Reducing vulnerability, bringing together engineering and social science perspectives

通过本学科跳跃提案开展的活动将解决工程师和社会科学家对经济、社会、群体和个人脆弱性的不同观点。然后，它将利用这种理解来促进工程从业者对脆弱性的更好理解，这反过来将导致加强政策以减少脆弱性。该项目涉及由一位领先的土木工程研究人员进入esrc资助的可持续性、脆弱性和气候变化研究机构的学科跳跃。特别关注的是工程技术如何从一系列驱动因素中为脆弱性的响应提供信息，以及社会科学如何为脆弱性的工程响应提供信息和改进。该项目将建立对脆弱性如何产生、如何评估和如何解决的共同理解。除了PI在可持续发展研究所的专门时间外，还将与国际研究人员、英国研究人员、从业人员和利益相关者进行研讨会、角色扮演和磋商。这些活动将导致一个互动网站，允许用户量化特定情况下的脆弱性，改变工程和社会科学以及学术出版物的做法。通过这项工作，我们将能够更全面地解决以下问题：-社会经济特征（包括：性别、年龄、收入、教育、种族、社会排斥和参与社会网络、年龄）如何影响一个人的撤离能力？-对风险的态度如何影响人们对早期预警系统采取行动的意愿？-家庭接触媒体和其他形式的通讯如何影响他们对警告的准备？-不同的社会经济群体如何看待撤离，即他们是否有交通工具和替代住所？-哪些社会经济阶层受水浸影响最大？-脆弱性的更广泛经济影响是什么？

The activity undertaken through this Discipline Hopping proposal will address the different perspectives on the vulnerability of economies, societies, groups and individuals held by engineers on the one hand and social scientists on the other. It will then use this understanding to promote a better understanding of vulnerability for engineering practitioners which in turn will lead to enhanced policies to reduce vulnerability.This project involves a discipline hop by a leading civil engineering researcher into an ESRC-sponsored research institute on sustainability, vulnerability and climate change. The particulal focus will be on how engineering techniques can inform responses to vulnerability from a range of drivers and how social science can inform and improve engineering responses to vulnerability. The project will establish a common understanding of how vulnerability arises, how it can be evaluated and how it can be addressed.As well as the PI's dedicated time within the Sustainability Research Institute, workshops, role plays and consultations will be carried out with international researchers, UK researchers, practitioners and stakeholders. These activities will lead to an interactive website allowing users to quantify vulnerability in specific cases, changed practices in both engineering and social sciences and academic publications.Examples of the questions that we will be able to address more comprehensively as a result of this work are:- How do socio-economic characteristics including: gender, age, income, education, ethnicity, social exclusion and participation in social networks, age affect a person's ability to evacuate?- How do attitudes to risk affect people's willingness to take action in response to early warning systems?- How does a family's access to media and other forms of communication affect their preparedness to take heed of warnings?- How do different socio-economic groups view evacuation i.e. do they have access to transport and alternative accommodation?- Which socio-economic groups are most affected by flooding?- What are the wider economic impacts of vulnerability?