Specialist network· Twelve specialist platforms
Science, technology, engineering and mathematics applied to governance
Specialist platforms for governing risk.
Policy is only as strong as the evidence and method behind it. The Global Risks Forum (GRF) publishes twelve specialist platforms. Each is a community of researchers and practitioners applying named methods to one governance question, from foresight to diplomacy, and publishing what they find with its limits.
Network registerPublisher: GRF
- 01Established platforms07
- 02Platforms, councils, UniverseKept apart
- 03STEM foundationsOne per platform
- 04Counterparts at GCRI and GRASeven fields
- 05Specialist platforms05
Councils and Universe are not platforms
- Established
- 7
- GRF platforms at their live addresses
- Specialist platforms
- 5
- GRF platforms at their canonical roots
- GRF platforms
- 12
- Governance communities in all
- Whole network
- 63
- The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI), GRF and the Global Risks Alliance (GRA): 63 specialist platforms
01The seven platforms
Seven communities, one governance purpose.
Each has its own thesis, audience and methods. Together they give GRF’s councils and dialogues specialist knowledge that outlasts any one meeting.
- R01 · EstablishedResearch NexusInstitutional research dialogue, comparative learning and evidence interpretation, without taking over GCRI’s scientific publication role. Methods: Decision science · Statistics · Causal inference.
- R02 · EstablishedInnovation NexusGoverned public-interest innovation and cross-sector technology cooperation, oriented to learning that can be demonstrated. Methods: Decision science · AI and machine learning · Systems engineering.
- R03 · EstablishedPolicy NexusPolicy analysis, institutional capacity and cross-border learning on consequential shared risks. Methods: Game theory · Causal inference · Decision analysis.
- R04 · EstablishedForesight NexusStrategic foresight, multiple futures, institutional anticipation and long-horizon public learning. Methods: Scenario design · Forecasting · Complex systems.
- R05 · EstablishedCapital NexusInstitutional dialogue on risk-informed investment policy and public-good readiness, not finance execution. Methods: Macro-finance · Development economics · Decision science.
- R06 · EstablishedDiplomacy NexusScientific, policy and institutional dialogue across jurisdictions on shared global concerns, including water and the commons. Methods: Game theory · Hydrology · Ocean science.
- R07 · EstablishedGovernance NexusComparative governance of institutions and systems exposed to compounding risk and technology change. Methods: Decision analysis · Systems engineering · Decision science.
Fig. 01The GRF specialist network as a directory of platforms.Example screen with illustrative values, not results.
02Platforms, councils and Universe
Three different things, deliberately kept apart.
A platform is a specialist community. A council is a participation structure. Universe is the annual programme. Kept apart, a contribution is never mistaken for a council seat, and a seat is never mistaken for a test result.
| Structure | What it is | Who takes part | What it produces | Rhythm | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Specialist platform | A field community with its own methods and publications | Researchers, practitioners and reviewers in the field | Briefs, methods notes and reviewed analysis | Continuous | Its own address on globalriskforum.com |
| Council | A participation structure for institutions, leaders or experts | Selected institutions and individuals under council rules | Contribution plans, dialogue records and commitments | A structured year | Participate |
| Universe | The annual operating, exercise and learning programme | Admitted missions, their teams, hosts and evaluators | Exercise, observation and outcome records | One year of work, one month to build, one week to test | Universe website; GRF gateway |
03STEM and field
Evidence for governance, grounded in named methods.
A governance claim is as strong as the method behind it. Each GRF platform is mapped to a foundation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, so a reader can trace a claim to a method, a source and its limits.
| Platform | STEM foundation | Fields it serves |
|---|---|---|
| Research Nexus | Policy, institutional and decision science; probability and statistics; causal inference and impact evaluation | Research and evidence; governance and institutions |
| Innovation Nexus | Policy and decision science; artificial intelligence and machine learning; systems engineering | Innovation; artificial intelligence; industry and robotics |
| Policy Nexus | Policy and decision science; game theory and mechanism design; causal inference; decision analysis under uncertainty | Policy; governance and institutions; risk management and systemic risk |
| Foresight Nexus | Scenario design and stress testing; forecasting; complex systems and agent-based modelling; decision analysis | Foresight; risk management and systemic risk |
| Capital Nexus | Financial economics and macro-finance; development economics; policy and decision science | Development finance; sovereign and public finance; financial stability |
| Diplomacy Nexus | Policy and decision science; game theory; hydrology and water science; ocean and coastal science | Diplomacy and cooperation; water; climate and hazards |
| Governance Nexus | Policy and decision science; decision analysis under uncertainty; systems engineering | Governance and institutions; risk management and systemic risk |
The work cycle, seen from governance
Platform work follows the same cycle as the whole programme. GRF’s part is to make sure each step is legitimate, inclusive and owned by someone accountable.
- QuestionInstitutionsA governance question with an accountable owner.
- EvidenceSTEM foundationMethods, sources and limits, with GCRI.
- BuildFoundryScenarios and options in a governed environment.
- OrganiseCouncils · GRFInstitutions, leaders and experts take part.
- TestUniverse · GRFSelected work is exercised under control.
- PublishReportsReviewed findings and corrections.
- DecideCompetent authoritiesDecisions under their own authority.
- RenewNext annual agendaLessons reset next year’s priorities.
04Counterparts
The same field, seen as science, governance and finance.
