8th REA Symposium: Embracing Resilience: Scaling up and Speeding up
The 8th Resilience Engineering Association’s Symposium on Resilience Engineering will be hosted at Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden, 24th -27th June 2019.
8TH SYMPOSIUM ON RESILIENCE ENGINEERING
Embracing resilience: Scaling up and Speeding up
We work in a complex world of changing pressures, relationships, interdependencies, and novel possibilities. Past performance and safety are no guarantee of continued success. What matters more and more is the ability to cope with the unexpected, and adapt to keep pace with change. As ever more organizations globally recognize and try to apply resilience engineering, we need to develop how we support the scaling up and speeding up of the adoption and application of these ideas.
The program for the 8TH SYMPOSIUM OF THE RESILIENCE ENGINEERING ASSOCIATION (REA) will engage participants in what it means to embrace resilience in a turbulent world and explore how we scale up and speed up the adoption of the ideas of resilience engineering. The symposium will be held from the 24th to the 27th of June 2019 at Linnaeus University in Kalmar, Sweden. Throughout history, Kalmar has been forced to reinvent itself, recognize changes and exploit opportunities. Many historical sites recall the city's prominence as the birthplace of the Kalmar Union and the co-founding of the Hanseatic League—late-medieval alliances that allowed the city to scale up and speed up by adapting to and profiting from opportunities in changing political and commercial landscapes. Today, Kalmar is home to one of Sweden's largest and newest universities, Linnaeus University.
Many organizations today have begun to recognize the limits of compliance—a model of success embodied in anticipation, plans, procedures, quality indicators, and automation. This model cannot effectively accommodate variability, disturbances, uncertainties or novelty, which is increasingly obvious in an interconnected and turbulent world. Compliance-oriented systems can experience surprising, sudden collapses in performance, such as dramatic service outages, despite a backdrop of improving safety and quality indicators. Instead of trying to eradicate the unexpected, today's organizations need to 'expect surprises' and to prepare for unexpected challenges and opportunities — in other words, they need to be poised to adapt in a world where surprising challenges and innovative opportunities are normal.
But crucial questions remain in the quest to speed up and scale up the adoption of resilience principles. What are the 'measures' that are going to replace< traditional ones? How do we know whether teams, systems and organizations are resilient? What are regulators and auditors going to have to look for in order to assess resilience? What accounts for the differences in scaling up and speeding up the adoption of resilience ideas across different domains? How can organizations respond to residual failures and breakdowns without resorting to componential explanations and increased compliance demands?
We invite practitioners, scholar and innovators to share ideas, discuss approaches and to jointly develop concepts and strategies on how to embrace resilience to prepare today's society for tomorrow's challenges. Let us take up the challenge of the Symposium theme, spark syntheses across diverse disciplines, and stimulate innovative practical approaches that address the societal need for resilience.
Program overview and Book of abstracts
Workshops and tutorials
The symposium program will host a series of workshops aiming at presenting and discussing in depth several topics in the field of Resilience Engineering and related knowledge domains and disciplines.
The workshops are set up to allow group dynamics and interaction, provide an open platform to discuss several topics in depth and are aimed at a diverse and cross discipline audience.
On Monday, June 24th, the following workshops are planned:
Time: 09:00-12:00 Place: Ma221:
I. Herrera et al: DARWIN – resilience management workshop
Time: 09:00-12:00 Place: Ma121:
J. Pariès et al: A tool to assess organizational resilience
Time: 09:00-14:30 Place: Ma129:
E.A. Balkin, E. Lay & C. Jeffries: Sacrifice Decision Workshop
Time: 09:00-16:30 Place: Ma220:
A. Ní Bhreasail & S. Gill: Exploring challenges in the implementation of resilience
Time: 13:00 – 16:00 Place: Ma221
Pedro Ferreira et al: Workshop on FRAM – tools and applications
Time: 13:00-16:30 Place: Ma121:
M. E. Reynolds et al: Proactive Systemic Contributors and Adaptations Diagramming (SCAD-P): A Lightweight Tool Delivering Heavyweight Systems-level Insights
Symposium
The symposium will feature a mixture of plenary and parallel sessions, as well as think tanks.
