Dr Christine Owen
Bushfire CRC Project Leader & Senior Lecturer
BA (Hons), B,Ad.VocEd, PhD
Contact Details
| Contact Campus |
Sandy Bay Campus |
| Building |
Hytten Hall |
| Room Reference |
Room 505 |
| Telephone |
+61 3 6226 2555 |
| Fax |
+61 3 6226 2569 |
| Email |
Christine.Owen@utas.edu.au |
Publications
Selected publications
- Owen, C. (forthcoming) Ghosts in the machine: Organisational culture and air traffic control. Ashgate Publishing, UK, ISBN 978-1-4094-5290-4.
- Owen, C. and Omodei, M. (forthcoming) Enhancing Individual and Team Performance in Fire and Emergency Services. Ashgate Publishing, UK.
- Owen, C., Bearman, C., Brooks, B., Chapman, J., Paton, D., and Hossain, L. (forthcoming) Developing a research framework for complex multi-team coordination in emergency management. International Journal of Emergency Management.
- Hamra, J., Hossain, L., Owen, C. and Abassi, A. (2012) Effects of networks on learning during emergency events. Disaster Prevention and Management, 21 (5) pp. 1-25. ISSN 1758-6100 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/alireza_abbasi/22
- Hamra, J., Hossain, L. and Owen, C. (2012) ‘Social Network Analysis of Learning Teams during Emergency Events’, Program of Events, June 28-30 2012, DSS 2012 – 16th IFIP WG8.3 International Conference on Decision Support Systems, Anávissos, Greece. [Refereed Conference Paper]
- Owen, C., and Dwyer, I. (2011). Strategic implications for incident control systems in Australia and New Zealand. Bushfire CRC / AFAC Fire Note, (73).
- Owen, C and Krusel, N. (2011). Report on Research Utilisation Consultation. Report on Research Utilisation Consultation, Bushfire CRC, Tasmania, pp. 1-39.
- Owen, C. (2011). Emergency Management coordination: A review of the literature. Melbourne: Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre.
- Owen, C and Page, W. (2010). The Reciprocal Development of Expertise in Air Traffic Control. International Journal of Applied Aviation Studies, 10 (1), 131-152.
- Owen, C and Beguin, P and Wackers, G. (2009) Risky Work Environments: Reappraising Human Work within Fallible Systems, Ashgate, UK, pp. 207. ISBN 978-0-7546-7609-6 [Edited Book]
- Cameron-Tucker, H.L., Joseph, L., Wood-Baker, R and Owen, C. (2009). ‘A study of supervised exercise with the chronic disease self-management program (CDSMP) for COPD: Qualitative findings’, European Respiratory Society Congress, European Respiratory Journal, Vienna, Austria, pp. Supp 53, Vol 34.
- Owen, C. (2009). Accomplishing reliability within fallible systems. In: Risky work environments: reappraising human work within fallible systems. Ashgate, Aldershot UK, pp. 147-155.
- Owen, C. (2009). Toward developmental work in complex and fallible systems. In: Risky work environments: reappraising human work within fallible systems. Ashgate, Aldershot UK, pp. 298-314.
- Owen, C. (2009). Near misses and mistakes in risky-work: an exploration of work practices in High-3 environments. In: Risky work environments: reappraising human work within fallible systems. Ashgate, Aldershot UK, pp. 262-297.
- Owen, C. (2009). Shifting the focus to human work within complex socio-technical systems. In: Risky work environments: reappraising human work within fallible systems. Ashgate, Aldershot UK, pp 1-17.
- Owen, C., Hemmings, L. and Brown, T. (2009). Lost in Translation: Maximising handover effectiveness between paramedics and receiving staff in the emergency department. Emergency Medicine Australasia, 21 (2).
- Owen, C. (2009). Instructor beliefs and their mediation of instructor strategies. Journal of Workplace Learning, 21 (6), 477-495.
