QUARTERLY UPDATE

SEPTEMBER 2024

It is wonderful to see significant International interest in the work of NatCORR and to share ideas around the globe on the important topic of climate change impact for all of us who enjoy the outdoors in different climatic contexts.

NatCORR Advisory Board members, Dr Clare Dallat and Dr David Marsden, will be attending the Association for Experiential Education (AEE) Conference in India in October. NatCORR and Risk Resolve are event partners of the conference which will allow Clare and David to spread the word about NatCORR to an international audience from our shared exhibition space. Dr Loren Miller will be presenting (online) the Australian Outdoor Sector Weather Report at the Adventure Risk Research Symposium, held in conjunction with the Wilderness Risk Management Conference Research (WRMC) in the US in October. Interestingly, nearly half of NatCORR’s website traffic is from overseas.

We have started planning for a NatCORR Symposium in Canberra on 9th July2025, to be held in conjunction with the Outdoors NSW & ACT Summit. This will be an opportunity to share all of the professional development and resources from NatCORR and outdoor risk experts with the Australian outdoor sector. Please save the date!

Finally, we are proud to be sponsoring Dr Jeff Jackson from Canada to attend and as a keynote presenter at the National Outdoor Education Conference (NOEC) in December. Jeff Jackson is a leading academic and consultant in risk management and organisational safety culture. He will be co-presenting at our pre-conference Organisational Resilience Workshop. NatCORR is also presenting during the conference on the Outdoor Sector Weather Survey Report and on the work of NatCORR in supporting the sector to adapt to a more volatile climate. Tickets to NOEC are selling fast – so book now.

Thank you for your continued support of and engagement with NatCORR.

Dr Loren Miller
Project Leader, NatCORR

Co-Chair & Executive Director, Outward Bound Australia

LATEST NEWS

OUTDOOR RISK INTELLIGENCE

We have provided a couple of snippets about our Outdoor Risk Intelligence (ORI) Platform in past Newsletters, and now we’d like to share a bit more as we have commenced the development process!

ORI will consist of two digital user tools on the one platform:

ORI Heat: We know that increasing global temperatures are impacting outdoor programs and being outdoors in general. This will be a sophisticated heat forecasting and heat stress management tool specifically for outdoor activities.
ORI Track: For incident and business disruption reporting, analysis and advice with an overlay of weather data. This will be a user-friendly, AI/BI interface allowing for internal analysis and national benchmarking. It will also interact with other incident reporting systems, even a photo of a handwritten form.

Stay tuned for further information on how your organisation can benefit from this cutting edge, bespoke technology.

INCIDENT RESPONSE WORKSHOPS

Our four August Workshops saw Dr Clare Dallat and the NatCORR Team present professional development in critical incident response to 77 outdoor professionals across 4 States.

The feedback was outstanding:

“Excellent, highly recommend for all staff and organizations involved with taking students/clients into the outdoors. Should be rolled out to new practitioners, either during TAFE/Uni Courses or in their early years. Also just as relevant for School principal networks to increase their use and awareness of sound critical response systems.”

We plan to offer more opportunities in this space in 2025!

A big thank you to Wesley College, Glen Waverley, Uni SA (Magill Campus), Denton’s Lawyers in Sydney, and St Michael’s Collegiate in Hobart for hosting us. And to our fabulous sponsors One Planet and Paddy Pallin.

Our profound gratitude to Dr Clare Dallat for making time in her busy schedule to continue sharing her experience and knowledge through these workshops.

ADR24 CONFERENCE

Nicky Hanson and Loren Miller attended the 2024 Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience Conference in Sydney earlier this month.

This year we were granted a Poster Display within the exhibition space. This enabled us to connect with a broad audience and spread the word about NatCORR – what we have been doing since our inception and what our plans are for the future.

It is vital that we connect with both the disaster resilience and emergency response communities – we need to understand their world and they need to understand ours.

The Census data being collected by the State Outdoor Peak bodies will also allow us to quantify participation numbers when we speak with these organisations. Being able to show how many people are outdoors will strengthen our case for better representation at the decision-making table.

PRE-NOEC24 WORKSHOP

Many who have attended our Risk Management Workshops have asked how they can engage their senior management in this space – this workshop is for them!

We are running an Organisational Resilience Workshop with presenters Dr Loren Miller, Dr Jeff Jackson and Dr Clare Dallat. The workshop will cover:

Financial management for disaster resilience
Navigating Insurance
Organisational culture and structure
Planning, processes and risk management

The workshop is ideally suited to outdoor business owners and managers, school leaders, and those with budget and/or organisational responsibilities.

Date: Wednesday December 4, 2024

9.30am – 1.00pm at Federation Uni Gippsland (a nice segue into NOEC24)

Click to Register for Workshop

SPOTLIGHT ON

The Australian Climate Change Education Summit and Action Plan brings together multiple education communities, including young people, teachers and educators, scientists, researchers, policymakers, and activists, to set the climate change education action agenda for 2024 onwards.

The Summit will be held on Friday, 18th October 2024, from 11am to 4pm AEDST, as a one-day online event.

Get involved with this great initiative! The Summit and the Speakers Series are free of charge. Read more and register here.