The human dimension of risk is an important and under-explored aspect of risk management issues. How we perceive risk, and understanding patterns of behaviour and seeing how these relate to the processes of decision-making and policy development needs greater exploration. The School’s Cambridge Centre for Risk Studies 2nd Annual Meeting – ‘The Human Dimension of Risk: Perception, Behaviour and Decision-Making in Risk Management’ – took on that gigantic challenge.
Professor Frank Kelly, Statistician, & Master of Christ’s College at the University of Cambridge, says he’s fascinated by the scaling up of risks, and the roles of networks and corporations and the ensuing efficiencies in this global society. He warns however that whilst failures are becoming increasingly rare, when they do inevitably happen they will be catastrophic in their nature due to our interconnected dependencies.