Which techniques are best for estimating the effects of interacting risks? How do we ensure that communication of risk is relevant and effective? What lessons can we take from the response to the coronavirus pandemic about the communication of risk and of the need for behavioural change?

Background

The research areas identified in this document rely on a wide range of research tools and approaches, spanning disciplines across the sciences and social sciences. This section is not an exhaustive list of the tools and approaches of interest to Defra. It identifies some areas of particular relevance and change, which will be important in addressing the challenges faced by Defra and represented throughout this document.

Societies demand resource from the environment and shape that environment. The social science of human-nature interactions is of fundamental importance to Defra.

Next steps

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Source

This question was published as part of the set of ARIs in this document:

DEFRA Research and innovation interests GOVUK

Related UKRI funded projects

  • The Consortium on Risk in the Environment: Diagnostics, Integration, Benchmarking, Learning and Elicitation (CREDIBLE)

    Natural hazard events claim thousands of lives every year, and financial losses amount to billions of dollars. The risk of losing wealth through natural hazard events is now increasing at a rate that exceeds the rate of ...

    Funded by: NERC

    Lead research organisation: Lancaster University

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project focuses on estimating the effects of interacting risks and improving the communication of uncertainty and risk.

  • The Consortium on Risk in the Environment: Diagnostics, Integration, Benchmarking, Learning and Elicitation (CREDIBLE)

    Natural hazard events claim thousands of lives every year, and financial losses amount to billions of dollars. The risk of losing wealth through natural hazard events is now increasing at a rate that exceeds the rate ...

    Funded by: NERC

    Lead research organisation: University of Oxford

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project aims to introduce statistical techniques to improve the transparency and defensibility of uncertainty and risk assessment, and to develop methods for assessing less quantifiable aspects of uncertainty.

  • Probability, Uncertainty and Risk in the Natural Environment

    Natural hazards pose serious problems to society and to the global economy. Recent examples in the UK include the cold winters of 2009 and 2010 and the eruptions of the Grimsvotn and Eyjafjallajökull volcanoes with ...

    Funded by: NERC

    Lead research organisation: University of Edinburgh

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project focuses on handling uncertainty in complex systems using probability theory and developing improved tools for communicating uncertain information.

  • EPSRC/ESRC/NERC/Defra Collaborative Centre of Excellence in Understanding and Managing Natural and Environmental Risks (the 'Risk Centre')

    Defra shares its risk management responsibilities with its stakeholders, regulated communities, with its partner departments and with citizens. Policies need to be evidence-based and risk-informed so that prioritised, hi...

    Funded by: EPSRC

    Lead research organisation: CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY

  • Metropole

    The hypothesis is that risk knowledge is best understood as being co-produced by science and by the social, political and cultural context. While researchers have studied the role of visualization tools in decision makin...

    Funded by: NERC

    Lead research organisation: King's College London

  • Reducing vulnerability, bringing together engineering and social science perspectives

    The activity undertaken through this Discipline Hopping proposal will address the different perspectives on the vulnerability of economies, societies, groups and individuals held by engineers on the one hand and social s...

    Funded by: EPSRC

    Lead research organisation: University of Leeds

  • Systemic environmental risk analysis for threats to UK recovery from COVID-19

    UK Recovery from COVID-19 needs to balance the needs of the economy, societal cohesion and health. The Environment is not currently explicit in some framings of national recovery, yet there are a number of major risks in...

    Funded by: NERC

    Lead research organisation: University of Reading

  • Health Of Populations and Ecosystems (HOPE)

    UK social science has led the way in establishing that people's health and lifestyles are shaped by their environments - by their family and community networks, their living and working conditions and the wider socioecon...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: University of York

  • Evidence for nature based solutions (NBSGap)

    In order to make informed strategy for the good of UK citizens and to implement it through well-founded and informed policy, the policy-makers need evidence. They need to know what is known in an area and what has yet to...

    Funded by: NERC

    Lead research organisation: NERC CEH (Up to 30.11.2019)

  • Epidemiology and social risk amplification

    The predominant activity in risk assessment is the modelling of physical hazards. Yet recent major risk events, such as the Sudan 1 food contamination scandal, show how important the social response can be in comparison ...

    Funded by: EPSRC

    Lead research organisation: University of Liverpool

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