Message from the President

Dear SRA-ANZ Members,

It has been a delight to serve as SRA-ANZ President for the past two years.
In my term as President we have worked hard to broaden the membership base and it was great to see a number of new faces at the 2016 Annual General Meeting at Central Queensland University’s Appleton Institute in Adelaide, Australia.

The conference would not be possible without the support of many different organ-isations and people. Firstly, we need to acknowledge and thank the Society’s long time sponsor, the Centre of Excellence for Biosecurity Risk Analysis, for their contin-ued support and also for lending us their administrative wizard Erica Kecorius. I would also like to thank the Central Queensland University for hosting us and the local organising committee of Kirrilly Thompson, Chris Bearman, Jane Bearman, Monique Stewart and Daxine Waterman for constant support, energy and enthusi-asm. Thanks also to the program committee of Sandra Seno-Alday, Kirrilly Thomp-son and Tom Beer for their work in pulling together the speakers.

The SRA-ANZ is continuing to develop our online presence with the efforts of Steve Corin and Kirrilly Thompson. All of this is a work in progress and we are looking for suggestions and inputs from members. The role of editor for the newsletter has been in a state of change this year. Tracey, who produced the first newsletter of the year, has had a break from this role as she takes on the new role of motherhood. I want to take the opportunity to wish her well in life’s new adventures. This year also sees a change to the SRA-ANZ executive with Tom Beer who was SRA-ANZ President in 2014 finishing his term as Immediate-Past President. We will miss his sage words on the Executive.

With this being my last letter as President I want to welcome the President-elect, Sandra Seno-Alday, and wish her all the best in this role.

Looking forward to seeing you all in 2017 at University of Melbourne.

Thank-you and regards,
Naomi Cogger SRA-ANZ President

Putting People (Back) into Risk Analysis
 
People are at the core of scientific efforts to understand and mitigate risk.  Regardless of whether the history of risk analysis is traced to ancient (Bernstein 1996, Covello and Mumpower 1985) or modern times (Renn 1998), the main interest of risk studies essentially lies in understanding the nature of the vulnerability (to loss or harm) of something that people value (Aven and Renn 2009, Renn 1998).  The treatment or mitigation of risk mainly focuses on conceiving of ways to protect and preserve that which is valued.  It is certainly interesting to note that even as the field of risk analysis has not quite yet achieved consensus on a generally-accepted definition of risk (Aven and Zio 2014), the preservation of what people value has remained a consistent common thread of concern that runs through scholarly investigations into the risk analysis and risk management process.

2016 SRA-ANZ Annual meeting in Adelaide Australia: Engaging Risk
From November 22 to 25, SRA-ANZ members and risk aficionados were “Engaging Risk” at the 2016 annual meeting at Central Queensland University’s Appleton Institute in Adelaide, Australia.  
Prior to the conference Anca Hanea ran a workshop exploring some of the ways to quantify uncertainty when using expert opinion. The day concluded with welcome drinks and the launch of Robert Sams’ book, Social Sensemaking. The event provided an opportunity for members to discuss their research and ideas while enjoying some very nice Australian and New Zealand wine.
Our first keynote speaker, David Swain, asked us to consider the growing social divide between farmers and consumers and the role this is playing in the maintenance of food security. We then moved onto a series of talks in the area of environmental risk, covering issues associated with the regulation of GM modified plants, governance and public engagement and confirmation bias in conservation decision-making. After a short break for lunch we were back with a focus on disease.

I was first exposed to the concept of risk analysis during my veterinary science degree. During our fourth year we had a unit of study called veterinary public health, where we learnt about veterinary epidemiology. In all honesty, I wasn’t particularly interested in risk analysis at the time. Instead I was interested in poultry health and was offered a PhD in avian influenza risk mitigation by our senior poultry lecturer, an offer at the time I believed I couldn’t refuse. Little did I know that this PhD would force me to delve deep into the risk analysis world.

The skills and tools I have learnt to use during my PhD have opened my eyes in how adaptable risk analysis is; the fields of work it can be used in are limitless. So, despite the fact that my work focuses on the risk of avian influenza getting into Australian chicken farms, I can go to a risk analysis conference and understand a variety of topics because we all have risk analysis in common. However, I have faced challenges, especially since mathematics is not my strongest skill. My PhD involves creating scenario trees to assess the risk of avian influenza exposure and spread; the entire concept of this method had to be explained to me from the very beginning. In addition, learning new software to assess risk has also been a challenge.

The first risk analysis conference I visited was the recent Society for Risk Analysis Australia and New Zealand (SRA-ANZ) conference, held in Adelaide in November 2016. I found the experience very enjoyable, thanks to both the people and the interesting presentations. I did not know such a community existed prior to my visit. It is good to have a society understand the technical methodology I used. I learn best from example, and a society like SRA-ANZ helps me by knowing what else is out there; what software and methodologies people are using. This enables me to assess both my work and theirs and ask questions such as “why did you choose that method”?  

I signed up as a member of SRA-ANZ and am keen to continue my membership. I am looking forward to visiting more conferences in the future, particularly those held internationally, so that I can meet more members of the SRA community.
In the future, I see myself continuing to use the skills and tools I have learnt during my PhD. I’m not sure exactly where I will end up after my PhD—whether it is at a university, industry or government—but I feel I will still be involved in the risk analysis world. Because of my background in veterinary science, I may end up in a position relating to veterinary public health or veterinary epidemiology. Risk analysis tools are essential in both of these fields and I am thankful I have been introduced to these.