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About Us

Our Mission is to connect Universities, Government and practice to help build Scotland’s resilience to significant natural hazard events.

The National Centre for Resilience is a cross-sector partnership spanning Scottish universities, government and practice. We are committed to improving country-wide resilience to natural hazards.

Our steering group ensures close working ties with academic institutions, government and resilience professionals from regional and local authorities, the third sector and wider resilience communities. 

What do we do?

The NCR is an academic research hub, using evidence to inform policy and practice. We bridge the gap between academia, policy and practice by promoting cross sector partnerships, encouraging each to learn from the other to improve resilience when planning for, responding to and recovering from natural hazard events.

The NCR utilises existing knowledge and commissions new projects to address real life issues faced by resilience practitioners and communities. Using our networks, we create links for researchers to help them adapt their project outputs into tailored briefings and tools for end users. We help maximise the potential use and impacts of this work by disseminating research outputs beyond the immediate project stakeholder group and into the wider resilience audiences. 

How do we define resilience?

Resilience is the ability to meet people’s essential needs during times of crisis so that there is the capacity to robustly prepare for, respond to and recover from the unpredictable challenges presented by natural hazards. 

NCR Definition Tweet
Image shows a street of red sandstone houses in the Scottish Borders town of Melrose
The town of Melrose in the Scottish Borders
The Images shows a river running out to a beach at Bettyhill in the Scottish Highlands
The Beach at Bettyhill in the Scottish Highlands

Our Strategic Objectives

SUPPORT RESILIENCE PROFESSIONALS AND ORGANISATIONS TO BUILD SCOTLAND’S RESILIENCE TO SIGNIFICANT NATURAL HAZARD EVENTS

  • Help resilience professionals to find solutions to real life challenges when assisting communities prior to, during and after natural hazard events
  • Locate existing academic evidence to find solutions for practice and inform policy
  • Identify and commission new research to fit emerging challenges
  • Offer funding for relevant projects

CONNECT RESILIENCE EXPERTS AND PROFESSIONALS TO PROMOTE CROSS-SECTOR WORKING

  • Bring researchers, policymakers and practitioners together so that they can learn from each other to improve national resilience to natural hazards
  • Promote interdisciplinarity through the creation of cross-sector collaborations and partnerships
  • Provide academics with routes to policy and practice
  • Provide policy and practice with access to academics
  • Provide knowledge exchange
  • Build a network of relevant practitioners, policymakers and academics
  • Build a repository of research and best practice


INFLUENCE POLICY AND PRACTICE USING EVIDENCE-BASED KNOWLEDGE AND SOLUTIONS

  • Use knowledge exchange and communications to share relevant knowledge and research with policymakers and practitioners
  • Provide demand-led research and best practice
  • Provide academic consideration and evidence to inform policy-making decisions
  • Challenge and inform policy through academic research.
Images shows students sitting in a lecture room during a lecture
Image shows a Scottish ambulance parked beside the sea
Image shows UK Fire Engine Parked on tarmac

Our Network

Our primary audiences are:

  • Category 1 & 2 responders (as defined by the Civil Contingencies Act) and other resilience practitioners in the public and third sectors,
  • Policy makers at local and national level in Scotland,
  • Academics and researchers across the UK.
  • Community resilience groups and other voluntary organisations
Image shows Mountaim Rescue Vehicle driving on a gravel track on a sunny day
Image shows a Gritter Truck driving along the roads in the Scottish Highlands
Image shows the side of a police car
Images shows two women dressed in bright colours laughing together.
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