were appointed to the project from outside the communities and their role was described to the participants as the ‘imbedded researchers’ who were researching and evaluating the project from a ‘Community Based Participatory Action Research’ (Wilson 2019) perspective.
The embedded researchers engaged with participants in situ, to coproduce knowledge wherever possible and to iteratively feedback findings from the research to participants and to the community organisation for review, validation and application. As such, this presentation reports on the perspectives of the participants regarding the role and value of the ‘embedded researchers’ in the community project only - and not on the evaluation of the wider project itself.

SLSQ is working to integrate Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) technology into its club-based and emergency response services to enhance situational awareness, search and rescue efficiency, and overall safety for both responders and the public. This strategy aligns with SLSQ’s overarching goal of reducing preventable deaths in Queensland public waters and improving emergency response capabilities.

Through the implementation of the capability at 16 sites, SLSQ has already seen benefits in community safety and volunteering opportunities through UAV technology to:
achieve real-time aerial imagery and video feeds to improve decision-making during emergency operations,
improve Search and Rescue (SAR) efficiency over water, and large or difficult-to-access areas, and, assess damage and monitor activity at coastal locations,
reduce risks to personnel.

While several challenges have presented and ongoing investment is required to support volunteers to successfully operate UAV technology, the integration of UAVs into SLSQ’s Emergency Response capabilities will significantly enhance the organisation’s ability to respond to emergencies quickly and effectively.  SLSQ intends to continue to adapts to emerging technologies and operational needs to position itself at the forefront of emergency response innovation, and ensuring the safety of both its personnel and the communities it serves. 

Disaster and emergency management generate no shortage of “lessons identified”, yet too many insights fail to translate into lasting change. In this session, Patrick presents a simple, end-to-end Lessons-to-Action Pipeline that helps organisations move from debrief notes to behaviours that reliably show up in the next incident. The approach is designed for real-world constraints: limited time and resources, political and public scrutiny, and the cultural dynamics that can either enable or stall improvement.

You will learn how to: (1) capture lessons quickly and consistently without creating reporting fatigue; (2) translate lessons into clear, implementable change packages—such as policy updates, training adjustments, checklists, and practical tools—with named owners and realistic timeframes; and (3) verify whether a change has genuinely been embedded in practice, rather than merely “completed” on paper.

The session includes a worked example that follows a common operational issue through the pipeline, showing what was changed, who owned the action, how it was communicated and implemented, and what evidence demonstrated that the change made a measurable difference.

Mobilising Volunteer Power as a Strategic Capability

The widening gap between a declining volunteer supply and the increasing frequency of national crises has transformed volunteer management from a logistical function into a high-stakes strategic capability. For public and emergency services, relying on manual coordination—such as spreadsheets and fragmented databases—now represents a significant threat to operational readiness and community resilience.

This session explores how digitisation acts as a critical enabler for modern service delivery, moving beyond simple administration to create a robust, responsive workforce. By adopting a digital-first ecosystem, agencies can address several systemic challenges:

Accelerated Mobilisation: Utilising real-time data and geo-tagged availability allows incident commanders to deploy the right skills to the right locations instantly, reducing response times during critical events.

Automated Governance: Digitisation centralises credentialing, ensuring that background checks and safety certifications are verified automatically, which mitigates liability and protects both the agency and the community.

Policy Alignment and Transparency: Automation provides the verifiable data required to link volunteer activity directly to policy outcomes, satisfying the rigorous audit and reporting expectations of modern government funding frameworks.

The shift toward automation allows agencies to recover thousands of "lost" hours previously spent on repetitive tasks, redirecting that capacity toward strategic planning and volunteer engagement. Case evidence from large-scale health and relief organisations shows that digitising the recruitment journey can reduce administrative overhead by 50% to 75%, significantly increasing the volume of "ready-to-deploy" personnel.

Ultimately, building a future-ready volunteer ecosystem is essential for maintaining national security and service continuity.

This session provides a roadmap for leaders to transition from fragmented manual systems to a unified, digital infrastructure that empowers volunteers and strengthens public safety.

