A key outcome of the WISE project is the Policy Operations Room (POR). It is a novel decision-making platform for testing and developing strategic decision-making capabilities during chronic crises. After five years and eight experiments, the basic design principles of a POR are ready. When I explain the WISE project to journalists, I tell them… Read more
Emergency and the re-emergence of civic engagement in the US – Reflections of an ethnographer in pandemic Austin, Texas
In June 2020, Central Texas entered the yearly flash flood season in unusual circumstances. In addition to the well-known weather-related emergency, daily living was also being radically shaped by nation-wide protests defending Black Lives, and four months of the coronavirus pandemic. In Austin, where I resided with my family, life in the intersection of these… Read more
WISE Symposium on Creeping Catastrophes
WISE organized a virtual symposium on “Creeping socio-ecological catastrophes: Is excluding the long term in decision-making inevitable?” on 4 November 2020. In addition to WISE researchers, the invited participants were Tony Barnosky, Stanford University; Arjen Boin, Leiden University; Olivier Borraz, SciencesPo; Mikulas Cernota, University of Economics in Bratislava; Ashley Dawson, City University of New York; Michael… Read more
When mitigation is adaptation
The cascade of disruptions during the first quarter of 2020 – wildfires in Australia, flooding in Europe, mass migration from the Middle East, and the coronavirus pandemic – predicts the new normal. From now on, we will be reducing the causes of future socio-ecological disruptions while still recovering from the effects of the latest disruption…. Read more
Keeping the lights on when all hell breaks lose
Most of us expect for lights to turn on with the push of the button without giving any thought to how much our everyday lives depend on energy. But how can widespread energy systems survive extreme and unexpected events and recover afterwards? While many of the traditional threats to energy systems are well known, there are many important threats with little consideration given so far.
Automated pilots of the Baltic – enhancing or weakening navigational reliability?
In the WISE project, part of the work has consisted in identifying resilience gaps related to the Baltic Sea. In the environmental policy WISE sub-group (EPRG), we have focused particularly on maritime safety. In this blog, I reflect upon the significance of recent trends toward automated pilotage from the point of view of navigational reliability.
Conceptualizing risk within an interdisciplinary team
WISE spots opportunity to improve communication within interdisciplinary teams, holding a magnifying glass up to differences in its own team members’ conceptualizations of “risk,” a key project concept.