Call for abstracts is now open.

Learning at the speed of change.

The forum has 3 objectives:

1. Provide introductory level presentations, training and workshops to educate, encourage, and empower those new to lessons management. Particularly presentations on how to do lessons at a tactical/agency level and what is working well.

2. Provide presentations and workshops that challenge and advance the thinking and practice of experienced lessons management practitioners.

3. Share lessons identified or learned (refer to AIDR's Lessons Management Handbook for the definition/use of these terms).

The 2027 Lessons Management Forum will on focus on emerging trends, technologies, challenges and opportunities that are shaping the future of lessons management across the emergency management spectrum (including recovery). It will explore new thinking, innovative practice and the evolving role of lessons management in increasingly complex and interconnected environments.

Topics:

In addition to aligning with the objectives above, the committee is interested in abstracts that cover, or include, the following topic areas as they relate specifically to lessons/learning from experience and lessons management:

• Learn before: Predictive learning – how can we learn for the future?
  How can we use lessons to anticipate challenges? Explore approaches that shift learning from reactive to proactive and support better decision-making in an uncertain future.
  
  
• Learn during: Learning during operations
  How can we capture, share and learn lessons during periods of rapid change? Explore techniques that enable learning, despite operational pressures such as high tempo or long duration events, workforce turnover and lessons fatigue.
  
  
• Learn after: Getting from lessons identified to lessons learned
  How can we convert insights into sustained improvement? Explore approaches for embedding lessons into policy, practice, capability, culture and decision--making at tactical, operational and strategic levels.
  
  
• Learn across: Learning across organisations, communities, jurisdictions, sectors and systems
  How can lessons be shared, adapted and embedded across communities, agencies, jurisdictions, and sectors? Explore collaboration, communities of practice and lessons management approaches that strengthen collective capability and accelerate improvement.
  
  
• Value: The economics of learning
  How can we demonstrate the operational, strategic, cultural, resilience and economic value of lessons management, and understand the consequences of failing to learn?
  
  
• Enablers: Leveraging technology and artificial intelligence
  How can digital platforms, data analytics and artificial intelligence improve the capture, analysis, sharing and application of lessons? Explore how technology can augment human judgement, increase organisational insight and accelerate learning.
  
  
• Perspectives and context: Diverse ways of knowing and learning
  How can lessons management practices benefit from diverse ways of knowing, sharing knowledge and learning across generations? Examine how insights from Indigenous knowledge traditions, alongside other learning systems, can inform more resilient, adaptive and inclusive approaches to organisational learning and decision-making.

Call for abstracts closes 11.59pm, Monday 14 September 2026.

Submit your abstract now

The Lessons Management Forum will be delivered as a hybrid event, allowing those unable to join AFAC and AIDR in Hobart, Tasmania to participate online. 

Virtual attendees will join via an online platform, and all delegates will use an online Q&A to engage with speakers. 

Ticket pricing information coming soon.

View our full terms and conditions here.

Nominations for the 2027 Lessons Management Award open in October 2026.

AFAC, along with member agencies, has recognised the continued need to develop lessons management capability across the fire and emergency services in Australia. The AFAC Lessons Management Community of Practice develops and advocates approaches that support the development and sharing of good practice in knowledge management, lessons management, innovation, and cultural practices that support our business at all levels. Learn more about the awards here.

Congratulations to our winner and finalists for 2026.

Winner:

• From lessons identified to change delivered in City of Moreton Bay: A systemic lessons‑to‑action model following Tropical Cyclone Alred
  City of Moreton Bay

Highly Commended:

• Sector wide lessons implementation
  New Zealand Land Search and Rescue

Finalists:

• Whakaari/White Island Eruption Recovery Evaluation
  Emergency Management Bay of Plenty (EMBOP)

• Australian Maritime Safety Authority evaluation and lessons management
  Australian Maritime Safety Authority

• From real events to real change: Embedding lessons management through integrated exercising
  Logan City Council

• Development and implementation of the lessons management framework for disaster management in the Queensland Police Service
  Queensland Police Service

• 2025 Inland Rivers Flooding – Successfully implementing the end-to-end lessons management process
  SA State Emergency Service

Learn more about the award winner and finalists here.

The Lessons Management Forum (LMF) is an annual hybrid event hosted by AFAC, the National Council for fire and emergency services in Australia and New Zealand and the Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience.
The Lessons Management Forum aims to provide professional development, networking and collaboration opportunities for lessons practitioners, to support and grow the practice of lessons management and promote a learning culture.

At the Forum, participants take part in a broad range of presentations and workshops from various jurisdictions and organisations, including military, health, fire and emergency services and recovery. The program explores sharing lessons, including insights and lessons identified from experiences ranging from a strategic or tactical context to operational context.

This may include outcomes from debriefs and outcomes from significant events. It will also explore implementing lessons and the different approaches taken by organisations in managing lessons. This may include development of frameworks, governance and processes.

The program includes:

Presentations
Presentations will cover lessons that have been identified as well as how to manage lessons. There will be a broad range of presentations and workshops from various organisations, jurisdictions, and sectors.

The forum
The forum is open to everyone and will provide face-to-face networking opportunities to enhance the expanding community of practitioners working in the lessons management area and will encourage new members to join. The forum is also livestreamed for attendees to view as an online delegate if they are unable to attend in person.

Workshops
A selection of workshops related to lessons management will be available to register for, at an additional cost.

Networking event
A networking event is held on the evening of day one of the forum.

Who should attend?

The Lessons Management Forum provides an opportunity for lessons management practitioners, those interested in this area, and those new to the area, to share good practice, learnings, and innovations.