La Trobe University experts can provide comment, analysis and research expertise on Australia's bushfire season.
Please contact experts directly during this holiday period. Availability is noted under their contact information.
Adjunct Professor in the School of Psychology and Public Health
Contact: [email protected] or 0438 096 548
Topics to discuss:
- How urban and rural communities should prepare for bushfire threats
- Why bush-adjacent suburban communities face a growing bushfire risk
- When is it time to go? Understanding bushfire risk for households and communities
- What are the major causes of death from bushfire
Quotes attributable to Professor Jim McLennan:
"The limited available research suggests that most residents who delay evacuation do not have a pre-event plan to evacuate in the event of a bushfire warning and have thus not prepared to evacuate - either psychologically or logistically. Their situation may be made worse by the stress of the bushfire threat degrading the quality of their decision making, thus further compromising their safety."
Research Professor in the School of Agriculture, Biomedicine and Environment
Contact: [email protected] or 0438 418 581
Topics to discuss:
- Does smoke 'taint' from bushfires or planned burns always ruin wine grapes?
- How can "smoke taint" be measured?
- What's the economic cost of lost grape production?
- How a Wine Industry Smoke Detector (Wizard), developed by La Trobe Uni/Wine Australia, can save the industry millions during smoke events.
Quotes attributable to Professor Ian Porter:
"The 2020 catastrophic bushfires cost the wine industry in Australia over $500 million in loss to possible smoke taint.
"However, WISDs are now available to industry and are an amazing breakthrough for Australian growers and wine producers. For the first time globally, the sector can now get a prediction for risk of smoke taint in wine at any time during the growing season from any smoke event and avoid the anxiety of not knowing whether to harvest grapes until specialist laboratory tests are conducted at harvest"
"Having results in real time greatly reduces stress for growers and winemakers and allows them to market their grapes and produce wine with confidence."
Associate Professor, Department of Ecological, Plant and Animal Sciences and Co-Director of the Research Centre for Future Landscapes.
Contact: [email protected] or 0400 815 811
Unavailable between 15 December 2025 to 5 January 2026
Topics to discuss:
- The impact of bushfires on Australia's native biodiversity, especially birds
- The ecology of bushfire management - planned burning, fuel management and wildfires
- How climate change impacts fire weather and frequency
- Sustainable land management in fire-prone areas
Quotes attributable to Dr Jim Radford:
"Australian native species are generally quite resilient to fire but their response depends on the extent, severity and frequency of fires. As climate change takes hold, bushfires are becoming more severe and more frequent, and this is having a negative impact on many species and ecosystems."
"There were extensive fires in Geriwald/Grampians and the Little Desert last year, but the 2025/26 bushfire season is shaping up as the most dangerous since the Black Summer fires of 2019/20 in many parts of south-eastern Australia. Many ecosystems have yet to fully recover from the Black Summer fires and another severe fire this year would have significant consequences for many species."
Emeritus Professor of Zoology in the Department of Ecological, Plant and Animal Sciences and a member of the Research Centre for Future Landscapes
Contact: [email protected] or 0427 368 851
Unavailable from 21 to 28 December 2025
Topics to discuss:
- How fire (wildfire and planned burning) impacts Australia's fauna
- How can effective fire management protect biodiversity?
- The ecology and conservation biology of birds, reptiles, mammals, fish and plants.
- Climate change and its impact on fire, weather and ecosystems
Quotes attributable to Emeritus Professor Michael Clarke:
"With the extensive fires of last summer in the Geriwald/Grampians and the Little Desert building on the effects of the massive Black Summer fires of 2019/20, more than half of all public land in Victoria is very vulnerable to catastrophic ecological change if fire occurs again in those areas this summer."
"It's tempting to naively hope our native plants and animals will be OK because they've evolved to cope with fire. But this foolishly ignores the magnitude of the changes in the frequency, extent and severity of fires human-induced climate change is imposing on our precious wildlife and landscapes. We are all navigating uncharted waters."
Research Fellow with the Research Centre for Future Landscapes and Department of Ecological, Plant and Animal Sciences
Contact: [email protected] or 0430 616 622
Topics to discuss:
- The fire ecology of wet forests and rainforests
- Impact of large-scale fire on wildlife
- How fire severity impacts lyrebirds' natural foraging and habitat
Quotes attributable to Dr Alex Maisey:
"Limited global action to mitigate climate change means that critical actions are needed to allow wildlife to adapt to new fire regimes. This means recognising the damage that regular fire can have on fauna and protecting refuges (gullies, rocky outcrops, fire-sensitive vegetation communities) from future wildfires and fuel reduction burns."
Director of the Violet Vines Marshman Centre for Rural Health Research and Associate Professor and Discipline Lead for Paramedicine at the La Trobe Rural Health School
Contact: [email protected] or 0408 148 749
Topics to discuss:
- Impact of responding to disasters on first responders
- Impact of natural disasters on communities
- Re-traumatisation and vicarious trauma related to disaster
Quotes attributable to Dr Erin Smith:
"First responders often experience lasting emotional trauma well beyond the immediate aftermath of disasters. For example, in my year 20-study of 9/11 first responders, nearly half still required mental health support two decades later, indicating the chronic nature of trauma from such events.
"In Australia, almost 30 per cent of paramedics report high levels of psychological distress during typical periods, with rates increasing significantly during prolonged disasters such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires.
Suicide rates among emergency services personnel have reportedly increased by 450 to 800 per cent annually, with a first responder dying by suicide approximately every six weeks in Australia.
"I advocate for a shift from placing the burden on individuals to seek help, to a model where organisations 'reach in' to support those who may be silently struggling. My work emphasises the need for early, ongoing and post-retirement mental health support, and for breaking down stigma around mental health in emergency services.
"Effective strategies include normalising mental health conversations, building resilience and implementing structured support systems throughout a responder's career and into retirement."
