Research Hub

Fire is trans-disciplinary- Understanding fire requires a collaborative approach

Physical Pyrogeography
Social Pyrogeography
Firelab3
Public Health
Ecology

The Fire Centre Delivers trans-disciplinary, translational and impactful fire research to drive bushfire adaptation.

The Fire Centre serves As A Gateway for collaborative fire science with Federal, State and local Government agencies with a stake in bushfire management and recovery, as well as land owners and industries who must manage bushfire risk.

We partner with a diversity of practitioners, researchers and communities across Tasmania and beyond to drive truly multidisciplinary wildfire research in order to understand fire from a local to landscape-scale, historical, ecological and social context. Our research works towards solving one of the world's most-pressing problems- living with fire in an increasingly fire-prone landscape.

Our projects span numerous Colleges, Schools, and Institutes at the University of Tasmania. We specialise in co-designed stakeholder driven research projects, working closely with Local and State Government across all levels from council to State fire, land, and disaster management agencies to frame and execute real world applied science.

Our core themes include Physical, Spatial and Social Pyrogeography, Environmental and Public Health, Landscape Ecology, Evolution and Forest Science.

Our new Bushfires, Bioenergy and Emissions research facility FireLab3 is working towards delivering research across three central themes

  1. Bushfires (Flammability Lab); testing plant flammability and forest fuel combustion to understand plant-landscape scale fire hazard,

  2. Bioenergy (John Todd Bioenergy Lab); wood heater efficiency, emissions and performance testing and

  3. Emissions (Alison Venn Exposure Lab) for controlled exposure studies investigating the environmental and population health impacts of smoke pollution (coming soon to FireLab3).

Our team welcomes new opportunities for applied, co-design and translational research. Please contact us to find out more.

Fire Centre Hub

Based at the University of Tasmania, in lutruwita/Tasmania, the Fire Centre is a colloborative Research Hub led by ARC Laureate Fellow Professor David Bowman and Associate Professor Grant Williamson.

Physical Pyrogeography 

Using empirical, physical and geospatial landscape-scale studies to detect land cover changes and assess plant flammability and fire risk, leading to effective bushfire adaptation pathways. Understanding fire on earth through exploration of the relationships between wildfire, landscape ecology and communities.
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Social Pyrogeograhy

Understanding connections between people, place and wildfire. Social pyrogeography seeks to understand the diverse social-ecological values of the community, to identify community-driven pathways to adaptive action and social learning.
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Firelab3 

A shared facility between University of Tasmania Menzies Institute for Medical Research and School of Natural Sciences. As the facility develops, FireLab3 will grow into a diverse team of researchers, specialists and technical staff delivering research in areas of Health, Biological Sciences, Agriculture, Engineering, Chemistry and Bioenergy
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Public Health

Investigating the public health and clinical impact of smoke from bushfire events and planned burns, including the long-term health implications of early-life exposure to severe air pollution and testing of interventions to reduce the public health impact of severe smoke episodes.
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Ecology, Evolution & Wildlife

Fire as a driver of ecosystem structure, function and evolution. Effects of fire on vertebrate populations, and the effects of vertebrates on fire regimes through their influence as herbivores and ecosystem engineers.
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Address
Fire Centre Research Hub, The University of Tasmania
Private Bag 55, Hobart TAS 7001, Australia
Fire.Centre@utas.edu.au
Acknowledgement of Country:
‘The Fire Centre acknowledges the Palawa and Pakana people as the traditional and ongoing custodians of lutruwita (Tasmania), paying respect to their culture and identity which has been bound up with the Land, Sea, Waterways and Sky for generations. The Fire Centre commits to being culturally inclusive and respectful in our relationships”
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