NSW RURAL FIRE SERVICE (APR – 3041)

Women in Bushfire Mitigation: Improving Recruitment, Retention and Career Progression

Education, Humanities and Social Sciences

PLEASE NOTE

Applications are reviewed regularly and this internship may be filled prior to the advertised closing date if a suitable applicant is identified. Early submissions are encouraged.

ABOUT THE INDUSTRY PARTNER

NSW Rural Fire Service is the world’s largest volunteer firefighting service and the lead combat agency for bushfire across rural NSW. The intern will be hosted by the Workforce Strategy and Analytics team within the People and Culture Directorate at RFS Headquarters, Sydney Olympic Park. Core activities include workforce planning, HR policy development, workforce analytics, change management and delivery of Champions of Change initiatives, the Inclusion Strategy and Reconciliation Action Plan.

This opportunity is delivered by Natural Hazards Research Australia (NHRA) in partnership with APR.Intern, with funding provided by NHRA to support industry-linked research placements that translate academic knowledge into real-world impact.

NSW RFS is a Participant of NHRA and is hosting this placement to support the next generation of researchers to apply their expertise in a practical setting and contribute to real-world outcomes

WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOU?

This internship offers an opportunity to apply your HR and workforce research expertise to a significant real-world workforce challenge within the Australian emergency services sector.

Working alongside the NSW RFS Workforce Strategy and Analytics team, you’ll investigate the factors influencing the recruitment, retention and career progression of women in permanent bushfire mitigation roles, and translate your findings into practical recommendations to inform future workforce initiatives.

You’ll gain applied experience across the research lifecycle, including mixed-methods research, workforce and recruitment analytics, stakeholder engagement, qualitative analysis and translating research findings into actionable policy and workforce recommendations.

Specific opportunities are below:

• Building Professionalism: structured exposure to executive-level briefings, business writing coaching from the Workforce Strategy team, opportunities to facilitate working group meetings and present findings to the Executive Leadership Team.
• Leadership and Management: project sponsorship by the Manager Workforce Strategy and Analytics; mentoring on stakeholder management across operational, corporate and First Nations advisory groups; project management coaching using RFS change frameworks.
• Technical/Research in Business: access to RFS HR information systems, recruitment campaign datasets, Microsoft 365 and Power BI; secure remote access; co-design with the Workforce Insights team on quantitative methods.
• Organisational Knowledge and Core Compliance: full induction including WHS, Code of Conduct, information security and privacy training.
• Exposure to key sector subject matter experts: Inclusion and Belonging Lead, Aboriginal Engagement Officer, Area Operations Mitigation leads and Recruitment team.

RESEARCH TO BE CONDUCTED

NSW RFS significantly expanded its permanent bushfire mitigation workforce in 2024, growing from approximately 200 to 300 roles. However, female and gender diverse representation did not increase alongside this growth and has remained relatively static at approximately 11–13% between 2023 and 2025. Representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women is particularly low.

NSW RFS wants to better understand why.

Currently, RFS does not have a consolidated, intersectional evidence base explaining the factors influencing women’s recruitment, retention and career progression within these roles.

This internship will address that gap by examining the candidate and employee journey and identifying the barriers and enablers affecting attraction, recruitment, selection, onboarding, retention and career progression. Findings will be translated into practical, evidence-based recommendations to help inform the 2027 bulk recruitment campaign and NSW RFS Inclusion Strategy.

The research will aim to:

1. Identify the recruitment, selection and onboarding barriers and enablers influencing women’s successful entry into permanent bushfire mitigation roles, with specific consideration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women.
2. Analyse the factors influencing separation from the Service among women in mitigation roles, including intersectional factors.
3. Identify barriers and enablers to career progression, including progression to Crew Leader roles and additional qualifications.
4. Translate findings into practical, evidence-based recommendations for future recruitment, retention and inclusion initiatives.

SKILLS WISH LIST

If you’re a postgraduate research student and meet some or all the below we want to hear from you. We strongly encourage women, indigenous and disadvantaged candidates to apply:

Essential:

• Current higher degree research (HDR) candidate in human resource management, organisational psychology, workforce studies, employment relations, organisational behaviour, or a closely related discipline with a strong HR/workforce research focus.
• Demonstrated HR or workforce research experience within the Australian context, with research relevant to areas such as recruitment, retention, workforce participation, career progression, employee experience, workforce diversity or organisational policy and practice.
• Experience using qualitative and/or quantitative research methods to investigate workforce or organisational issues, with the ability to work across mixed-methods research where required.
• Strong capability in literature and policy synthesis and translating academic research into practical, evidence-based recommendations for organisational or public-sector settings.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, stakeholder engagement capability and the ability to communicate research findings to both specialist and non-specialist audiences.

Highly Desirable:

• Knowledge of and/or experience within the Australian emergency services or emergency management sector, including familiarity with the workforce environment, structures or operational context.
• Research or professional experience relating to gender equity, diversity and inclusion within Australian workplaces.
• Experience conducting research involving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples or communities, including demonstrated cultural capability and understanding of ethical research practice.
• Experience working with HR, recruitment or workforce datasets, including workforce analytics.
• Experience conducting stakeholder interviews, focus groups and/or qualitative thematic analysis.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander HDR candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.

RESEARCH OUTCOMES

The internship will deliver a robust evidenced based recommendations and guidance for implementation on addressing the recruitment, retention and progression barriers experienced by women in NSW Rural Fire Service mitigation roles, with a specific focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women.

Expected outputs include:

• A literature and policy review; quantitative analysis of three years of bulk and targeted recruitment data; thematic analysis of candidate and incumbent feedback
• A barriers and enablers framework spanning attraction, selection, retention and career progression; and prioritised, evidence-based recommendations for implementation ahead of future bulk recruitment campaign
• An intersectional evidence base on barriers and enablers across the candidate journey
• Prioritised recommendations adopted into the 2027 bulk recruitment campaign and inclusion strategy delivery plan
• A published-quality internal report and executive summary
• A transferable framework usable by other emergency services seeking to lift female and first nations representation in frontline mitigation roles

ADDITIONAL DETAILS

The intern will receive $3,300 per month of the internship, usually in the form of scholarship payments.

It is expected that the intern will primarily undertake this research project during regular business hours and maintain contact with their academic mentor throughout the internship either through face-to-face or phone meetings as appropriate.

The intern and their academic mentor will have the opportunity to negotiate the project’s scope, milestones and timeline during the project planning stage.

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