Reliability and resilience

Understanding and considering the interdependency between various work activities that makes up our complex work environments so they are designed and managed to be safer and more resilient.

Complexity is an increasing aspect of a technologically advanced, digitally-driven and interconnected economies and societies. Research areas include the human-machine interface within complex systems; management and design strategies to increase safety and resilience within these; and detection and management of failure. Advances in these areas will include exploiting opportunities created by faster detection and delivery of smarter systems for the world of work, as well as governance and cultural opportunities to design and manage more resilient systems.

This interdisciplinary theme builds on and accommodates research in many other areas. It links to management studies, psychology and research areas addressing trans-boundary questions of digital-machine-human interfaces or complexity. It considers both the issues of resilience and risk in the systems themselves, as well as identifies and assesses potential interventions. In particular it will consider how a resilient regulatory regime can be designed for complex systems rather than individual components.

Theme leads:

• Richard Kirkham, The University of Manchester
• Matt Clay, HSE

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