Resilience is seen as a cost effective way of dealing with natural hazards and disasters. The National Strategy for Disaster Resilience states:

The disaster resilience approach seeks to ensure we are able to adapt to new and emerging hazards, reduce our exposure to risks, and recover from disasters effectively. In the medium to long-term, the benefits of improved disaster resilience will exceed the costs.

However, very little is known about the economic benefits of resilience, in particular the potential savings that can be achieved by adapting to potential future risks.

The Victoria Institute of Strategic Economic Studies is seeking expressions of interest from potential post graduate scholars to undertake a PhD in the economics of resilience. This PhD would support the 3-year project Mapping and understanding bushfire and natural hazard vulnerability and risks at the institutional scale funded by the Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre.

The project would use the economic literature, existing socio-economic data and historical events to develop an appropriate conceptual model for understanding the economics of resilience in an Australian context. The understanding developed by the project would be used by governments and agencies to support business cases for investing in resilience to reduce the long-term costs of natural hazards and disasters.

Expressions of interest from interested graduates of economics or a similar discipline are invited. An application for scholarship funding will be made to the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC with the successful applicant.

The Victoria Institute of Strategic Economic Studies at Victoria University Melbourne is one of Australia’s major centres of research into applied economics.

Please Contact Dr John Symons for further information

Contact Details:

Dr John Symons

BSc, GDip Ed, M Env Plan, PhD

Research Fellow

Victoria Institute of Strategic Economic Studies

Phone +61 3 9919 1457

Mobile +61 434 870 981

Email john.symons@vu.edu.au