Lloyd’s Register Foundation invests £2 million in new projects to put World Risk Poll into action

The eight projects, which are a mix of secondary research and practical interventions, represent a combined investment of almost £2 million in utilising the Poll data to tackle the safety issues that it highlights.

The projects are:

• Promoting public skills for safety around the world: researchers from the University of Southern California will work closely with inter-governmental and NGO partners including the UN Foundation, World Bank, Save the Children and the Waterkeeper Alliance to inform international development programmes and improve people’s risk understanding, disaster preparedness and resilience.
• Disaster risk reduction: a resilience agenda for urban Africa: Utilising World Risk Poll data, this project led by ICLEI Africa will support select African cities in reducing disaster risk and building climate change resilience, by developing bespoke solutions packages for project cities.
• Supporting urban community climate resilience in East Africa: Resurgence will integrate the Poll data into their award-winning DARAJA inclusive early warning service to support climate-stressed communities in three cities in the region.
• Improving household preparedness in multi-hazard contexts: researchers from Cardiff University and King’s College London will use the Poll data to inform an exploration of the factors contributing to existing high levels of household preparedness in the face of natural hazards, and to develop and disseminate tools to improve it in contexts with multiple inter-related hazards.
• From perceptions to saving lives: designing multi-hazard early warning systems: Resilience First, in collaboration with the International Coalition for Sustainable Infrastructure and University College London, will conduct secondary analysis of the World Risk Poll data to identify the socio-economic and other factors influencing people’s trust in sources of information about disasters, as well as their levels of individual and household preparedness.
• Analysing risk perception and preparedness to develop effective disaster risk communication strategies: researchers from the University of Leeds will integrate the Poll with data on vulnerabilities, governance, and long-term climate projections to identify predictors of disaster risk perception and preparedness, and develop context-appropriate early warning and risk communication strategies.
• Navigating global risks through cultural lenses: researchers from the University of Exeter will use the Poll data to explore the influence of ‘cultural tightness’ (adherence to social norms) on people’s risk perceptions in relation to environmental, financial, and health-related threats.
• Mapping and communicating climate risk perceptions at the sub-national level: the 2035 Initiative at the University of California Santa Barbara will integrate the Poll data on perceptions of climate change threat into an interactive data tool to develop the first global map of climate opinion at a sub-national level.

The projects were selected following a competitive call for funding on the basis of their potential to use the World Risk Poll data to improve people’s safety, and alignment with the Foundation’s mission.

Dr Sarah Cumbers, Director of Evidence and Insight at Lloyd’s Register Foundation, said: “The projects we have announced today showcase the potential of the World Risk Poll dataset to inform research and interventions that make a real difference to the safety of people and communities around the world, particularly in improving resilience to the threat of climate-related severe weather and disasters. We are delighted to be enabling these organisations to support and protect the lives of some of the world’s most vulnerable people.

“We can’t wait to see the knowledge, networks and impact generated by these projects – impact that we ultimately hope to see replicated, developed and scaled-up through our global partnerships for change.

“Going forwards, we remain on the lookout for innovative organisations and projects that can make further use of the whole World Risk Poll dataset to improve global safety in the face of a range of current risks as diverse as climate change-related severe weather and the pitfalls of artificial intelligence, and including workplace risks such as violence and harassment.”

The announcement of these projects comes alongside the publication of the Global Action Agenda on Risk Perception and Resilience, developed by Resilience Rising and Lloyd’s Register Foundation in consultation with a broad range of stakeholders from government, academia, the private sector and NGOs. The Agenda presents a range of opportunities for the stakeholders to use the World Risk Poll data to improve risk communication, reduce risk exposure and improve resilience – ultimately making people and communities safer.

Lloyd’s Register Foundation is making further funding available on an ongoing basis for organisations who can use the World Risk Poll data for further research and practical interventions to improve safety. Particularly welcomed are applications that:

• address opportunities identified by the Global Action Agenda on Risk Perception and Resilience;
• address safety challenges identified by the World Risk Poll ‘A Changed World?’, ‘A Digital World’, and ‘Safe at Work?’ reports;
• are led by organisations based in low- and middle- income countries.

Find out more from our funding call announcement.

To follow the progress of the new funded projects, sign up for news updates from Lloyd’s Register Foundation and the World Risk Poll, or follow Lloyd’s Register Foundation on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Image credits: shutterstock/Emmanuel Kwizera