About CIReN
The Critical Infrastructure Resilience Network brings together expertise from all infrastructure sectors to innovate in infrastructure resilience.
What is CIReN?
Our Mission
The Critical Infrastructure Resilience Network (CIReN) is a research network bringing together professionals from across infrastructure sectors, to find solutions to global challenges. CIReN will operate as a hub for academics, businesses, policymakers and other stakeholders to engage in a synergistic exchange of knowledge, tools, projects and ideas.
Overarching aim
To develop innovations that improve the resilience of Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) against threats such as climate change and global pandemics, while working towards Net Zero targets. This will be achieved through ongoing engagement across the interdependent energy, water, telecommunications and transport sectors.
How would I benefit from CIReN?
We are keen to solve your problems.
Our members have a wide array of expertise that spans across engineering, informatics, environmental science, mathematics, physics, and humanities. Our innovative research is world-class and impactful, often reaching the demonstration stage (TRL 5+).
The core purpose of CIReN is to gather and expand this expertise by setting up and maintaining a toolbox of methodologies in the form of an organised database. The tools that we have developed, and ones that will be developed collaboratively, will be openly available to our partners. This includes the researcher-time spent to develop them.
We are keen to apply our skills and tools to current and relevant real-world problems. There is sometimes a shortage of case studies and realistic problems that we can work on: if you have a problem that solving, we can help you.
How can I contribute?
CIReN needs partners across all infrastructure sectors to be part of its advisory steering group.
As a member, you will share your industry insights and discuss innovation priorities, which will shape the focus of projects and inform which projects should be prioritised. Research progress and outcomes will be fed back to the advisory group for discussion, and the next stages planned accordingly.
As a partner, you will have a direct hand in shaping the research & innovation we undertake to improve CNI resilience.
How can I get involved?
Relevant stakeholders are invited to get involved with CIReN in a variety of suggested engagement options.
- Strategic: Priority setting / regular steering.
- Project-based: Problem setting.
Partner engagement activities include the following, please also see the events page.
- Discuss research (meetings/emails).
- Brainstorming workshops
- Study groups
- Research grant support letters
As a partner, you will be periodically kept up to date on CIReN activity and invited to events that will shape the Network whilst it is being established.
Examples of engagement roles and expected committment are provided below.
- Priority setting
Role: Advising on what the priorities of CIReN should be.
Time commitment: 1-2 days per annum.
Activities: Steering group meetings, brainstorming workshops, research grant support letters.
- Problem setting
Role: Offering defined problems for the Network's researchers to work on.
Time commitment: 1-2 days per annum.
Activities: Study groups, brainstorming workshops, research grant support letters.
- Regular steering
Role: Regular advisory role on the Network's direction and development.
Time commitment: 3-4 days per annum.
Activities: Steering group meetings, regular liaison (email, ad-hoc meetings).
- General advisory
Role: Occasional engagement as-and-when, advising on a variety of matters including priorities, steering and problems.
Time commitment: As-and-when.
Activities: Any of the above.
If you or your organisation is interested in contributing to CIReN’s mission, please get in touch by emailing ciren@sussex.ac.uk, or completing our online expression of interest form.
“Siren (sī′rən), in Greek mythology, a creature half bird and half woman who lured sailors to destruction by the sweetness of her song.”
Encyclopedia Britannica
“Siren (alarm), a loud acoustic alarm used to alert people to emergencies.”
Wikipedia