Engine Room Solutions Research

Rachel Westcott

Papers and Publications

  1. WESTCOTT, R., RONAN, K., BAMBRICK, H. & TAYLOR, M. 2017b. Expanding protection motivation theory: investigating an application to animal owners and emergency responders in bushfire emergencies. BMC Psychology, 5, 13. DOI: 10.1186/s40359-017-0182-3
  2. WESTCOTT, R., RONAN, K., BAMBRICK, H. & TAYLOR, M. 2017. Don’t Just Do Something…..Stand There! Emergency Responders’ Peri-Incident Perceptions of Animal Owners in Bushfire. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 4, 34. DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2017.00034
  3. WESTCOTT, R. 2017. Mitigating Action Inertia and the Bushfire Awareness-Action Gap: Findings from a South Australian Case Study. Australia and New Zealand Disaster and Emergency Management Conference. Peer reviewed proceedings. Gold Coast, Queensland.
  4. WESTCOTT, R. 2017 Narrowing the awareness-action gap: cultivating a culture of routine all-hazards preparedness through public policy initiatives. Australian Journal of Emergency Management, 32,4.
  5. WESTCOTT, R., RONAN, K., BAMBRICK, H. & TAYLOR, M. 2019. Public Health and Natural Hazards: New Policies and Preparedness Initiatives Developed from an Australian Bushfire Case Study. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 3, 4. Epub date 16 May 2019. At: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1753-6405.12897.
  6. WESTCOTT, R., RONAN, K., BAMBRICK, H. & TAYLOR, M. Natural hazards and adaptive response choices in a changing climate: promoting bushfire preparedness and risk reduction decision-making. (Submission pending).
  7. PhD Thesis: Advancing public health in the context of natural hazards: normalising preparedness within a framework of adapted Protection Motivation Theory. October 2018. Western Sydney University. https://researchdirect.westernsydney.edu.au/islandora/object/uws%3A49051

Peer Reviewed Blog

  1. What comes first? Building DRR by cultivating a preceding culture of preparedness as a ‘social norm’. PreventionWeb DRR Voices [Online]. 2017. Available from: http://www.preventionweb.net/experts/oped/view/54363 [Accessed 26 July 2017].
  2. Republished on BNHCRC Views and Visions blog [Online]. Available from: http://www.bnhcrc.com.au/news/blogpost/rachel-westcott/2017/what-comes-first-building-drr-cultivating-preceding-culture [Accessed 6 August 2017].

Conference Presentations

    1. 6th International Fire Behaviour and Fuels Conference, Darling Harbour, Sydney April 29 – May 3, 2019. Normalising public preparedness for wildfire: attaining “fire-fitness”. Published by the International Association of Wildland Fire, Missoula, Montana, USA
    2. Australia and New Zealand Disaster and Emergency Management Conference (ANZDMC) Gold Coast, Queensland, June 2019. Becoming fire-fit: preparing for the unexpected and the unimagined.
    3. Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council (AFAC) Conference, Darling Harbour, Sydney, September 2017. (Peer reviewed). Narrowing the awareness-action gap: cultivating a culture of routine all-hazards preparedness through public policy initiatives
    4. Australia and New Zealand Disaster and Emergency Management Conference (ANZDMC) May 2017 (published in peer-reviewed proceedings) Mitigating action inertia and the bushfire awareness-action gap: findings from a South Australian case study.
    5. Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre Research Showcase, Adelaide, July 2017. How to become bushfire-prepared without really noticing: be fire-fit! Weekly is worth it! [Online]. Melbourne: Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre. Available: http://www.bnhcrc.com.au/resources/presentation-audio-video/3834 [Accessed 6 August 2017].
    6. HDR student conference, Western Sydney University, 22 September 2016. Don’t just do something…stand there! Emergency responders’ peri-incident perceptions of animal owners in bushfire.
    7. Australian Veterinary Association Annual Conference. Adelaide, SA. May 2016. (Peer reviewed proceedings). Triage, treat and then what? Bushfire, wildlife and SAVEM.
    8. HDR student conference 16 November 2015.  Investigating the application of Protection Motivation Theory to the behaviour of animal owners and emergency responders in bushfire natural hazards.
    9. Australian Natural Hazard Management Conference, Perth. October 2015. The Sampson Flat fire January 2015: real world experience meets ground-breaking research. 
    10. Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council (AFAC) Conference, Adelaide, September 2015. Veterinary emergency management at the Sampson Flat bushfire in South Australia, January 2015.
    11. Australia and New Zealand Disaster and Emergency Management Conference, Gold Coast, May 2015 Animal Emergency Management: Response and Recovery Experience and Lessons from the Sampson Flat Fire, South Australia, January 2015

