Projects
IRGC primarily meets its objectives through projects, the publication and communication of the results of this project work, and the organisation of conferences and workshops where attention is focused on specific risk issues and their governance. IRGC is deliberately inclusive and proactively works at an international level with experts and decision-makers from government, industry, intergovernmental organisations, academia and research institutions, NGOs and other backgrounds. These experts and decision-makers may be from within, or external to, the IRGC network.
Project work is supervised by the Scientific and Technical Council, which controls scientific quality. It is undertaken mainly by the affiliates in the IRGC network, who may also engage external experts for their specific knowledge and insights, as required. Publications resulting from this project work are all subject to peer review and, once complete, they are communicated to an international audience, with recipients being selected based on their interest in the risk issue in question. IRGC also supports publication by its affiliated partners in scientific and management journals as well as new media.
Current focus and work programme
Most of the problem fields prioritised by IRGC are characterised by the scale of their potential impact, their long-term nature and by complexity, uncertainty and ambiguity. They all present substantial challenges to those responsible for developing and implementing appropriate policy initiatives, not least because of their global nature and the complicated network of international, governmental and other organisations – including business – responsible for their management.
In particular, IRGC concentrates its attention on ignored or neglected risk issues – issues for which no single organisation, government or company perceives itself as having responsibility and where there is a general lack of interest because the consequences of the risk seem uncertain, remote or without ramifications for stakeholders’ immediate material interests. IRGC tasks itself with bringing these emerging risk issues, along with their potential benefits and potential adverse consequences, to the attention of policymakers and risk practitioners.