June 26, 2025
The thirteenth in the series of Ideas@theHouse events—joint presentations of Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC, Governor of New South Wales, and the Royal Society of New South Wales—was held on the evening of Thursday, 26 June 2025 in the Ballroom of Government House Sydney.
On that occasion, Professor Jason Sharples FRSN FTSE, Professor of Bushfire Dynamics and the Foundation Director of UNSW Bushfire at UNSW Canberra, spoke on ‘Extreme wildfires in a warming world: insights and challenges.’ His talk focussed on the shifting of wildfire regimes more towards the extreme end of the fire behaviour spectrum due to climate change, with this exemplified by fires exhibiting more intense and erratic behaviours, burning outside of traditional seasonal windows, and manifesting more often as violent pyroconvective events with global reach and impact. His presentation discussed new insights gained through two decades of research, including a better understanding of the fundamental dynamics of wildfire under extreme conditions, as well as the unique hazards that arise, global impacts of extreme wildfires, and the need for improved fire management
A recording of his presentation is now available on the Society’s YouTube channel and a gallery of images from that occasion is available from the preceding link.
