Congratulations to AWE member Karleen Gribble who led the recently released Australian Breastfeeding Association’s Babies and Young Children in the Black Summer (BiBS) Study. This world-first research project aims to increase understanding and reduce the negative impacts of emergencies on the feeding, health and wellbeing of infants and young children. The findings of the BiBS are available here. Keep an eye out on the website for future resources to assist in planning.
Congratulations also to AWE member Scotia Monkovitch on the release of the new Impacts of Creative Recovery report which confirms that arts projects have a unique ability to build long-lasting community resilience, wellbeing and local capacity for disaster preparedness, response and recovery. The report also highlights that creative recovery programs have the capacity to mitigate disaster impacts, as well as the disempowerment that so often results from the stresses and strains of disasters.
Congratulations to AWE members Carla Hall and Fiona MacDonald for their work with the Youth Affairs Council Victoria and Victoria University respectively which helped lead to the establishment of a National Centre of Excellence in Young People and Disasters to empower young Australians to be active agents of change in emergency management. The Centre will be a collaborative hub for research, expertise, and programs for young people to be actively involved in decision-making and management of disasters such as bushfires or floods.
