Topic description and stories

From cybercrime to earthquakes, influenza to air travel, research on risk and uncertainty reflects issues that are of paramount importance.

Mudflat and marsh at Abbots Hall, Essex

After the flood: harnessing the power of mud

31 Jan 2013

On the 60th Anniversary of the ‘big flood’ that devastated the coastline of eastern England, new research shows that integrating ‘natural’ sea...

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The Jarrow March symbolises austerity in the 1930s

Austerity Britain: it's déjà vu all over again

16 Jan 2013

The last 100 years have seen several governments introduce austerity measures to try to balance the books. Duncan Needham, a Phd candidate in the...

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Hurricane Katrina makes landfall in the US. Speaking this week in Cambridge, engineer Tom O’Rourke will describe such disasters as game-changers for those wishing to protect people from similar, future events.

Natural disasters, infrastructure and the “new normal”

15 Jan 2013

The Japanese and Canterbury earthquakes, Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy and a host of other modern natural disasters have changed the game for those...

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Light cycles

Humanity's last invention and our uncertain future

25 Nov 2012

A philosopher, a scientist and a software engineer have come together to propose a new centre at Cambridge to address developments in human...

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121026_spegielhalter-graphic

How risky is your breakfast?

27 Oct 2012

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...

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Bike in flood

The making of a National Risk Register

26 Oct 2012

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...

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Heathrow Airport

The future of flying

23 Oct 2012

Aircraft that work together to solve complicated mathematical problems and airports with more flexibly used runways could be the future of flying...

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Cityscape

Apocalyptic thinking and urban resilience

19 Oct 2012

Through analysis of human resilience, particularly in cities, Professor Ash Amin believes that state guarantees of welfare and infrastructure will...

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Online privacy

Privacy by design

18 Oct 2012

New research aims to ensure that we can exploit the full benefits of the digital world and still protect our online privacy.

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Original sin and the risk of epidemics

10 Oct 2012

Mathematicians are helping to build a better picture of how populations develop immunity to flu and which groups are most at risk of getting – and...

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Haiti after the January 2010 earthquake

Ounce of prevention, pound of cure

09 Oct 2012

Working with humanitarian organisations in Haiti, Cambridge researchers have found that an information system they designed to track how regions...

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Oil palm plantation

Climate chemistry and the tropics

05 Oct 2012

New models are being developed to predict how changing land use in the tropics could affect future climate, air quality and crop production.

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