Essentially, the Institute will conduct three categories of work: research, operational support, and management training:

(1)    We aim to conduct high quality research that will enable informed decisions to be taken on policy, and will assist the development of resilient systems, procedures and practice. Applied research into the concept of resilience will provide the intellectual foundations upon which practical solutions can be developed, and will provide academic rigour and discipline to subjects which have previously been seen as a technical response to local and national disasters.

(2)    We will provide information, management tools and specialist advice to the Federal and State Governments, the emergency services and organisations in Australia to enhance their management capabilities. This will include an on-line library of reports, papers and key references on resilience and other related subjects including crisis management, business continuity, corporate security, counter-terrorism, information assurance, human security, behavioural change and societal resilience.  We plan to publish a journal at least twice a year covering key developments in national and community resilience in Australia.

(3)    We will provide education, training and resilience-focused workshops and seminars with the aim of increasing the knowledge and skills of individual leaders and managers. We will work with other organisations which specialise in vocational training, but our main emphasis will be on post-graduate education and the training of professional managers who need to apply rigorous academic thought to practical problems in their sector.