NSW RURAL FIRE SERVICE (APR – 3041)

Women in Mitigation: Identifying recruitment, retention and progression barriers to increase female representation in mitigation roles.

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?

The intern will build advanced applied research capability across the full project lifecycle: scoping, mixed-methods design (quantitative recruitment analytics and qualitative thematic analysis), ethical engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stakeholders, stakeholder interviewing, and translation of findings into actionable policy recommendations. They will gain direct exposure to public sector workforce strategy, emergency services governance and inclusion practice in a frontline NSW agency. Practical learning includes shadowing recruitment campaigns, engaging with staff networks and forums, observing Inclusion and Belonging program delivery, and presenting findings to senior executive. The intern will leave with demonstrable experience in evidence-based change management, intersectional analysis, and producing research that is useful, usable and used —directly aligned to the Centre’s mission and to academic and practitioner career pathways in disaster resilience and workforce research.

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

The New South Wales Rural Fire Service (NSW RFS) expanded its permanent mitigation workforce from 200 to 300 roles in 2024, representing 17% of its planned establishment. Despite this growth, female and gender diverse representation declined to 10.91% before partially recovering to 12.74% in 2025. Overall, representation has remained relatively static, fluctuating between 10.91% and 12.91% from 2023 to 2025, despite the significant expansion of the cohort. Already significantly underrepresented, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander female representation halved to a single incumbent. RFS does not currently hold a consolidated, intersectional evidence base explaining why.

Without a consolidated, intersectional evidence base, the 2027 bulk recruitment campaign risks replicating previous outcomes. This internship is designed to address that gap by generating a robust evidence base that diagnoses barriers across the candidate journey and translates findings into prioritised, practical recommendations for recruitment design, selection processes, onboarding, and retention.

The objectives NSW RFS hopes to achieve through the internship are below:

1. Identify the recruitment, selection and onboarding barriers and enablers that influence successful entry of women into RFS permanent mitigation roles, with specific focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women.
2. Analyse the drivers of separation from the Service among women in mitigation roles, including intersectional factors.
3. Identify the barriers and enablers to career progression (e.g. Crew Leader, additional qualifications) for women in mitigation, and recommend evidence-based actions for the 2027 bulk recruitment campaign and the Inclusion Strategy.

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:

• A higher degree research candidate in social science, public policy, organisational psychology, gender studies, Indigenous studies, human resource management or a related discipline.
• Mixed-methods skills (quantitative data analysis and qualitative thematic analysis)
• Skills in literature and policy synthesis, alongside the ability to translate academic insights into actionable, public sector-focused policy and practice recommendations.
• Strong written communication, cultural competence and demonstrated commitment to ethical research with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 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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