Preliminary Conference program June20.pdf
Book of Abstracts
Abstracts available via this link.
Young Talents Program
The Young Talent Program is a one day workshop for Masters and PhD students within the field of Resilience Engineering. During the workshop, successful applicants will have the opportunity to present their work to, and receive feedback from, prominent researchers in the field.
Participants also are invited to attend the REA symposium and will present results of the workshop in an exclusive session at the symposium. Students selected for the workshop will be provided a sponsorship for travel and lodging, and waived the symposium registration fee.
Social program
Monday, 24th June – Conference Warm-up and Mingle , Kalmar Salen’s Terrace
On Monday night, all workshop participants are invited to a conference warm-up and mingle night. We meet at KalmarSalen’s Terrace at 18.30 to enjoy a beautiful view of Kalmar Sound and learn a bit about the history of the city.
If you are not planning to attend any workshop, you can register for the evening in the conference registration system (300 SEK)
Wednesday, 26th June – Conference Dinner, Kalmar Castle
The conference dinner will take place at Kalmar Castle. We will start the evening with a drink in the courtyard followed by a guided tour through the castle to learn more about its 800 years of history.
After the guided tour, a two-course dinner will be served in the castle’s restaurant.
You can register for the dinner in the conference registration system (1000 SEK). It is also possible to register an accompanying person for this event.
Keynote Speakers
REA8 will present an inspiring mixture of keynote speakers from academia and industry. So far the following speakers have been confirmed
Monday, June 24, 4:30-5:15 pm
David Woods
Ohio State University, USA:
Progress, Pragmatics, Foundations: What the Resilience Engineering Community contributes, What the Resilience Engineering Community can do, What the Resilience Engineering Community has discovered.
Abstract: Our Resilience Engineering Community stands out because it makes a unique contribution with a novel pragmatics for organizations that operate at new scales and high tempos in complex, changing worlds. The Pragmatics of Resilience Engineering centers on continuous and guided adaptability, and is well-exemplified in progress of proactive safety and in how RE has been adopted in critical digital services, among others. The Pragmatics of Resilience Engineering represent a radical departure from traditional practices for human systems and from other approaches for building adaptive capacities.
By studying adaptation and complexity in real settings (the only place where the phenomena occur), the Resilience Engineering Community has discovered surprising new fundamentals about how all adaptive systems work. These fundamentals overturn assumptions made by many disciplinary areas of study, and reframe findings about how adaptive capacities are built/degrade. The surprising basic rules of the adaptive universe drive our empirical work to find patterns/regularities, and these fundamentals drive the elaboration of the Pragmatics so that working organizations can build and sustain adaptive capacities despite pressures, conflicts, and surprises.
Monday, June 24, 5:15-5:45 pm
Richard Cook
Ohio State University, USA:
Bone is Resilience and Demonstrates Two Ways to Engineer Resilience
Abstract: Bone remodeling is resilience in a biological system. The talk will explain the dynamic system of activities, signals, and synchronized processes. Understanding how this system works illustrates fundamental processes and constraints that all systems must meet to be capable of resilient performance. Even more interesting bone remodeling reveals two different ways that resilience can be engineered.
Tuesday, June 25, 9-9:30 am
Lars Axvi
Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
"Holding on to tight - Is procedural Compliance Overriding "Good Seamanship"?