Posters

See: https://www.bnhcrc.com.au/people/rachel-westcott

  1. Westcott, R. (2019) Farms, fire and fuels: exploring the relationship between cropland fires and modern farming. 6th International Fire Behaviour and Fuels Conference, Darling Harbour, Sydney, 29 April – 3 May. 
  2. Westcott R. (2018) Fuels ain’t fuels! Crops, “conservation farming” and cropland fires. AFAC Conference Perth, Western Australia. 
  3. Westcott, R., Ronan, K., Bambrick, H. & Taylor, M. (2017). Bushfire preparedness: how to become ‘fire-fit’ without really noticing.  Bushfire & Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre Research Showcase, Adelaide; AFAC Conference Sydney, New South Wales.
  4. Westcott R. (2016) Narrowing the awareness-preparedness gap: investigating an other-directed application of protection motivation theory (PMT) for animal owners and emergency responders in bushfire emergencies. BNHCRC Research Advisory Forum, Hobart, Tasmania. May 2016. 
  5. Westcott R. (2015) The interactions between emergency responders and animal owners in bushfire: Improving community preparedness and response outcomes. Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre Forum /AFAC 2015. Adelaide, South Australia. September 2015.
  6. Westcott R. (2015) The interactions between emergency responders and animal owners in bushfire: Improving community preparedness and response outcomes. Living with Bushfire: A community conference. Churchill, VIC. October 2015.

Other Outputs

  1. Tasmanian Fire Service Bushfire Ready Neighbourhoods Newsletter, Issue 11, February 2018, page 6. https://www.bushfirereadyneighbourhoods.tas.gov.au/newsletters
  2. Westcott, R (2017) Narrowing the awareness-action gap: Cultivating a culture of routine all-hazards preparedness through public policy initiatives. Presentation to the South Australian State Recovery Office stakeholder forum 25 October 2017.
  3. Taylor M and Westcott R. Emergency planning for pets. ABC RN Country Breakfast. 16 September 2017. http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/countrybreakfast/country-breakfast-features-saturday-september-16/8948250
  4. PhD student blog from the ANHMC conference http://www.bnhcrc.com.au/news/blogpost/rachel-westcott/2015/getting-front-foot-science-pointy-end 
  5. Westcott R. (2015) People and their animals in emergencies: snapshots from past emergency events. Australian Journal of Emergency Management, 30:2, 60-65. https://ajem.infoservices.com.au/items/AJEM-30-02 
  6. Westcott R. Animal emergency management in bushfire. EM Knowledge Blog. February 2015. http://emknowledgeblog.com/2015/02/
  7. PhD project blog page: https://ptlincolnproject.wordpress.com/
  8. Westcott, R. & Prelgauskas, E. 2013. Post disaster recovery arrangements for animals in South Australia. Australian Journal of Emergency Management. 28,3.
  9. Australia and New Zealand Disaster & Emergency Management Conference 2019 blog:  https://anzdmc.com.au/fire-fit-anzdmc-conference/
  10. ANZDMC paper featured on Prevention Web https://www.preventionweb.net/publications/view/65535
  11. ABC Canberra radio interview 16/05/2019 https://www.abc.net.au/radio/canberra/programs/breakfast/breakfast/11099542 
  12. Bushfire & Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre blog post https://www.bnhcrc.com.au/news/blogpost/rwestcott/2019/becoming-fire-fit-preparing-unexpected-and-unimagined
  13. Rachel interviewed for: Nogrady, B. (2019)  MIT Technology Review, 24 April. Australia’s plan to survive bigger, badder bushfires. https://www.technologyreview.com/s/613336/inside-australias-plan-to-survive-bigger-badder-bushfires/