The unit's title - the Monash Unit for Disaster Resilience and Community Safety - may be unwieldy but its leader, Frank Archer, hopes it will have a "very local and pragmatic" benefit.

Professor Archer said the unit, with contributors from many faculties, was determined to draw on community experience and expertise.

"The concept is to try to harness the breadth of expertise at Monash, particularly at Berwick campus, to bring to bear on disaster resilience.

"It's also to have a community flavour, a community basis.

"We want to merge the attributes of the university with those of the community, which include resilience and preparing and responding and recovering [from disasters]."

The unit is holding public forums on disaster resilience and management and hopes they will foster dialogue between academics, government, businesses and the public.

Professor Archer said the unit had already taken note of good local ideas, such as the Harkaway Residents Group's plan to develop a list of "vulnerable" people who needed to be attended to in a bushfire.

"It's a wonderful strategy that we would like to see developed and shared in other areas."

While the unit would take an "all-hazard" approach - "we have to talk about pandemics as well as bushfires" - it would pay close attention to local events.

Prof Archer said a powerful storm that caused trees to fall in Gembrook last month was an example of the type of emergency that the unit would look to address.

The unit's next forum, on September 30, will address implications for emergency managers and disaster health from the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission's final report.

Details: 99044092.