Dr Olivia Jensen and Prof Leonard Lee (IPUR Deputy Director and Director respectively) and Risk know-how initiative lead Dr Leonor Sierra presented a summary of our work at the International Conference on Resilient Systems 2024. The session covered the support we offer communities in assessing claims and data about risk to make informed decisions, the Risk know-how framework, and how researchers and institutions can get involved to help build Risk know-how.
Prof Lee introduced the initiative and offered a perspective on the risk perception gap and why it matters. Dr Sierra highlighted Risk know-how practitioners and their needs, sharing some case studies, as well as emphasising the need to consider how we assess whether a community has Risk know-how. Dr Sierra finished by stressing the need for information providers to consider whether it is a lack of information and understanding that pose challenges for communities to adopt safer practices, or whether it’s actually other barriers or a different balance of trade-offs that result in this lack of adoption.
The session ended with Dr Jensen leading an interactive exercise where the attendees were asked to weigh up information and consider the trade-offs in a flood risk scenario.
The Risk know-how initiative is led by Sense About Science in collaboration with the Institute for the Public Understanding of Risk, and supported by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation.
