Who we are

Sun element

Fire to Flourish has an inter-disciplinary team of executives, researchers, community and support staff, working collaboratively with our partners and Strategic Advisory Council to enable communities to strengthen their resilience to disaster. Our Strategic Advisory Council provides guidance and advice for transformative impact in partner communities and for systems change.

We have cultivated cross-sectoral partnerships with values-aligned organisations from community, local government, and the emergency management and disaster resilience sectors. This consortium approach allows us to fill gaps, scale our initiatives and ultimately have a greater impact in our partner communities within their unique local contexts.

Fire to Flourish is led by Monash University and supported by cornerstone philanthropic partners, the Paul Ramsay Foundation and Metal Manufactures Pty Ltd. Additional philanthropic support is provided by the Lowy Foundation.

Meet the team

Christine Nixon (Chair)

Former Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police

Jessica Bulger

CEO, Australian Indigenous Governance Institute

Robert Glasser

Head of Australian Strategic Policy Institute Climate and Security Policy Centre

Claire Beattie

Executive Director of Asset Activations, School Infrastructure NSW, Department of Education

Laura Cochrane

CEO, Bennelong Foundation

Ashley Keleher

Executive Director, Research Services, Monash University

Alison Worthington

Community Representative, Eurobodalla

Sharon Tierney

Community Representative, Tenterfield

Kate Cowden

Community Representative, East Gippsland

Lucy Stackpool-Moore

Community Representative, Clarence Valley

Professor Briony Rogers

CEO and Director - Research

Dr Lara Werbeloff

Director - Strategy, Engagement and Development (Parental Leave)

Lindsey Goodman

Director - Program (Parental Leave)

Sarah Smith

Director - Community

Brett Davis

Director - Knowledge and Communications

Aayushi Shah

Project Coordinator - Local Impact

Alexa Godfrey

Project Administration Officer

Ash Shannon

On-Country Support Officer

Bethany Patch

Communications Officer

Brittney O'Neill

Project Manager

Claire Sauvage

Project Coordinator

Laelie Greenwood

Project Coordinator - National Impact

Matt Ross

Communications Manager

Eve Bentley

Senior Program Manager - Delivery

Kat Dias

Executive Assistant

Rebecca Walker

Senior Development Specialist

Tenterfield

Helen Duroux

Community lead

Matt Sing

Community facilitator

Gina Carpenter

Community Facilitator

Clarence Valley

Cara MacLeod

Community Lead

Pamela Denise

Community Facilitator

Kath Kermode

Community Facilitator

Eurobodalla

Kizzy Nye

Community Lead

Barb Rix

Indigenous Facilitator

Joe Brierley

Community Facilitator

East Gippsland

Sara Matthews

Community Lead

Bonnie Nebauer

Community Facilitator

Eva Grunden

Community Facilitator

Kate Fawcett

Network Convenor

Steve Cameron

Network Convenor

Monika Correa

Project Coordinator

Data Management

Dr Delvin Varghese

Data Management Lead

Dr Dinislam Abdulgalimov

Data Management Officer

Dhruv Basur

Designer, Action Lab

Mingye Li

Research Engineer, Action Lab

Pranav Kulkarni

Data Management Officer

Resilience Design

Dr Adriana Keating

Research Fellow, Systems Change

Dr Delvin Varghese

Research Co-lead, Participatory Granting

Graeme Bonato

Indigenous Senior Research Officer

Dr Jana-Axinja Paschen

Research Fellow, Community Resilience Planning

Prof Mel Dodd

Research Lead, Placemaking

Nikhila Madabhushi

Research Fellow, Placemaking

Prof Patrick Olivier

Research Lead, Participatory Granting

Robert Lees

Research Officer, Placemaking

Zoë D’Arcy

Research Fellow, Resilience Measurement

Athiqah Ummi Salma

Research Assistant, Placemaking

Connections and Learning

Prof Annette Bos

Research Lead, Development Evaluation and Transdisciplinary Learning

Dr Gretel Evans

Research Fellow, Social Capital

Dr Inara Walden

Research Fellow, Developmental Evaluation and Transdisciplinary Learning

Prof Rebecca Wickes

Research Lead, Social Capital

DisasterWISE Research

A/Prof Jonathan Abrahams

Director, Monash University Disaster Resilience Initiative

John Gilbert

Senior Research Manager, Monash University Accident Research Centre

National Indigenous Disaster Resilience

Dr Bhiamie Williamson

Research Lead

Lucy Connole

Senior Program Coordinator

Nell Reidy

Research Fellow

Zoe Schultz

Research Fellow

Alex Perlinski

Senior Research Officer

Health and Wellbeing

Prof Jane Fisher

Research Lead, Health and Wellbeing

A/Prof Julie Willems

Research Fellow, Health and Wellbeing

Karan Varshney

Research Officer, Public Health

Dr Revathi Krishna

Research Fellow, Health and Wellbeing

Dr Thach Tran

Researcher, Public Health

Mellissa Kavenagh

Economics

Prof David Johnston

Research Lead, Economics

Dr Sundar Ponnusamy

Research Fellow, Disaster Economics

Dr Rachel Knott

Senior Research Fellow, Economics

Community Cohesion

Dr Ashley Humphrey

Research Fellow

A/Prof Helen Forbes-Mewett

Research Lead

Internally Displaced People

Dr Caroline Spencer

Research Fellow

Emeritus Prof Frank Archer

Research Lead

Dr Revathi Krishna

Research Fellow

Dr Suzanne Cross

Research Fellow

Young People

Prof Andrea Reupert

Research Lead, Education and Young People

Dr Bronwyn Cumbo

Researcher, Young People

PhD Student Cohort

Belinda Davis

Transformative Bushfire Education

Belinda Lloyd

Disaster and Social Inequities

Elise Park

Transformative Disaster Governance

Euan Hind

Community Flood Resilience

Gabrielle Moir

Community Resilience Practice

Jessica Trijsburg

Inclusive Decision Making

Lihini de Silva

Disaster Economics

Michael Johnson

Disaster Policy and Practice