In June 2025, a significant storm triggered multiple large landslides across Takaka Hill in the Tasman region of the South Island, severely impacting a critical transport route and isolating communities. The response demanded decisive leadership and innovative approaches to restore access at pace while managing complex geotechnical, environmental, and operational constraints. Working under a “pace over perfection” directive from the client, the integrated team of contractor and consultant applied concurrent design and construction activities, rapid onsite decision‑making, and collaborative solution development to accelerate recovery. Digital tools, reusing existing designs, real‑time data sharing, and standardised processes supported a high‑velocity workflow, enabling the stabilisation of multiple large landslides and reinstatement of two‑lane access, ready for Christmas holiday makers. What would previously have been a two year process, the team delivered within five months through the various innovation measures implemented. Key lessons from the recovery highlight the importance of adaptive leadership, collaborative teams and innovation in both engineering and project delivery. These insights offer practical guidance for organisations navigating fast‑moving disaster environments where traditional linear infrastructure delivery approaches are historic and outdated.

Surf Life Saving Queensland (SLSQ) has continued to deliver on its core mission — to save lives, build better communities, and provide Queenslanders with safer public waters.

Australia is home to 11,000 mainland beaches of which only 6% are patrolled, or supervised, by lifesaving services at some point in the year. In Queensland last year alone, 1,825 Rescues occurred outside the flags (78%), 33% of beach drowning fatalities happened outside of patrolled times and 57% occurred more than 1km away from a lifesaving service.

Unpatrolled locations or out of hours incidents continue to challenge our statewide and national lifesaving service provision. We need to consider and utilise technology to help us be in more places across more time, while concurrently facing resourcing challenges and increasing demand. A flagship initiative that is helping SLSQ tackle these challenges, is the Emergency Response Beacon (ERBs) or 'Smart Pole' initiative. SLSQ is delivering a series of ERBs coupled with Public Rescue Equipment (PRE) at high-risk locations that enable seamless connection to our State Operations and Communications Centre (SOCC) to provide assistance at times of greatest need. New designs also provide the ability to integrate Artificial Intelligence (AI) and enable direct remotely executed warnings to prevent individual incidents from occurring and issuing broader warnings for severe weather or tsunami.

Existing ERBs have already saved lives and brought assistance individuals over the past year. As we continue to improve and expand our Coastal Safety Network paired with equipment that enables the public to be connected with emergency services quickly and immediately help others where it is safe to do so, we have been provided a leading opportunity to respond to incidents with the right resources at the right time, and bring down the number of preventable drowning deaths that occur on our coastline each year.

Universities operate as complex organisations whose continuity depends on the effective integration of emergency management, business continuity, and organisational resilience. The Auckland University of Technology (AUT) has undertaken a multi-year resilience transformation programme to strengthen its capacity to anticipate, absorb, and adapt to disruptive events, ranging from severe weather and cyberattacks to regionally catastrophic hazards. This poster outlines AUT’s evolving path, highlighting the key milestones, structural enablers, and intended outcomes that collectively advance organisational resilience.
AUT’s resilience journey is anchored in the alignment of its Emergency Management Plan with New Zelaand’s Coordinated Incident Management System (CIMS), enabling interoperable decision-making, standardised functional roles, and coherent multi-agency coordination during emergencies. Parallel development of an integrated Resilience Framework embeds business continuity within emergency management, ensuring that teaching, research, and critical services can be sustained or rapidly restored following disruption. The refinement of hazard-specific planning, establishment of a Controller cohort, development of an alternate National Crisis Management Centre (aNCMC) capability, and expansion of intelligence, welfare, and operational readiness arrangements represent significant shifts.
Furthermore, AUT has introduced systematic readiness initiatives, including regular exercising, staff capability development, digital process transformation, and the modernisation of emergency facilities and communication pathways. Together, these developments support a more predictable, scalable, and networked response that reflects the increasing interdependence of tertiary institutions, lifeline utilities, and regional emergency management partners.
By presenting AUT’s resilience milestones in a structured progression - from foundational policy work to operational maturation - the poster demonstrates how a tertiary institution can transition from fragmented preparedness activities to an enterprise-wide, strategically governed resilience system. The AUT resilience path provides an emerging model for universities seeking to enhance organisational safety, continuity, and adaptive capacity in an increasingly volatile risk environment.

Emergency management professionals increasingly operate in complex, high-consequence environments that demand both strong operational capability and advanced strategic thinking. However, a persistent gap exists between postgraduate emergency management education and the internal qualification and training frameworks used within organisations. Master’s programs typically emphasise theory, policy, research and critical analysis, while internal qualifications prioritise procedural competence, role-based performance and immediate operational readiness. This disconnect can reduce the perceived relevance of academic study for practitioners and limit the strategic depth of organisational training pathways.

