On february 25th 2010 the Dutch programme “Government for the future” and the British Regulatory Policy Committee organized a seminar for top public servants about the developments of risk policies in both countries. The seminar was focused primarily on the (perceived) pressure of media and public which suggests that government has been granted greater responsibility in societal risk reduction. This has led to cost-ineffective risk policies and ever increasing regulatory pressure. Ira Helsloot was invited by the “Government for the future” programme to hold a presentation on the intractable citizen and his expectations of rational risk policies. You can download a report of the conference here, and the presentation of Ira Helsloot here.

On tuesday the 30th of March, Swedish researchers from CRISMART – part of the Swedish National Defense College – will visit Crisislab and the VU University Amsterdam. CRISMART and Crisislab will exchange information regarding their respective research projects and present a wide variety of topics such as: emergent groups, the organization of crisis and the permissability of physical safety risks.

On PIME 2010, the conference on Public Information Materials Exchange, Ira Helsloot delivered the keynote speech on the “intractable citizen”. Helsloot argued that citizens appear to make contradictory statements about safety when asked in a poll, but may still be senstive for rational arguments. Politicians are, according to Helsloot, not aware of this. Click here to download the presentation and click here to visit the PIME 2010 website.

Address

Stichting Crisislab
Dashorsterweg 1
3927 CN
Renswoude
The Netherlands

Contact details

Ira Helsloot
+31 (0)6 51188627
i.helsloot [at] crisislab.nl

Astrid Scholtens
+ 31 (0)6 10525780
a.scholtens [at] crisislab.nl

Jelle Groenendaal
+31 (0)6 13569147
j.groenendaal [at] crisislab.nl

Arjen Schmidt
+31 (0)6 12445641
a.schmidt [at] crisislab.nl

Frank Tetteroo
+31 (0)6 16466871
f.tetteroo [at] crisislab.nl

Ira Helsloot and Sandra Quinn, of the University of Pittsburgh, presented a paper on citizen respond to pandemics during the annual congress of the American Political ScienceAssociation (APSA). Helsloot and Quinn conducted research as to how governments prepare themselves to possible outbreaks of pandemic diseases. According to both, governments tend not acknowledge the fact that citizens can provide valuable support as well. As a result an integral approach is required in which citizens, society and government prepare themselves for a possible pandemic. The research can be downloaded by clicking here.

Auteur: I. Helsloot en W. Jong
Uitgever: Wiley-Blackwell
Verschijningsdatum: September 2006

Beschrijving:

This study examines risk in higher education and research on the basis of a classification into three domains. The practical utility of this division into three domains is that it makes it easier to see what risks are unique to higher education (custodianship of knowledge), what risks are dependent on developments in society (microcosm of society) and what risks faced by an educational establishment are no different from those facing any other organization (education as an organization). The results of a survey of the field (through questionnaires, meetings and interviews) show that higher education institutions still do not routinely have an integrated policy on safety, security and crisis management. Within individual institutions, there is little communication between the three. Institutions, staff and students have limited awareness of the range of risks to which they and their environment are exposed. At the same time, establishments tend not to share their experiences in this field with others. Even within individual
institutions, there is often little involvement of staff and students in safety and security policy and its implementation.

Meer informatie:

Klik hier om het artikel te downloaden.

Crisislab is a research foundation that executes the research program of the Chair on the Governance of Safety and Security of the Radboud University Nijmegen, held by Ira Helsloot.

Crisislab specializes in research on what constitutes effective and efficient safety and security policies in all steps of the so-called safety chain: mitigation, preparation, response and recovery.

Crisislab believes it is essential to conduct empirically grounded research because reliable facts are often lacking in the public decision-making process.

Since its conception in 2008 numerous research project have been concluded by Crisislab, most of them focusing on either ‘reasonable risk policies’ or ‘frontline steering of emergency services’.

Notable is that Crisislab was partner in two major European Commission projects on the most effective ways to utilize new information (COSMIC) and communication technologies in crisis situations (CONCORDE).

Crisislab has assisted the International Finance Corporation (IFC) —a sister organization of the World Bank and member of the World Bank Group— in several countries by advising on better permitting and inspection policies.