CREST: Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats

社会科学为我们理解安全威胁以及能够减轻这些威胁的技能和技术作出了重要贡献。然而，由于两个原因，这些贡献尚未对实践产生充分的影响。首先，它们借鉴了一套不同的学科观点和认识论，很少被整体理解。因此，从它们的系统整合中仍有许多需要学习的地方。第二，在没有充分认识到安全和情报机构面临的挑战和制约的情况下，作出了许多贡献。因此，有必要促进研究人员和利益攸关方的交流，以促进理解并使研究人员能够做出有影响力的贡献。安全威胁研究和证据中心(CREST)将提供世界级的跨学科活动组合，最大限度地发挥社会科学在应对对国家安全威胁方面的价值。佳洁士汇集了来自七个学科的领先研究人员、政府和行业利益相关者以及传播专家，以协调一个提供五个议程的国际卓越网络。这些议程旨在提高机构从业人员的技能和理解，发展学术界的能力和能力，在利益攸关方和学术界之间建立相互理解，并最大限度地发挥社会科学研究和分析的影响。知识综合议程将提供最先进的审查，通过绘制证据基础并提供政策和最佳实践建议来解决关键利益攸关方的问题。每个参与机构将领导五个项目之一：行为者和叙事；社会背景下的想法、信仰和价值观；理解和打击在线行为；获取信息；以及保护性安全和风险评估。最初的研究议程将建立在知识合成的基础上，产生理论上有动机的、高质量的新研究，这些研究要么解决现有文献中发现的差距，要么证明现有知识与利益相关者内容的业务相关性。作为知识合成和原始研究议程的一部分，佳洁士的189万GB资金将支持委托活动，包括综合审查、研讨会、工具包开发和研究项目。在咨询委员会和方案大使的支持下，传播议程将使用一系列创新媒体(如视频简报、互动工具包)，以确保将知识综合和原始研究议程的成果有效地传达给一系列受众。目标受众包括提高业务有效性的情报官员、支持循证政策的政策制定者、帮助推动行业增长的行业以及提高公众对英国面临的挑战的认识的公众。网络议程将提供一系列活动(例如研讨会、黑客松)，以支持研究和利益攸关方社区在战略和基层层面的互动。能力建设议程将确保CREST的长期可持续性，同时在三个领域实现能力的阶段性变化：(1)该学科的下一代研究人员和教育工作者(例如通过博士培训)；(2)情报机构官员的正式专业发展(例如通过在线培训和借调)；以及，(3)产业(例如中小企业)通过知识交换的经济效益这笔赠款的资金部分来自英国安全和情报机构。

The social sciences have made important contributions to our understanding of security threats and the skills and technologies that can mitigate them. However, these contributions have yet to achieve their full impact on practice for two reasons. First, they draw on a diverse set of disciplinary perspectives and epistemologies, and are rarely understood holistically. As a result, there remains much to be learned from their systematic integration. Second, many contributions have been made without a full appreciation of the challenges and constraints faced by the security and intelligence agencies. There is thus a need to facilitate researcher-stakeholder exchanges that promote understanding and empower researchers to make impactful contributions.The Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats (CREST) will deliver a world-class, interdisciplinary portfolio of activity that maximises the value of social science to countering threats to national security. CREST brings together leading researchers from seven disciplines, government and industry stakeholders, and communication specialists to coordinate an international network of excellence that delivers five Agendas. These Agendas seek to enhance the skills and understanding of agency practitioners, develop capacity and capability in academia, build mutual understanding between stakeholders and academia, and maximise the impact of social science research and analysis.The KNOWLEDGE SYNTHESIS AGENDA will deliver state-of-the-art reviews that address key stakeholder questions by mapping out the evidence base and by providing policy and 'best practice' recommendations. Each participating Institution will lead one of five programmes: Actors and narratives; Ideas, beliefs and values in social context; Understanding and countering online behaviour; Eliciting information; and, Protective security and risk assessment.The ORIGINAL RESEARCH AGENDA will build on Knowledge Synthesis by generating theoretically motivated, high-quality new research that either addresses gaps identified in the existing literature, or demonstrates the operational relevance of existing knowledge to stakeholder contexts.As part of the Knowledge Synthesis and Original Research Agendas, £1.89m of CREST's funds will support COMMISSIONED ACTIVITIES, including synthetic reviews, workshops, toolkit development, and research projects. Funds will be allocated via a transparent and competitive process that delivers scientific excellence, stakeholder relevance, and value for money.With support from an Advisory Board and Programme Ambassadors, the COMMUNICATION AGENDA will use a range of innovative media (e.g. video briefings, interactive toolkits) to ensure that outputs from the Knowledge Synthesis and Original Research Agendas are communicated effectively to a range of audiences. Target audiences include intelligence officers to improve operational effectiveness, policy makers to support evidence-based policy, industry to help generate sector growth, and the public at large to increase awareness of the challenges faced within the UK.The NETWORKING AGENDA will deliver a range of events (e.g. workshops, 'hackathons') that support interaction between research and stakeholder communities at both strategic and grass-roots levels. These events will draw together a community of contributors leading to new and innovative contributions to theory and practice.The CAPACITY-BUILDING AGENDA will ensure the long-term sustainability of CREST while also delivering a step-change in capability in three areas: (1) the next generation of researchers and educators within the discipline (e.g. through PhD training); (2) the formal professional development of officers in the intelligence agencies (e.g. through online training, secondments); and, (3) the economic effectiveness of industry (e.g. SMEs) through knowledge exchangeThe funding for this grant comes in part from the UK security and intelligence agencies.