This presentation examines how that gap is being bridged through deliberate curriculum design, applied learning approaches and close alignment between academic outcomes and professional capability frameworks. Drawing on the development of a Master’s program in Strategic Leadership in Risk and Emergency Management, the session demonstrates how academic learning can be translated into practical leadership, decision-making and systems-thinking capabilities. Real-world case studies, incident management team contexts, contemporary inquiries and reflective practice are embedded to ensure theory directly supports operational and strategic roles.

The presentation also explores how internal emergency management qualifications are strengthened by engagement with academic concepts such as governance, complex risk, leadership under pressure, climate risk and recovery. Aligning learning outcomes, assessment approaches and professional competencies enables academic and organisational pathways to become mutually reinforcing. Rather than replacing internal qualifications with degrees, this approach creates a coherent professional development ecosystem spanning education, training and practice.

Such integration enhances workforce capability, deepens leadership capacity and better prepares emergency managers to navigate evolving and uncertain risk landscapes. It demonstrates the value of sustained collaboration between universities, agencies and practitioners in shaping future-ready emergency management professionals. By bridging theory and practice, the sector can build credibility, relevance and resilience. These outcomes support safer communities, stronger institutions and more adaptive emergency management systems in an increasingly complex operating environment globally today.

This study addresses the urgent need for accessible emergency communication for Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) communities in Queensland. Despite advances in technology, significant gaps remain in ensuring real-time, inclusive two-way communication during crises. Employing a qualitative phenomenological approach, this research actively involves DHH individuals and key stakeholders through interviews and co-design workshops. The project critically analyses current emergency communication tools, identifies persistent barriers, and collaboratively develops user-driven digital frameworks tailored to DHH needs. By prioritising lived experiences and community engagement, the research aims to establish innovative, practical solutions that empower DHH communities and inform best practices across emergency management systems. Ultimately, these outcomes will contribute to equitable disaster response, ensuring DHH individuals have seamless access to vital information and support during emergencies.

Early warning systems are a cornerstone of effective emergency management, yet evidence continues to show that culturally diverse and refugee-background communities face persistent barriers in accessing, interpreting, and acting on official warnings. Language differences, trust gaps, varying risk perceptions, and reliance on informal networks can influence how warnings are received and understood, highlighting the need for more inclusive approaches.

Drawing on doctoral research examining disaster communication experiences among diverse communities in regional Australia, this presentation explores how early warning systems can better reflect the needs, strengths, and lived realities of populations who may be underserved by traditional communication models. The session will discuss emerging insights into the role of trusted community networks, culturally responsive messaging, and the importance of engaging communities as partners rather than passive recipients of information.

The presentation will also consider implications for emergency management organisations, including opportunities to embed inclusive practices within policy, planning, and operational frameworks. Practical reflections will be offered on how agencies can move beyond one-way communication toward more collaborative approaches that support understanding, trust, and timely action.

By sharing lessons from ongoing research alongside observations from practice, this session aims to contribute to broader conversations on building equitable early warning systems and strengthening community resilience. Participants will gain insights into how inclusive communication can enhance preparedness and ensure that emergency warnings are meaningful and accessible to all.

Queensland is experiencing increasingly frequent and severe disasters, placing pressure on communities and emergency services. With compounding hazards expected to rise, innovative approaches to disaster preparedness and recovery are essential. This presentation explores the current engagement of low-security prisoners and individuals undertaking community service orders (CSOs) in disaster resilience activities across Queensland and calls for greater collaboration with Corrective Services nationally. Harnessing the skills, labour, and unique perspectives of this cohort can help meet the escalating demand for volunteers while supporting rehabilitation, social inclusion and community cohesion.
Low-security prisoners and CSO participants remain an underutilised resource. Many possess valuable skills including manual labour, construction and teamwork, which are critical during disaster operations. Utilising these skills for tasks such as sandbag stockpiling, bushfire mitigation, riparian restoration and infrastructure maintenance builds capacity within communities to prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters.
QCS’ successful programs have proven to be mutually beneficial. Communities gain additional manpower and skills, while participants benefit from skill development, meaningful contribution and a sense of purpose, aiding rehabilitation and reducing recidivism.
Despite these benefits, Queensland faces challenges in expanding such programs. Public misconceptions about low-security prisoners and CSO participants, limited awareness of their existing contributions, and concerns around safety can hinder program development. Further, in expanding these activities, ensuring participant safety and dignity, avoiding exploitation, and securing community acceptance must be addressed. Collaboration between QCS, disaster and emergency management agencies, local governments, and community organisations is essential to design inclusive, equitable, and effective programs.
This presentation calls for a shift in how Queensland utilises low-security prisoners and CSO participants in disaster preparedness and recovery. By recognising and mobilising their potential, Queensland can enhance community resilience while advancing rehabilitation and social inclusion. DEMC26 offers a platform to explore this strategy, encourage conversations, and inspire practical, future focused solutions.

