Mosaic burning
An adirectional tour through a patchwork of Future Fire projects
I’m back from a sorely, badly, much needed holiday. Books and graphic novels were read. Fires were put on. Swims were gone for and naps were had. Sanity was restored.
But fear not, gentle reader, because those restoration works do not stand a chance against the impending onslaught of work.
Upon returning I got lost in emails and unkempt to do lists. Apologies for a boring post, but it’s my attempt to set things once more in order.
I am recruiting an RA! Job ad here: https://jobs.unimelb.edu.au/en/job/920002/future-fire-analyst. (Closes May 7 at 11:55pm local time, in case you’re interested)
I am recruiting a PhD student! I expect to advertise by May or June. Both PhD student and RA will work on my Industry Fellowship with me, solving bushfire and climate change over the next four years.
I have another PhD student starting later in the year!
There may be more PhD students coming! Ok, I’ll stop with the exclamation marks now. On top of the two definites above, a few potential PhD students have applied and are being assessed as we speak. I get almost as many supervision requests as journal article review requests.
I’m almost ready to submit a fire and climate change review paper I’ve been writing with some colleagues in Australia, North America and Europe. One of the highlights has been discovering the graphical talents of one my coauthors, who keeps sending me improved versions of crappy figures I’ve made, without me even asking. Never underestimate the importance of good visuals.
A colleague at RMIT has kindly allowed me to share my big ideas about fire as prompts for her animation students. I’ve had a sneak peek at their work and it is so good. I hope to be able to share it here when they’re done.
I had a paper rejected, which always sucks. Generally in that situation you brush yourself off and move onto the next target journal. But I had some issues with the review process and reached out to the editor, who after some pestering agreed to send it out for another round of review. Masterstroke or asshat move? Only time will tell.
My colleague Caitlin Symon just submitted a paper based on the What Makes a Good Fire Simulator project that we recently completed for NHRA on behalf of AFAC, CFA and RFS. It was a challenging but rewarding project. Everyone walked away slightly disappointed, which I gather is the telltale sign of a wildly successful compromise. I felt unbridled joy in seeing Cait hit submit - her first first author paper, and my first as full blown ‘senior’ author. Let’s hope the editors keep Cait’s title, which begins ‘Fifty shades of great’.
Cait is on a bit of a tear and is will soon submit the paper we’ve been writing about evidence briefs for fire. I think we’re onto a winner here. There is such a need for clear, concise and transparent communication of complex and uncertain information and evidence about fire from across disciplines, sectors and knowledge systems.
Also on a tear is my colleague Amelia French, who has been poring through our data, pouring data through R, cranking model handles and delving into the arcane University CSS, that we might add climate change information to the bushfire communication website we have been building. Snapshot below. Building the site has been fun. It will hopefully go live soon.
Amelia has been helping me supervise some Masters of Data Science students and an undergrad intern from Monash. Both are looking at seasonal bushfire outlooks and comparing them with observations. We have another two interns coming later in the year, plus maybe another set of Masters students, this time in Software Engineering.
I’ve been working with some former Masters students as they try to write journal articles based on their research. It would be a great achievement for any of them to get a paper published.
I have been helping a colleague get their hands on some fresh climate change projections. NARCliM2.0, if you must know. Enough time has passed since the last time I procured data for them that I’ve forgotten how to do it.
I’ve been planning a day for EMCAPs at the NHRA annual forum in Adelaide in June, along with my fellow EMCAP Exec Committee members. We’re gonna network, talk about grants and think about the future of natural hazards. Our aim is to build a community to support future leaders of research and practice.
I have thrown my hat in the ring to be an IPCC author for the next assessment report. The Australian IPCC Focal Point Advisory Panel has deemed my application suitable, which means it goes to the IPCC proper along with half a squillion others. I’ll find out in a few months.
I’m getting ready to chip in to the next State of Wildfires report. I’ve been corresponding with the President of the new Pacific Academy of Sciences to see if we can boost our coverage beyond the usual suspects in Oceania i.e. Australia and New Zealand.
I’ve been doing some leadership training with a cohort from the Science Faculty. Great trainers but the best part has been connecting with other lovely people at broadly similar stages of the academia navigation game. I’ve also signed up to be a mentor for early career academics in the faculty. I participated in that early career scheme in 2023 and am still in touch with my group.
I am applying for promotion. If successful, I’ll be lowering my respect for other Associate Professors, knowing that this club now contains me. I have to write a roughly 10 page ‘argued case’, somehow advancing the ludicrous proposition that I have demonstrated “consistent performance of exceptional distinction” 🤢.
I had my triennial performance review a few weeks ago. It was a mostly painless experience. The review panel commented that I might be trying to do too much and am at risk of burning myself out. What are they smoking?
I have been watching the chaos unfold in the U.S., with far-reaching and still unpredictable consequences. Lots of people have lost funding, some for merely working on projects that involved bad words. I got your bad words right here, pal!
"The review panel commented that I might be trying to do too much and am at risk of burning myself out. What are they smoking?"
Well done to work references to burning and smoke into this part.
fwiw I don't think you are trying to do too much, I think you are trying to do exactly the right amount. And yes, obviously at risk of burnout, so ... good luck!
:D