WORKSHOPS
Workshops at EMC provide an opportunity to interact with other guests and the conference topics and for delegates to have a voice on the issues that matter to them and the communities they serve in their line of work.
Topics and facilitators are selected by the conference committee to provide a forum for responding to current and ongoing challenges faced by EM professionals, volunteers and communities facing emergencies.
All workshops produce outcomes and recommendations to be reported to the conference by the conference chair at the closing session on Day 2 and at the next ESF Stakeholder Council meeting.
The ESF Stakeholder Council comprises of senior representatives of all Victorian emergency service agencies.
The EMC 2025 workshop outlines are shown below.
Workshop 1: Edge of Wedge decision making
Presented by Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action
Duration: 1 hour, 20 minutes
Start time : 10.50AM
Tuesday 29 July 2025
Workshop explores different factors that influence informed, time-critical decisions and what happens when these are removed or impacted when making sound decisions.
- It will encourage thought on how one’s influences will affect decision making and events into the future.
- What is time-critical decision making and what are risks & real world barriers to sound decision making?
Workshop 2: Where can our young people take us?
Presented by Youth Affairs Council Victoria and Victoria University
Duration: 1 hour, 20 minutes
Start time : 1.00PM
Tuesday 29 July 2025
A youth-focused disaster resilience workshop to provide an opportunity for young people from emergency management organisations across Victoria to come together, share ideas, build trust and expand networks with sector personnel/conference delegates.
Format:
- identify commonalities in youth participation across organisations.
- identify collaboration opportunities related to shared experiences or specific shared problems/challenges such as developing career opportunities and progression within the EM Sector or expanding volunteering opportunities to young people.
- generate opportunities to progress ongoing dialogue with young people both within the EM sector and those in community.
Workshop will be supported by staff from the Centre, (YACVic and VU) and the program planning and delivery will be led by young people.
Workshop 3: where will research take us in the next 25 years
Presented by Inspector-General for Emergency Management
Facilitated by: Joint Agencies
Duration: 1 hour, 40 minutes
Start time 1: 10.50AM
Wednesday 30 July 2025
Continuous improvement is embedded in our ways of working, but how is agency-led research driving innovation and fostering better practices supporting safer, and more resilient communities?
In an environment of doing more with less, what opportunities present to harness research and knowledge sharing?
How can we better connect academic researchers and with agency practitioners to realised world-leading research that is utilised every day by agencies across Australia?
What works, what doesn’t and what improvements can be made to strengthen practical and implementable research:
- How can we better support resource and knowledge sharing in agency-led research?
- How can we support future agency-academic partnerships which ensure practical and implementable research outcomes?
- How are your agency’s research needs identified?
- What challenges present your research and your engagement with your colleagues in research/agency practice?
- What improvements or changes could support timely and robust research to address enduring sector challenges?
- Is there an opportunity for, or value in, a community of practice?
Workshop 4: making the invisible visible
Presented by Victoria University
Facilitated by: Celeste Young, Prof Roger Jones, Neil Parry
Duration: 1 hour, 40 minutes
Start time 1: 1.20 PM
Wednesday 30 July 2025
Community risk prevention programs: what does effective measurement look like?
This is intended for community, government and agency participants who are interested and passionate about measurement and risk prevention programs.
- To open out the opportunity for conference participants to contribute to and shape the development of a framework for monitoring and evaluating risk prevention programs at the community level.
- To present research to date which will include early findings from a literature review and a community survey.
- To gain insight in relation to current measurements/ways of measuring opportunities and benefits associated with risk prevention programs at the community level.
Exercise one: What areas are you currently measuring and what challenges are you facing?
Exercise two: What are the opportunities for improving measurement and who would they benefit?
Exercise 3: Facilitated group conversation reflecting on the opportunities