GCRI, the Consortium’s Lead Institution, studies a field as science; GRF works on how it is governed; GRA on what it means for finance. Where platforms share a field they link as counterparts, and each keeps its own publisher and voice.
| GRF platform | Counterparts at GCRI | Counterparts at GRA |
|---|---|---|
| Research Nexus | Labs · Reports · Registry | Financial Regulation Nexus |
| Innovation Nexus | Labs | Private Equity Nexus |
| Policy Nexus | Registry · Agency | Financial Regulation Nexus |
| Foresight Nexus | Systemic Risk Management · Systems Science and Modelling | Financial Stability |
| Capital Nexus | Agency | Development Finance Nexus · Sovereign Capital Nexus · Banking Nexus · Capital Markets Nexus |
| Diplomacy Nexus | Water Nexus · Food Nexus · Energy Nexus · Biodiversity Nexus | Insurance Nexus · Asset Management Nexus |
| Governance Nexus | Registry · Agency | Financial Regulation Nexus |
The full specialist networks are listed on GCRI’s platforms and through GRA membership. Counterparts are linked at their own addresses, and each platform lists its full set of counterparts on its own pages.
05Specialist platforms
Five more governance platforms, each at its own address.
Five governance communities on the risks that test institutions hardest: climate and nature, disaster and crisis, AI, health security and public trust. Each page sets out scope and first methods; activities and records are published as each opens. Information and enquiries are open on every platform.
- Specialist platformClimate and Nature GovernanceInstitutions and policy frameworks responsible for climate, adaptation, nature and transboundary environmental priorities. Methods: Climate and atmospheric science · Ecology and biodiversity science · 3 more.
- Specialist platformDisaster and Crisis GovernancePublic and private institutional arrangements for crisis readiness, disaster governance and whole-of-society coordination. Methods: Decision analysis under uncertainty · Policy, institutional and decision science · 1 more.
- Specialist platformAI and Digital GovernanceInstitutional governance of AI and digital systems, including rights, accountability and public technology. Methods: Artificial intelligence and machine learning · AI evaluation and assurance engineering · 2 more.
- Specialist platformHealth and Biosecurity GovernanceHealth security, pandemic cooperation, One Health and biosafety institutions across borders. Methods: Epidemiology and public health science · Molecular and life sciences · 1 more.
- Specialist platformInformation Integrity and Public TrustTrust, information quality, media governance and public communication under systemic stress and technological change. Methods: Social and behavioural science · Artificial intelligence and machine learning · 1 more.
Eleven chapters sit inside their home platforms as sub-communities, among them science diplomacy, global commons governance, and energy and critical infrastructure governance, and follow the same terms. A chapter becomes its own site only after a published review.
06Risk and response
Coupled risk, applied response.
The sectors a policy on pandemic has to coordinate: a choice in one ministry lands in the others.
Choose a context
ACoupled risk across six sectors6 / 15 relations
Sectors · PandemicStress
applied to
BApplied response across six pillars10 / 18 handoffs
Pillars · PandemicKPI
In this contextDependence or handoff, heavier is strongerOutside this context
Programme yearAll phases
Context
Pandemic
Workforce absence ripples from clinics into grid operations, logistics and farm labour.
W · E · I · F · H · B
Risk
- Sectors
- 4 of 6
- Relations
- 6 of 15
- Coupling
- 0.41 share of total
Hover a corner, a line or a row to trace it across both sides.
Route
Applied to pandemic
L · F · U · S · R · A
Response
- Pillars
- 4 of 6
- Handoffs
- 10 of 18
- Loops
- 5 closed
Expected value
- What is at stake
- $60B+expected losses a yearCommission on a Global Health Risk Framework, 2016
- Return on resilience
- –no published benchmark
- Avoided loss
- –no published benchmark
Hover a pillar, a line or a row to read how it is applied.
A: a teaching cascade (shock 0.6, gain 0.35, four rounds) over teaching values for a typical city-region, not measurements. B: illustrative applications and the KPI each pillar answers for; values are published benchmarks, cited, not forecasts. Open events: NASA EONET, live.
07Take part
Contribute to a platform.
Read
Use the published work
Reading needs no account or membership, and corrections are never paywalled.
Contribute
Write, review or join a working group
Experts contribute through bounded, supervised assignments described on Participate.
Challenge
Correct a published claim
Anyone can challenge a claim through Governance and trust, without membership or payment.
08Questions
Questions about the specialist network.
Who publishes the GRF platforms?
The Global Risks Forum is the publisher of its platforms and is responsible for what they publish. Corrections to platform content follow the routes on Governance and trust.
Is Capital Nexus a source of finance?
No. Capital Nexus is an institutional dialogue on risk-informed investment policy and public-good readiness. It does not lend, invest or arrange finance. Finance-readiness questions are led by The Global Risks Alliance.
How does Research Nexus differ from GCRI’s research?
Research Nexus works on institutional research dialogue, comparative learning and the interpretation of evidence for governance. Scientific publication authority stays with GCRI, whose Labs and Reports are its counterparts.
Is Universe one of the platforms?
No. Universe is the annual programme and has its own website at universe.nexus. GRF governs it and hosts its gateway on this site.
ReportsContribute
Contribute evidence from this page.
Reports is the Consortium’s quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.
Global Risks Forum
- EmailGateway GW-GRFSend it from this pageEvidence, a correction, a case, a method, a review, a translation or profile input. It arrives tagged with this page, so the editor who owns it receives it.
- ZenodoOpen depositDeposit it and submit to the communityPublish your own record on Zenodo with your ORCID iD, then submit it to the Reports community there. Curators review it; the DOI stays yours.
- ReportsGlobal Risks ForumSee every way to contributeThe contribution types, how each is reviewed, what credit you receive, the licence and what is never accepted.
Never send personal data, sensitive infrastructure detail or anything you have no right to share. A contribution is reviewed before use; sending it confers no authorship or editorial rights, and sponsorship never buys a finding.
Related
Around the specialist network.
Consortium Secretariat
Bring your expertise to a governance question.
The Secretariat names the platform or working group that fits your expertise. An enquiry receives a reference; it does not create membership or an assignment.
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