Jun 18 2009
The University of Leeds’ Engineering Faculty has launched a new Institute for Resilient Infrastructure (iRI) to focus on global issues of resilience of physical infrastructure to both natural and man-made disasters.
Based in the School of Civil Engineering, the Institute aims to be at the forefront of research and debate and draws experts from a wide range of disciplines together with industrialists and government representatives. iRI’s research will ensure the sustainability of essential physical infrastructure and its impact on communities, businesses, the economy and society – in both the UK and beyond.
“Around the world, systems such as transport infrastructure and power and water supplies are taken for granted. But as pressures on these systems mount due to a range of factors, there’s an increased risk of their failure,” says iRI Director, Professor Steven Male.
The impact of climate change on infrastructure is a key area of research for iRI. The impact of natural disasters worldwide ran into the hundreds of billion of dollars in 2008 alone, and an expected increase in floods and droughts, the estimated migration of around 200 million people as a result of increased temperatures and loss of land and changes in soil conditions, mean current infrastructures will be unlikely to cope.
“We’re breaking the traditional mould, where researchers are split according to their subject area, to enable engineers to play a key role in addressing global challenges such as climate change.
This approach to engineering research echoes the findings of the House of Commons report Engineering: Turning Ideas into Reality, published in March this year by the Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Committee. The report concludes: “…we have become increasingly conscious of the critical contribution that engineering makes to the economy and societal well-being, and the decisive role it must play in tackling global challenges such as climate change, water and food supply, and energy security.”
Professor Male says that iRI aims to look at the infrastructure systems necessary to sustain life in the light of such changes. “Infrastructures aren’t just about the physical design and construction of systems we need,” he says. “It’s not enough to, for example, to develop new methods of power or water delivery. What’s needed is an approach that also takes into account the human response – the decision making structures that are necessary and the way in which communities work. Equally, the iRI will also be working in areas allied to the development of sustainable construction and ensuring the resilience of buildings in the face of government policy to move towards a low carbon economy.”
“The challenges facing the world today are huge,” says Professor Male. “And engineering will play a leading role in enabling us to meet those challenges.”