Scottish Funding Council Stakeholder Meeting

Proposed Centre for Research on Resilience –report of workshop (29 October
2014)
Introduction
The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) held, in partnership with Scottish Government, a
workshop on Wednesday, 29 October 2014, to explore the potential to develop a
Centre for Research on Resilience (CRR) as articulated in the SFC
announcement/process document to the HE sector and other key stakeholders on 11
September 20141.
Report of the workshop
The workshop was well attended by representatives of Scottish HEIs and other key
stakeholders – a full delegate list is attached at annex A. The delegate list and the
100 word summaries provide a very useful resource in terms of an indicative map of
the research base in this area and a range of stakeholders from which advice and
other support can be drawn on in the future.
The agenda is attached at annex B.
SFC introduced the workshop emphasising that, while it had published a process for
the development of a CRR, we should keep an open mind as to how any CRR should
be progressed. In this context the workshop would provide a very useful forum for
exploring the opportunities and challenges for Scotland in this area and to help
provide advice to SFC and its partners.
To help support the discussion the workshop benefited from some scene setting
from:
 The National Centre for Resilience and Scotland’s Resilience Strategy - Alessia
Morris and Neil Ritchie from Scottish Government;
 Scottish Resilience Development Service (ScoRDS) – Suzanne Wilkie;
 The West of Scotland Regional Resilience Partnership (WoS RRP) – Kenny
Swan.
Delegates were then asked to consider in groups two themes:
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SFC/AN/10/2014 – Process for the development of a Centre for Research on Resilience (CRR) for Scotland www.sfc.ac.uk
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 Theme 1 – the scale and scope of the challenge
 Theme 2 – Scotland’s research and skills and training capacity
The feedback from the discussion can be summarised as follows:
 Opportunity – there is an active research community in Scotland engaged in
research in the area of ‘resilience’ in its broadest sense. There is, therefore,
a lot of activity that can be drawn on to support any Scottish Resilience
Strategy. There is an opportunity now to coordinate/harness this knowledge
and expertise and to begin to identify, in collaboration with the NCR, the
priorities for action;
 Scope – this could be an opportunity to think more broadly about society and
resilience. A positive outcome of any CRR could be to reduce vulnerability
and support a more resilient society in Scotland and not simply to coordinate
research to support first responders;
 The challenge – there is not currently enough detail/information around
what Scottish Ministers would want a CRR to do;
 The impact of events on communities changes over time – there is an
opportunity for the research community to support the immediate and long
term impacts of climatic and other events.
A full summary of the points raised during this discussion is provided at Annex C.
Theme 3 was originally intended to focus on ‘exploring the potential for pan-Scotland
collaboration’. However, considering the presentation from Scottish Government on
the developing NCR and the feedback from themes 1 and 2 the group advised that it
was perhaps confusing and risking duplication to consider the development of a CRR
as well as the NCR.
The group proposed that an appropriately resourced capacity to coordinate research
could be built into the structures of the NCR rather than building a “separate but
linked” CRR. The NCR through appropriate representation of the relevant
stakeholders and robust governance could identify the grand challenges where the
Scottish research base could help provide immediate solutions and set longer term
research agendas. The research component could have a translational and
matchmaking role similar to the Interface model and also the capacity to prioritise
and fund collaborative projects. One table suggested that the research capacity
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could be organised around three areas of focus: (i) natural hazard forecasting and
prevention; (ii) enhancing practitioners/emergency response; and (iii) long
term/horizon scanning research (researching the unknowns).
The group stressed that any next steps must include learning from existing
organisations and initiatives such as the Scottish Institute for Policing research (SIPR),
the Natural Hazards Partnership (NHP), the Regional Resilience Research
Partnerships (RRPs), Interface and the experience of Innovation Centres in converting
grand challenges into academic responses.
SFC advised that any development of structures to support the coordination of
research capacity would need to follow the principles set out in its published process
document.
SFC and Scottish Government colleagues would consider all feedback from the
workshop in developing the next steps.
In drawing the workshop to a close SFC thanked delegates for their time and valuable
contributions.
Actions
The following actions were identified:
 SFC promised to circulate to delegates and other stakeholders/partners the
following:
o workshop report;
o delegate list; and
o presentations.
 Delegates were invited to email SFC and Scottish Government with any
feedback and/or advice on any theme following the workshop;
 Any delegates interested in volunteering advice or other support to help with
the development of the NCR should contact Alessia Morris at Scottish
Government directly;
 SFC and Scottish Government promised to keep this group updated on
developments following the workshop and any next steps.
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Annex A
Delegate list
Joe
Liz
Laura
Richard
David
Michael
Edward
Bill
Julia
Mike
John
Simon
David
Ruth
Ioan
Paul
Deanne
Martin
Jennifer
Keith
Catherine
Alessia
Alan
Milan
Neil
Alan
Alan
Marian
Robert
Mike
Caroline
Kenny
Suzanne
Ruth
Andrews
Baggs
Bates
Bellingham
Blackwood
Bonaventura
Borodzicz
Buchanan
Campbell
Cranston
Crawford
Dobson
Faichney
Falconer
Fazey
Hagan
Holden
Kirkwood
MacLean
McDonald
Morgan
Morris
Motion
Radosavljevic
Ritchie
Robertson
Robertson
Scott
Shaw
Smith
Summers
Scottish Fire & Rescue Service
University of Aberdeen
University of St Andrews
University of Strathclyde
University of Abertay
Crichton Carbon Centre
University of the West of Scotland
Edinburgh Napier University
University of Stirling
SEPA
Scottish Enterprise
University of St. Andrews
SEPA
University of Abertay
University of Dundee
Scottish Funding Council
Scottish Funding Council
Scottish Funding Council
Police Scotland
Scottish Funding Council
Heriot-Watt University
Scottish Government
Met Office
University of the West of Scotland
Scottish Government
Scottish Government
Scottish Government
University of Glasgow
The Crichton Trust
SRUC
University of Abertay
Head of Emergencies Planning for Police
Swan
Scotland and Resilience Coordinator WEST RRP
Wilkie
Scottish Resilience Development Service
Wolstenholme Sniffer
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Steve
Yearley
Science and Technology Innovation
Centre
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Annex B
Agenda
Proposed Centre for Research on Resilience
Agenda
Date:
Wednesday, 29 October 2014
Time:
10am - 2.30pm
Venue:
Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Innovation.
Purpose
The purpose of this workshop, managed and facilitated by the Scottish Funding
Council (SFC) is to attract expertise from across Scotland including users of outputs
from the Centre for Research Resilience (CRR), to work with the SFC and the Scottish
Government to identify a single consortium to develop a proposal to establish the
CRR.
The delegate list was developed by the SFC and Scottish Government based on the
expressions of interest received from interested parties.
Registration, tea / coffee (9.30 – 10am)
Setting the scene (10am)
1.
2.
.
Welcome and introductions
.
Introduction from Scottish Funding Council to the process for developing the Centre for
Research on Resilience2
.
Introduction from Scottish Government on the planned National Centre for Resilience and
Scotland’s Resilience Strategy
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SFC/AN/10/2014 - Process for the development of a Centre for Research on Resilience (CRR) for Scotland http://www.sfc.ac.uk/communications/Announcements/2014/SFCAN102014.aspx
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
Theme 1 – the scale and scope of the challenge? (10.30am)
 Do we know enough regarding the challenge that a CRR would be expected to respond to? Do
we have the right priorities and objectives? Who are the key stakeholders – academia,
industry, public sector etc.?

