Towards a Curriculum for Disaster Preparedness in Healthcare Professions Education (HPE)

The impacts of climate change are evident across Australia and New Zealand, with increasing numbers and severity of bushfires, droughts, heatwaves, storms, earthquakes, flooding, and landslides. At the intersection of this lies the issue of health professional education (HPE) in times of disruption. HPE sustainability must enter discussions to future-proof healthcare pipelines, especially in regional, rural, and under-resourced areas. This summer scholarship is part of a nested series of research projects. It builds upon data collected in a HPE workshop in Singapore in January 2025 (Monash University HREC ID# 45612), and with a pilot survey conducted with delegates at the Thailand Disaster & Emergency Management Conference (August 2025) (University of Otago Human Ethics Committee ID# 25/1149). Findings from both completed projects are currently under journal blind peer review. The proposed summer project will involve conducting a scoping review including grey literature to help identify any gaps in current knowledge, and to locate any other reported survey instruments. The project outcome will lead to the refinement of the existing pilot survey, intended for rollout more broadly across Australia and New Zealand in 2027. The Summer Scholarship will commence on Monday 23 November 2026 to Friday 18 December 2026 (initial 4 weeks), and then finalising Monday 15 to Friday 26 February 2027 (2 weeks). The project and associated research meetings will run mainly online. The Summer Scholarship recipient will be invited to be a co-author on the scoping review manuscript (unfunded time beyond project completion).