Together, Lloyd’s Register Foundation and The Resilience Shift have developed this series of conversations as an antidote to the pervasive online ‘noise’ that confronts us as we seek serious discussion and meaningful insight into the ramifications of this crisis. We sought to bring together innovators working within the Lloyd’s Register Foundation’s grant programme, joined by outside subject matter specialists, with the aim of surfacing insights on the likely scale and permanence of changes that Covid-19 has triggered.
Our participants also examined how we approach infrastructure systems and interdependencies, and what the pandemic can tell us about our existing preparedness and horizon-scanning practices.
With the five sessions respectively focused on safety at work, data and information systems, education, infrastructure and public understanding of risk, this series explores both the impact of disruption and how disruption can create windows of opportunity for change.
Insights from each of the five sessions are captured in the below reports and the accompanying podcasts. A summary report collates emerging insights and takeaways from the whole series.
Podcasts are available on every major platform
Participants
- Alan Turing Institute
- American Society of Civil Engineers
- Blockchain Labs for Open Collaboration
- Coalition for Urban Transitions
- eThekwini Municipality, Durban
- Gallup
- Imperial College
- Lloyd’s Register Foundation
- Lloyd’s Register Group
- National Safety Council
- National University of Singapore
- Open Data Institute
- Royal Academy of Engineering
- Royal College of Art
- Sense about Science
- TWI
- University of Cambridge
- University of York
Approach and format
The closed-door, intimate roundtable format was designed to facilitate fluid interaction amongst a small group of partners, associates, subject matter experts and grantees of the Lloyd’s Register Foundation and of The Resilience Shift. Participants were given latitude to steer the conversation towards their specific sector or area of concern, their experience of challenges, and their thoughts on plausible ways forward.
Reports
The reports are available to download as PDFs, by clicking the thumbnails below.
Engineering a Safer Future: Summary
16 February, 2021
Summary
The first publication in the series introduces the topics and approaches of the series, the lessons learned and emerging insights. It explores the overall impact of disruption and its ability to create a window of opportunity for transformative change.
Safety at work
The Safety at Work session, held on 15 September 2020, was a moderated conversation around safety challenges in a post-Covid world, from small-scale practical issues to long-term consequences to our institutions and systems.
The conversation drew on emerging findings from the Lloyd’s Register Foundation’s research as well as input from grant holders and experts around global perceptions on risk and safety at work, and how these might be affected by the Covid-19 crisis. The session reflected on how Covid-19 has disrupted existing practice around safety at work, how the sector has adapted, and what lessons the current disruption holds for our shared future.
In the session participants were asked to examine how their work life has changed between January and September 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic; how they have managed to stay resilient – both personally and professionally – and prepare for a ‘new normal’ future.
Engineering a Safer Future: Safety at Work
16 February, 2021
Data
In the Data session, conducted on 17 September 2020, participants were asked to examine how their work life has changed between January and September 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic; how they have managed to stay resilient – both personally and professionally – and prepare for a ‘new normal’ future.
The session was a moderated conversation around data changes in a post-Covid world, from small-scale practical issues to long-term consequences to our institutions and systems. The conversation drew on emerging findings from the Foundation’s research as well as input from grant holders and experts around global perceptions on data, and how these might be affected by the Covid-19 crisis. The session reflected on how Covid-19 has disrupted existing practice around data access, management and use, how practices have adapted, and what lessons the current disruption holds for our shared future.
Engineering a Safer Future: Data
16 February, 2021
Education
In the Education session, held on 16 September 2020, participants were asked to examine how their work life has changed between January and September 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic; how they have managed to stay resilient – both personally and professionally – and prepare for a ‘new normal’ future.
The session was a moderated conversation around education changes in a post-Covid world, from small-scale practical issues to long-term consequences to our institutions and systems. The conversation drew on emerging findings from the Foundation’s research as well as input from grant holders and education experts. The session reflected on how Covid-19 has affected education, how the sector has adapted, and what lessons the current disruption holds for our shared future.
Engineering a Safer Future: Education
16 February, 2021
Infrastructure
In the Infrastructure session, conducted on 15 September 2020, participants were asked to examine how their work life had changed between January and September 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic; how they have managed to stay resilient, both personally and professionally; and how they intended to prepare for a ‘new normal’ future.
The session was a moderated conversation framed around infrastructure challenges in a post-Covid world, from small-scale practical issues to long-term institutional and systemic consequences. Participants reflected on how the Covid crisis has disrupted existing practice across critical infrastructure systems and related industries, how systems have adapted, and what lessons the current disruption holds for our shared future.
Engineering a Safer Future: Infrastructure
16 February, 2021
Public understanding of risk
In the Public Understanding of Risk session, held on 24 September 2020, participants were asked to examine how their work life has changed between January and September 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic; how they have managed to stay resilient – both personally and professionally – and prepare for a ‘new normal’ future.
The session was a lightly guided discussion of how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected public understanding of risk, with thematic emphasis on the areas of leadership and decision making, disaster risk governance, risk communications, and the relationship between the pandemic and the climate crisis as concerns the above issues. The conversation drew on emerging findings from the Foundation’s research as well as input from grant holders and experts around global perceptions on risk and how these might be affected by the Covid-19 crisis. The session reflected on how Covid-19 has disrupted existing practice around risk governance and communications, how the sector has adapted, and what lessons the current disruption holds for our shared future.
Engineering a Safer Future: Public understanding of risk
16 February, 2021