Theme 2 – Scotland’s research and skills and training capacity (11.15am)
 What is Scotland’s research capacity in this area? Evidence/examples of existing initiatives and
collaborations, what is working well, where are there are gaps in knowledge, avoiding
duplication, potential to coordinate expertise where it will have most impact etc.

Coffee break (12pm)
Theme 3 – the potential for a pan-Scotland collaboration (12.15pm)
 What would a CRR look like and what would success look like? What types of engagement,
activities could we expect a CRR to deliver? What infrastructure might be required to facilitate
and coordinate the collaboration? Potential for collaboration with industry.

Lunch and networking (1pm)
Next steps (2pm)
 Recap on learning from the day.
 Developing a single consortium.
 Process for submission of the proposal.
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Annex C
RESILIENCE WORKSHOP NOTES – 29 October 2014
THEME 1 – Scale & Scope of Challenge
-
Mapping of hazards/risks against NRA
What are the unknown(s)?
Connections with other “centres”; not natural hazards related (e.g. Cyber);
Context not natural? impact of disruptions;
Focus on consequences and recovery;
Anticipatory activities – concurrent risks; knock-on effects; mapping
interdependencies.
Resilience can cover a very wide area;
The language of resilience;
Empowering communities;
Prevention or simply looking at current systems;
Mapping the academic/research base
Define a common goal;
Relationship mapping;
Data access;
National Centre would give rise to new research challenges
A CRR could focus on (i) Natural hazard forecasting; (ii) practitioners/emergency
responders; (iii) long term/blue sky research.
THEME 2 – Scotland’s Research & Skill/Training Capacity
-
Need for co-ordinating capacity;
Powerhouse = collaborative environment;
Built environment & resilience = social justice linkages/identify vulnerabilities;
Coordinating/commissioning facility;
Panel of experts – single point of truth; support response;
Foster collaborative work;
CRR should be part of NCR;
Training and development;
More action groups
See those who submitted expressions of interest
Examples of existing initiatives:
SIPR – Scottish Institute of Policing Research Resilience
CHRE – Centre for Human Resilience Environment
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BRE – Building Research Centre for Disaster Resilience/
Climate Resilience functions
Climate Exchange
Scalability of Training – use online provisions; skills levels required
SEPA – Skills - training, knowledge data
SNIFFER – Community and Public Centre Resilience
Other stakeholders? Private sector/IT/Gaming simulation/Immersed
environment
Social justice e.g. Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Sharing information across the Public Sector
-
How do we open up systems to share but protect rights – risk levels
Issue for data management systems
Availability of information – ownership issues
Set up data linkage in advance
How to make the most of Resilience Direct
Coordination of research
-
Cascading effects of a hazard or an event
Don’t be too focussed on a single issue
Look at where weakest dependencies are
Overly relying on traditional Risk Management
How do we build a resilient society?
-
Minimise currency? of incidents
Planning decision/modelling/plausibility
Public buy-in to plausibility
Acute vs Chronic incidents
Getting key organisations to buy-in to CRR
Aligning CRR into NCR’s needs
Risks
-
Vulnerability analysis
Social science – who is involved in decision making at local levels/where is the
CRR positioned in this?
How do we link knowledge owners with decision makers?
Do we spend to mitigate risks when those risks may become redundant?
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-
Need better ways to model risk
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