'Be Ahead of Ready' Research Planning

Customer challenge

Natural hazards in Australia are anticipated to increase in frequency and severity over the coming decade. Natural Hazards Research Australia (NHRA) sought to enhance its understanding of the policy and capability responses Australia requires to prepare for these changes. Delivering this objective required comprehensive engagement with a diverse range of stakeholders to gather insights and recommendations. NHRA sought to use the outputs from this project to review and refine its research plan.

Ricardo solution

Ricardo was engaged to support NHRA in this process through the following steps:

• Stakeholder Engagement: Conducted over 14 workshops with more than 500 stakeholders across emergency management, academia, government, non-profits, and the private sector to gather a wide range of perspectives and insights.
• Research Planning: Facilitated a discovery process to identify potential policy and capability responses needed for effective natural hazard preparedness and adaptation. Provided recommended key focus areas and research needs to inform NHRA’s review of its research plan.
• Process Development: Piloted a new approach for research planning that can be used to support future planning processes.

Customer benefit

Ricardo’s comprehensive engagement and research planning efforts provided NHRA with a robust foundation to enhance its research plan in support of Australia preparing for future natural hazards. The insights gained from the extensive stakeholder workshops and the strategic recommendations offered will help NHRA address emerging challenges effectively by targeting its research efforts and enhancing the capability of the sector.