Under a Social-Ecological Systems framework, disasters can be conceptualised as a crisis, emerging out of the high levels of interconnectedness and feedback that occur between human actors and ecological entities at multiple scales. Addressing these potential crises are complex, where international policies are beginning to prioritise collaborative, cross-disciplinary disaster risk reduction (DRR) and management (DRM) approaches. Hazard and impact scenarios are being used as one such tool to engaged actors in the development and exchange of actionable DRM knowledge, but they are being used on the assumption they work rather than robust proof they work, jeopardizing important investments in the development and application of scenarios for bettered DRR.

My research investigates the way these scenarios are used as boundary objects both as a process and product to engage actors of different social worlds, such as science, policy, and practice, where society is a facet of practice in this interface (SPPI). Informed by four case studies spanning 30 years of scenario practice in Aotearoa and interviews with 20+ related professionals across the SPPI and governance scale, this project synthesizes relevant findings from evaluation literature broadly, within a Social-Ecological Systems Framework, and professional insight to iteratively co-develop and apply an evaluation framework for scenario use in DRM. The results of this project will be presented, including a user-developed definition of ‘effective’ scenario use from the perspectives of professionals across science, policy, and practice, an evaluation of four case studies of notable success, and an expansion of the priorities shared that informed the development of the evaluation framework.

SLSQ has continued to deliver on its core mission — to save
lives, build better communities, and provide Queenslanders with safer public waters. Guided by the Surf Life Saving Queensland Strategic Plan 2024–2027, its work continues to be focused on strengthening governance, reducing operational complexity, and fostering a culture of excellence and innovation. It has invested in its people — particularly our youth — while enhancing communication and leadership pathways across our diverse membership base.

SLSQ’s intent in a disaster or large-scale emergency
incident is to provide support to all agencies during the response phase of an emergency or disaster. SLSQ works proactively with all emergency services and
provides qualified lifesaving personnel to ensure the Queensland public is kept safe during these times. SLSQ makes all lifesaving resources available for use
with skilled personnel to assist across the Queensland coastline whilst maintaining critical beach and coastal safety services.

Its new roadmap will help SLSQ achieve its Emergency Management Vision through a structured and accountable approach that supports our workforce, Clubs, Branches and State capabilities as it transitions and enhances its standing as an established, embedded, and respected emergency service organisation in Queensland.

The roadmap is supported by frameworks that enable sustainable capability development with priority areas identified that will enhance and compliment core business lifesaving services, whilst supporting emergency service partners and communities in times of major incidents and disaster events.

Since 1988, the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has administered varied hazard mitigation grant programs designed to achieve measurable risk reduction and protection from future disasters. The programs, which include the pre-disaster and post-disaster mitigation grant programs, have evolved in complexity through their life cycle. This presentation explores the lessons learned from these grant programs that other countries could gain from to achieve lasting changes from disaster funding, including Australia’s Disaster Ready Fund.

Proactive System Design: Opportunities for risk reduction are often missed in a post-disaster environment because program designs support a reactive environment and complex requirements. Funding provided should be for proactive grant programs to incorporate effective planning, shorten recovery timelines, reduce resource strain, and protect long-term strategic priorities. For example, program designs can support planning for higher requirements for rebuilding and include technical assistance from experts for proper implementation.

Operationalizing Equity: Understanding the local perspective and cost sharing gaps, identifying community capacity to apply for and execute projects, and implementing structural adjustments to ensure communities are not excluded from mitigation funding and successful project execution. For example, benefit-cost analysis supports prioritizing projects that reduce the most risk, but the associated technical requirements can create a barrier for communities with limited resources.

Locally Led Accountability: Building locally led programs on a foundation of robust technical data and multi-sectoral partnerships to incentivize high-impact projects while maintaining local ownership and priorities. Risk analysis and resilience planning is essential but should lead to executable projects. Tools such as Australia’s ADRI-2 are key to these efforts.

Continuous Improvement Cycles: Moving away from static funding models toward iterative, flexible systems that adjust program requirements and priorities based on real-world needs-based implementation data and mitigation results. Highly prescribed programs result in dictated solutions, rather than the best solution to reduce the most risk.