- Khawaja, A., Chen, F., Owen, C and Hickey, G. (2009). Cognitive load measurement from user's linguistic speech features for adaptive interaction design. In: Human-Computer Interaction - INTERACT 2009. Lecture Notes in Computer Science: Information Systems and Applications, incl. Internet/Web, and HCI (5727). Springer Berlin / Heidelberg, pp. 485-489.
- Owen, C., & Dwyer, I. (2009). Review of Incident Management Teamwork and multi-agency collaboration. Melbourne, Australia: Bushfire CRC.
- Owen, C. (2008). Analysing joint work between activity systems. Activite's Revue Electronique, 52(2), 52-69.
- Owen, C., Hickey, G., & Douglas, J. (2008). Mapping information flow during critical incidents. Melbourne: The Department of Sustainability and Environment.
Under review
- Abbasi, A., Hossain, L. & Owen, C. (under review) Social connectedness and adaptive team coordination during fire events. Fire Safety Journal.
- Owen, C., Gender and the socio-cultural context of incident management team communication. Australian Journal of Emergency Management.
- Brooks, B., Owen, C., and Bearman, C., Human Error during Complex Emergency Coordination Events: An Analysis of Australian Bushfires Using the Human Factors Analysis and Classification System. Human Factors.
Career summary
My PhD dissertation, completed in 1999, explored learning and technological and cultural change in the air traffic control industry. Since then I have had an ARC Linkage project examining the impacts of such changes on the distributed collaboration requirements of air crews and group control in aviation. I have also completed research studies investigating how changing work practices are affecting work in the field of emergency medicine (between paramedics and receiving hospital staff).
I have an interest in using theories of learning to understand work practices and development in work organisations. My focus is a socio-cultural one and includes investigating what enables and constrains learning development and change in the workplace. Organisational processes that influence opportunities can be organisational cultures, policies, the external environment, and technologies-in-use. In summary, my interests are in examining individual and collective learning and work activity, socio-cultural analyses of work practice and organisational processes as well as intervention-based research practices.
Since 2006 I have worked with the Australasian Bushfire Co-operative Research Centre (Bushfire CRC), as Program Leader for Education and Training (2006-2010) and also as research Project Leader for a four year funded research project “Enhancing Information Flow and Incident Management Team Effectiveness” along with other smaller projects and consultancies. In 2010 I took up the role of Project Leader to a multi-institutional multi-disciplinary research project funded again through the Bushfire CRC. This project examines strategic emergency management at state and regional levels and is titled “Organising for Effective Incident Management”.
Affiliations and appointments
- Member Australian Psychological Society (1995-current)
- Board member: Australian Emergency Management Institute
- Guest lecturer: “Beyond Command and Control Leadership Development Program”,
- Australian Emergency Management Institute
- Researche Classe 1 Professor: Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers, Paris (2005)
- Post-Doctoral appointment: Centre for Developmental Work Activity, University of Helsinki (2001)
Research interests
I have extensive experience in researching and consulting in a number of high reliability domains, including the aviation field, in emergency medicine and more recently in the fire and emergency services industry.
I have completed research studies investigating changing work practices in the aviation industry (what enables and constrains collaboration between air traffic control and pilots) and how changing information technologies are affecting work in the field of emergency medicine (between paramedics and receiving hospital staff). I conducted a four year research project examining Incident Management Team effectiveness with the Australasian Bushfire Co-operative Research Centre (2006-2010). I currently lead a three year multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional national research project examining multi-agency strategic Emergency Management coordination.
In summary, my interests are in examining individual and collective learning and work activity, socio-cultural analyses of work practice and organisational processes as well as intervention-based research practices.
Recent Research Projects:
- Bushfire CRC research Project Leader for three year project: “Organising for Effective Incident Management” (2010-2013)
- Review Team member, Review of the Tostaree fire, Office for the Emergency Services Commissioner (2011)
- Project Leader/Consultant for the Department of Sustainability and Environment project : “Multi Agency Information Flows” (2010)
- Project Leader for the Australasian Bushfire CRC’s Education and Training component (2006-2010)
- Bushfire CRC research Team Leader for four year project: “Enhancing Information Flow and Incident Management Team Effectiveness” (2006-2010)
