A £10 million resilience engineering programme has been established by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation in partnership with Arup.

The programme will make infrastructure for sectors including energy, transport, food and water, more resilient to shocks and stresses. The team will work with businesses, engineers, researchers and others to develop standards and build networks of learning and best practice. The programme was revealed at the Lloyd’s Register Foundation International Conference in London.

Commenting on the new partnership, Jo da Silva, Director, Arup said:

“As a company we have been investing in resilience research for several years, responding to the need for new approaches to managing uncertainty and disruption that go beyond traditional risk management.”

“We are seeing growing interest in resilience of communities, cities and critical infrastructure from governments, industry and businesses in response to the challenges of climate change, rapid urbanisation and globalisation. We believe this programme provides a unique opportunity to embed resilience into mainstream thinking and doing.”

Led by Programme Director Dr Nancy Kete, former Managing Director of the Rockefeller Foundation, the team will explore how resilience engineering can become a mainstream discipline, through channels such as establishing its own standards, embedding incentives for businesses, developing professional qualifications and being a catalyst that drives international knowledge sharing networks.

The Lloyd’s Register Foundation said it had selected Arup to run the programme, recognising the firm's strong reputation in integrating resilience engineering in real world projects.

Dr Ruth Boumphrey, Lloyd’s Register Foundation explained that society depends on the proper functioning of essential sectors such as food and water, energy, transportation, telecommunications, the built environment and healthcare, commenting:

“These sectors are increasingly complex and interdependent, acting at a global scale, and making them susceptible to catastrophic and cascading failure under stress. This programme will play a leading role in an international effort to better understand, communicate and improve the resilience of these services. It will provide resources and support leadership so the companies and organisations that supply such services can work together effectively in times of stress to serve society.”