A series of experiments – including one on the BBC News website – finds the use of numerical ranges in news reports helps us grasp the uncertainty of stats while maintaining trust in data and its sources.
Understanding how the numbers add up in relation to risk can help us deal with our own uncertainty, as David Spiegelhalter, Winton Professor for the Public Understanding of Risk, explains.
Why does Britain need a National Risk Register (NRR)? To understand what the risks are and how to improve resilience, explains John Tesh, the Cabinet Office official responsible for the NRR and Fellow of Cambridge’s Centre for Science and Policy.
As earthquake experts worldwide reflect on an Italian court’s ruling to convict scientists on manslaughter charges for failing to predict the L’Aquila earthquake of 2009, Dr Amy Donovan discusses the importance of a strong connection between scientists and policymakers in helping to communicate risk.
Working with humanitarian organisations in Haiti, Cambridge researchers have found that an information system they designed to track how regions recovered from disasters can also be used to support preparedness, planning and project management.
Threats that cause supply chains and other networks to break down can cascade through today’s interconnected world of social, economic and financial interaction. New research is redefining this global risk to help businesses and governments build resilience.
This month, the University of Cambridge will be profiling research that addresses risk and uncertainty. To begin, Professor David Spiegelhalter, Winton Professor for the Public Understanding of Risk, explains why this is a vital field of academic research.
From the collapse of the Doha Development Agenda to the ongoing impasse over climate change, the failure of governments to achieve real progress at the international negotiating table happens with depressing regularity.
Two different projects which aim to improve our understanding of the nature of, and statistical realities behind, health scares, natural disasters, climate change and other issues, are being launched by the University of Cambridge.
New understanding of the physics of clouds is helping to model both climate change and the impact of volcanic eruptions and wild fires.
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