News and events

This page is regularly updated with details of recent news (January 2010 onwards), forthcoming events, conferences and short courses. For our news and events archive (December 2008- December 2009), please click here.

 

News

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 has recently acquired a substantial pool of expertise to enhance capacity in several strategic areas. In January 2011, fifteen academic 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. 

 

Editorial Board established for revised government risk guidance 

Defra’s predecessor bodies historically drafted guidelines for Government on the expectations of environmental risk assessment and management (1995; DoE ‘Green Leaves’; 2000 DETR ‘Green Leaves II’).  The Risk Centre has been asked to revise these guidelines in line with recent developments in risk science for adoption by agencies across the Defra network. Following initial consultation, and progress on guidance development from the Centre, an editorial board has been established to review content and direction. Dr Àine Gormley says: "We are very pleased to have experts from the Environment Agency, Defra and external consultants on the board. We expect rapid progress to be made and hope this process will ensure the final document is applicable to a wide audience".

 

Risk pathways and vulnerabilities workshop held, June 2010

Work in the Risk Centre on the development of new tools capable of robustly assessing low-probability, high consequence risks associated with exotic animal disease in the UK was progressed further by an expert elicitation workshop run by PhD researcher João Delgado, with the supervision of Prof Simon Pollard and Dr Phil Longhurst. Experts from Defra policy teams, disease monitoring, local authorities, border agencies and risk analysis teams were brought together in an expert workshop to elicit details of historical disease incursion pathways and scenarios, identify plausible (currently unexploited) pathways, and discuss primary incursion concerns for the future. Data will now be used towards modelling incursion pathways and testing robustness of developed methodologies.

 

Collaborative publication: “Engaging the community: a handbook for professionals managing contaminated land” now available

Professor Simon Pollard of the Risk Centre co-authored a handbook on community engagement in contaminated land issues, published by the Cooperative Research Centre for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment (CRC CARE, Australia). Addressing issues of public confidence during contaminated site assessment and remediation is a necessary step requiring community consultation and participatory decision making. This is now widely recognised amongst the contaminated land practitioner community. 'Engaging the community: a handbook for professionals managing contaminated land' presents a framework for community consultation in the context of contaminated site projects, and describes the communication principles that can be used in such circumstances. Please visit the CRC CARE website for more details or to request a hard copy.

 

2009 Annual Report now available online

The Risk Centre’s first Annual Report has now been published to highlight key developments and research progress since the Centre's inception in December 2008. To access the report for information on Centre outputs and impact, staff expertise and future direction, please click here.

 

Call for papers: Shaomin Wu co-chairs the 7th International Conference on Modelling in Industrial Maintenance and Reliability

The conference, due to be held at the University of Cambridge in 2011, will cover: expert elicitation in reliability modelling; information; communication and artificial intelligence in maintenance; and reliability modelling of maintained systems, amongst many other topics. The conference complements the work of Dr Shaomin Wu, who leads reliability, risk and uncertainty research within the Centre. Deadline for abstract submission is 11th Oct 2010. More information can be found on the conference website. 

 

Centre wins new collaborative contract with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) in risk and responsibility

New work funded by BIS aims to address the challenge of ensuring that the responsibility for different risks (and the related communication and mitigation) is appropriately apportioned, clearly communicated and transparent to the public. Research will consider risk actors; asymmetry of data; market failure; communication; and community resilience. Collaborators include Dr Sophie Rocks and Prof Simon Pollard (Risk Centre), Dr Peter Howsam and Dr Andrew Angus (wider Cranfield), Prof Mitch Small (Carnegie Mellon University, USA) and Prof Dougal Goodman (Foundation of Science and Technology). Visit our "wider research" page for more information.

 

Advisory board meeting held on 18th March 2010, Cranfield University

The Risk Centre has undergone a review of progress made since its inception in December 2008. A panel of international experts, including representatives from Defra, EPSRC, ESRC and NERC met to discuss research direction and novel contributions to risk science made by the Centre. The advisory board provide valuable critique and support research in the Centre. Researchers presented progress to an advisory panel and highlighted new insights gained from secondments, workshops, consultation and qualitative and quantitative analysis. Students also presented their research findings.

 

Risk Centre celebrates its first year in operation

The Risk Centre, established in December 2008 can now celebrate one year of success working with Defra on an extensive risk management research programme. Risk Centre Manager, Dr Sophie Rocks says:
“It has been a tremendous year for the Risk Centre. Work is running smoothly and we are pleased to have attracted interest from Defra beyond the initial grant. With much research already completed, we look forward to moving forward with a highly targeted and output focussed year in 2010. We would like to thank our Defra collaborators, in particular Edgar Black and Emma Hennessey for their continued professional support and enthusiasm.”

 

Defra Permanent Secretary, Dame Helen Ghosh, visits Cranfield University, 14th January 2010

Dame Helen Ghosh visited the Risk Centre on 14th January 2010. The Risk Centre showcased the latest research and outputs through a series of presentations and debates. The day served to raise awareness of the Centre’s work at the management board level. Other groups also presented their work for Defra on soil analysis, food supply, and water quality.

 

Cranfield University’s Risk Centre undergoes expansion

Dr Shaomin Wu, a lecturer in Decision Analysis, joined the Centre in January 2010, bringing invaluable expertise and a well-established post-doctoral and PhD research portfolio to the team. Centre Manager, Dr Sophie Rocks says: “We are delighted to have expanded our team and to have Shaomins unique expertise in uncertainty and reliability modelling on board. We expect this enhanced capability will enable us to undertake more robust, statistical analysis relating to environmental risks.”


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