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On the 14th November, 2022 the small village of Eugowra in the Central West of New South Wales was hit by an ‘inland tsunami’ with widespread destruction and the loss of two lives. This small village was the place I was raised and many previous generations of my family had lived. Coincidentally, since 2015 I had been slowly drawn in the world of ‘disaster research’, with a specific focus on the experiences of communities navigating the terrains of disasters. I had heard stories and seen the destruction caused by floods, fires, storms and of course the Covid pandemic. But I had never imagined that my past and my present would collide in such a manner. Some 40% of the homes in Eugowra and all the active businesses were damaged by unprecedented (this type of language seems increasingly wrong) flooding. My initial engagement was as a volunteer, sorting material donations and listening to people still in shock. I wondered though right from the beginning how might my research knowledge of disasters be useful, although aware of its limitations in such a chaotic situation. Over time I realised that research knowledge could be useful in supporting community responses to disasters if it was offered with generosity, caution and humility. Navigating relationships and building trust repeatedly arose as requiring ongoing attention. In this article I aim to explore what there is to learn about disaster research when it becomes personal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We sought to discover adolescents' thoughts about participation in longitudinal research and identify recruitment and retention strategies that were meaningful to them. We conducted seven focus groups with 10-15-year-olds in two large rural centers in New South Wales, Australia, and all focus groups were digitally recorded, transcribed, and analyzed. Adolescents discussed factors salient to their involvement in focus groups, as well as factors that may influence involvement in a longitudinal study. At the outset of the focus groups, adolescents had a positive view of "research," but were reluctant to engage in research that involved biologic samples. Effective recruitment of adolescents requires an appreciation of motivators, and time and resources to extend potential participants' understanding.

Abstract Background Adolescence is characterized by marked psychosocial, behavioural and biological changes and represents a critical life transition through which adult health and well-being are established. Substantial research confirms the role of psycho-social and environmental influences on this transition, but objective research examining the role of puberty hormones, testosterone in males and oestradiol in females (as biomarkers of puberty) on adolescent events is lacking. Neither has the tempo of puberty, the time from onset to completion of puberty within an individual been studied, nor the interaction between age of onset and tempo. This study has been designed to provide evidence on the relationship between reproductive hormones and the tempo of their rise to adult levels, and adolescent behaviour, health and wellbeing. Methods/Design The ARCHER study is a multidisciplinary, prospective, longitudinal cohort study in 400 adolescents to be conducted in two centres in regional Australia in the State of New South Wales. The overall aim is to determine how changes over time in puberty hormones independently affect the study endpoints which describe universal and risk behaviours, mental health and physical status in adolescents. Recruitment will commence in school grades 5, 6 and 7 (10–12 years of age). Data collection includes participant and parent questionnaires, anthropometry, blood and urine collection and geocoding. Data analysis will include testing the reliability and validity of the chosen measures of puberty for subsequent statistical modeling to assess the impact over time of tempo and onset of puberty (and their interaction) and mean-level repeated measures analyses to explore for significant upward and downward shifts on target outcomes as a function of main effects. Discussion The strengths of this study include enrollment starting in the earliest stages of puberty, the use of frequent urine samples in addition to annual blood samples to measure puberty hormones, and the simultaneous use of parental questionnaires.