Welcome to IRGC Website

IRGC is an independent organisation whose purpose is to help the understanding and management of global risks that impact on human health and safety, the environment, the economy and society at large by:

developing concepts of risk governance that have relevance across different risk types, problem areas, organisations and countries

anticipating major risk issues and improving the understanding and assessment of them and the ambiguities involved;

providing policy recommendations to key decision makers in government.

In achieving its mission IRGC will seek to work with governments, industry, NGOs and other organisations.

Project on Public Sector Governance of Emerging Risks

As part of Phase 2 of the IRGC project on risk emergence, project work is underway on "Public Sector Governance of Emerging Risks" with six participating governments.

Upcoming Event: IRGC symposium session at the SRA World Congress

IRGC is organising a symposium session at the Society for Risk Analysis (SRA) World Congress entitled “Risk emergence and emerging risks” on 18-20 July 2012 in Sydney, Australia.

ETH Zurich offering a Master of Advanced Studies in Natural Hazards Management

ETH Zurich is announcing its four-semester programme in Natural Hazards Management, balanced between theory blocks, case studies, exercises and field excursions. For more information: Download the flyer [PDF]

IRGC Presentation at the 4th iNTeg-Risk Conference

IRGC presented at the iNTeg-Risk Conference "Managing Early Warnings - what and how to look for?" on 6-8 May 2012 in Stuttgart, Germany.

IRGC presentation at Planet Under Pressure London, 29 March 2012

As part of Planet Under Pressure, IRGC presented “Risk governance of slow-developing, catastrophic risks”, exploring the obstacles to effective management of slow-developing risks and suggesting what can be done to overcome these challenges.

IRGC Portugal: Call for a post-doctoral researcher

IRGC Portugal has just opened a call for a post-doctoral research contract (5 years) to work with IRGC Portugal. For more information: IRGC Portugal - Job Opportunities

This position will be linked to the PhD Program in "Engineering and Public Policy", which is currently a double PhD degree between IST (Lisbon) and FEUP (Porto) in Portugal and Carnegie Mellon University in the US. The goal includes broadening the program’s scope to encompass themes related to science and technology policy and risk governance.

IRGC Portugal is a research platform integrating competencies and articulating stakeholders towards improving our understanding of emerging risks. Together with other academic institutions, IRGC Portugal organises advanced education and training activities in the field of risk governance. More information on: www.irgc-portugal.org

Energy Efficiency Policies and the Rebound Effect

Preliminary report from an IRGC initiative to facilitate research on Energy Efficiency Policies and the Rebound Effect.