News and events

This page is regularly updated with details of recent news (July 2010 onwards), forthcoming events, conferences and short courses. For our news and events archive (December 2008- June 2010), please click here.

 

News

Centre helps consolidate knowledge to protect Bolivian biodiversity

Population pressures, land use and climate change pose a future threat to some of the world’s richest ecosystems in Bolivia and in the world. In a bid to prevent unsustainable development , Dr Humberto Perotto-Baldivieso and Dr Andrew Gill of Cranfield University alongside the Bolivian Museum of Natural History and the JRS  Biodiversity Foundation, will undertake a significant knowledge exchange project under a new Geospatial Centre for Biodiversity (GCB ).

The GCB will be a virtual centre with 3 portals  that will disseminate plant and animal information using web-GIS technologies  aligned with countrywide conservation strategies.. The primary aim will be to inform policy decisions on agricultural development and minimise biodiversity loss. However, the website will also prove to be an excellent data resource for conservation researchers, and will engage youngsters in conservation issues.

 

Centre merges to become new Centre for Environmental Risks and Futures

With a firm commitment to exceeding expectations for academic excellence and demonstrable impact, the Risk Centre merged with a substantial pool of additional expertise to enhance capacity in several strategic areas. In January 2011, fifteen academic staff and researchers joined the Centre from across Cranfield University, to create a new “Centre for Environmental Risks and Futures” (CERF) under the leadership of Dr Mick Whelan.

Our new colleagues bring extensive experience in systems analysis, natural hazards, emerging technologies, economics, policy and regulation, life cycle assessment, and environmental statistics. These developments significantly strengthen our technical skill base and will facilitate our ambition to become a world leading authority in environmental risk assessment and management.

 

Defra Horizon Scanning expertise moves to Cranfield as part of new strategic Centre

CERF are delighted to welcome Fiona Lickorish – former Head of Horizon Scanning and Futures in Defra, who joined the Centre this April. Following attendance at a Risk Centre workshop in 2009, Fiona developed a proposal to combine Defra’s cross-network horizon scanning expertise with risk tools, techniques and strategic. Now at Cranfield as part of a £1.8m Defra grant, the Centre will provide a horizon scanning function and explore new ways in which risk science and modelling can enhance scenario development  and analysis in a range of key issues identified members of the Defra family.

 

Executive Conference: Embedding risk management - from boardroom discussion to behaviour change, held May 2011

In a time of challenging market conditions, budget cuts and conflicting board-level priorities, driving a powerful risk agenda is a major challenge. This one-day executive conference offerered risk professionals an opportunity to expand their risk management knowledge, consider how to break the “board-room barrier”, and develop and implement successful risk management strategies. Delegates were from Defra, Ministry of Justice, Environment Agency, BG Group plc, OFWAT, Natural England, Rural Payments Agency, Animal Health - Veterinary Laboratories Agency and the Veterinary Medicines Directorate. For more information on the event visit the conference website, or download the conference flyer. 

 

 Work on strategic risk appraisal receives praise from Defra’s Science Advisory Council

Defra’s Science Advisory Council Open Meeting was held in London Zoo on 20th October 2010. Angela McLean (Chair of the Defra Science Advisory Council Risk Sub-Group) presented the Risk Centre’s work, with a particular focus on strategic risk appraisal to an audience of Defra, agency, academic and public delegates. The research has produced a tool which will allow the Defra Management Board to compare and prioritise a multitude of environmental risks.

 

Prof Dougal Goodman presents on risk management- audio available online

Professor Dougal Goodman FREng (Visiting Professor of the Risk Centre, Chief Executive of the Foundation for Science and Technology (FST) and non-exec Chairman of the Lighthill Risk Network) contributed to a debate on Science Advice and Risk Management at The Foundation for Science and Technology on 10th November 2010.  The other speakers were Sir John Beddington CMG FRS, Government Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir David Omand GCB, Visting Professor at the War Studies Department, King's College London and Professor David Spiegelhalter OBE FRS, Winton Professor of the Public Understanding of Risk at the University of Cambridge.  

A report of the meeting, audio files and the presentations are on the Foundation web site www.foundation.org.uk. To review Prof Goodman’s presentation, click the following link:
The Policy Maker’s Tale: Stress testing policy and business plans for extreme events – hope for the best, plan for the worst

 

Risk Centre present on effectiveness of regulation to Defra and BIS

Dr Mark Smith presented on the forthcoming Environment Agency (EA) report: ‘Effectiveness of Regulation: Literature Review and Analysis’ to the Defra Better Regulation Programme Team and the Better Regulation Executive from BIS. The study was led by Dr Peter Howsam of Cranfield University, drawing on a range of multi-disciplinary experts, including Professor Simon Pollard. The presentation also commented on ongoing work between the Risk Centre and Defra’s Better Regulation Programme to further develop insights to this field.

 

Risk Centre and University of Birmingham publish participatory risk assessment booklet

Risk assessments all too often exclude public opinion, or the views of stakeholders. Allowing such parties to participate in risk assessment can offer great benefits – namely local knowledge which may contribute previously unknown information to the risk assessment, and enhanced public buy-in. This booklet, written in collaboration with Professor Judith Petts of the University of Birmingham's School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, discusses how best to achieve an effective participatory scheme and deal with some of the common boundaries to success. 

Please click the image to the left to download your free copy.

 

Risk Centre receives top review from International Advisory Board, 29th June 2010

The Risk Centre underwent external review by its International Advisory Board in March 2010 to ascertain progress made, gain feedback, and receive input from external risk experts on Risk Centre research. More information on the Advisory Board members can be found here. The review panel also included representatives from Defra and the research councils. Professor Mitch Small, Chair for the Advisory Board and Professor at Carnegie Mellon University writes:

The Risk Centre has succeeded in attracting first rate research staff to fill key positions and attracted a bright and enthusiastic cadre of graduate students to work with them.  The Centre has implemented an ambitious program of engagement with Defra, including staff secondments with the Department to ensure well-focused research and collaboration.  Centre researchers have initiated and progressed notably on projects to develop improved methods for risk appraisal, communication, and organizational management and learning, with important applications in the areas of flood disaster response, farm animal disease prevention, and emerging risks such as bioaerosols and nanotechnology.  The members of the Strategic Advisory Board for the Centre are uniformly impressed by the progress made to date, and look forward to its continuing success in advancing risk management practices in the UK and globally.  

Professor M. J. Small, Advisory Board Chair (Carnegie Mellon University)

New research underway: Transatlantic initiative for nanotechnology and the environment

The Risk Centre has recently begun a collaborative research project which seeks to address three key areas of nanotechnology research, including: the effect of surface chemistry on fate and transport of manufactured nanomaterials (MNMs); nanomaterial transformation following release to the environment; and interactions between pristine metal/metal oxide MNMs and ecoreceptors. With funding from the US Environmental Protection Agency and the UK Natural Environmental Research Council, the Risk Centre is working collaboratively with colleagues from Cranfield, the NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Lancaster Environment Centre, Rothamstead Research, Carnegie Mellon University and Duke University. 

 


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