Disasters and public health emergencies, such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), by their very nature, overwhelm the operational capacity of health services to provide their normal level and array of services. From a health service perspective, this may include any event that results in the need for a health service to adapt their business as usual practices in an attempt to restore and maintain the normal day-to-day health services and standards of care.1 This is of importance as the inability to provide normal operational capacity results in increased morbidity and mortality for those patients in the health service and for those needing access to the health service. There is a paucity of research regarding the impact of disasters and public health emergencies on intensive care units. This was exemplified in a recent review of the literature published in Australian Critical Care examining the impact of mass casualty incidents, such as pandemics, earthquakes, and deliberate acts of harm.2 This review identified seven articles which highlighted a number of impacts on intensive care units such as insufficient bed numbers, a lack of resources and supplies, a decline in staffing levels over the duration of the incident, and the need for staff education and training. The authors called for further research regarding mass casualty incidents and the impact on intensive care units due to the lack of research in this area. This editorial echoes the call regarding the need to undertake research in the critical care context of disasters and public health emergencies, such as COVID-19; however, this call is balanced with some key considerations for individual researchers, organisations that facilitate research, and journals that publish research. In particular, these considerations focus on overlapping concepts such as the need to balance opportunity with research purpose and quality.