Abstract: Shipping as a very diverse domain. Seagoing vessels are sociotechnical systems that comprise a large variety of ships tankers, cruise liners, container ships, bulkers, tug boats, military vessels, fishing boats, sailing on the high seas and along coasts and rivers. Most of the vessels in international trade rely on international rules, codes and regulations. The technical, operational and commercial differences are enormous and this is recognized in the preamble to International Safety Management code (ISM)”…no two shipping companies or shipowners are the same, and that ships operate under a wide range of different conditions…”. However, the implementation of the code follows an industry best practice approach striving to be compliant thus resulting in a dangerous conformity. Talking to practitioners, there is a growing frustration and detachment as procedures are not adjusted to their actual everyday working life.
The advancement of technology has brought changes to the design and operation of ships. The need to exercise care when introducing change is recognized by the International Maritime Organization (IMO). Trade efficiency and cost cutting have been driving this change leading to an imbalance of the impact on personnel on board. With smaller crews and new technology, the need for training and coordination increases but there is a reluctance from the industry to invest in training that is not mandatory through international rules or guidelines. Further, despite the acknowledgement by IMO of the human element as being the last safeguard in maritime operations, there is a lack of an understanding for the positive contribution of personnel onboard to operational safety.
This presentation will address two different examples on how to create safe and efficient ship operations using the concept of joint activity. The cruise industry has, with recognition from Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), adopted a policy with recurrent training and assessment working with harmonized standing operating procedures, technical systems training and efforts ensuring good teamwork. The tanker industry has, through the Oil Companies International Marine Forum (OCIMF), a Ship Inspection Report Programme (SIRE) that focus the awareness on the importance of meeting satisfactory tanker quality and ship safety standards. Finally, these examples and especially the implementation of the efforts made in relation to the idea of procedural compliance and a resilience perspective, will be discussed.
Short Bio: Captain Lars Axvi is an accredited and appreciated lecturer and head of training for Resource Management, Bridge Team Management and Search and Rescue courses for both professionals and students. He provides not only intimate knowledge on the effective use of simulators in learning but also solid competence regarding team work, resource management and communication.
Lars Axvi is trained as a naval officer and has seagoing experience as Operations and Commanding officer. He has a special expertise in management and organisational studies, leadership and command and control. In addition to his naval education and experience, Captain Axvi holds a BSc in Nautical Science (Master Mariner unlimited) and has sailed in senior positions in both the Swedish and Norwegian merchant fleet.
Tuesday, June 25, 2:45-3:15 pm
Erik Hollnagel:
Advancing resilient performance: From instrumental applications to second-order solutions
Abstract: Resilience and resilience engineering were initially thought of in a binary fashion. Just as safety was juxtaposed to accidents or harm, resilience was juxtaposed to brittleness. This became the basis for a number of instrumental applications, of fixes with little understanding of the causal dynamics. Binary thinking is easy on the mind, but it is usually misleading and insufficient as a basis for practical steps. In order properly to advance resilient performance we need to develop second-order solutions. To do so we must slow down to ensure a deeper understanding of the non-trivial dynamics that govern not just the challenges of our work environments but also how we cope with them.
Short Bio: Erik Hollnagel is Senior professor of Patient Safety at Jönköping University (Sweden), Visiting Professorial Fellow, Macquarie University (Australia), Adjunct Professor, Central Queensland University (Australia), and Visiting Fellow, Institute for Advanced Study, Technische Universität München (Germany). He is also Professor Emeritus from Linköping University (Sweden), Ecole des Mines de Paris (France), and the University of Southern Denmark. Erik has throughout his career worked at universities, research centres, and with industries in many countries and with problems from a variety of domains and industries. He has published widely and is the author/editor of 25 books, including five books on resilience engineering, as well as a large number of papers and book chapters. Erik has been President of the European Association of Cognitive Ergonomics (1994 – 2000) as well as co-founder and past President of the Resilience Engineering Association.
Wednesday, June 26, 8:30-9 am
Tarcisio Abreu Saurin:
Resilient healthcare: a theoretical and practical perspective of the state-of-the-art
Abstract: The presentation will address resilience engineering applied to healthcare systems (i.e. resilient healthcare, RHC) from two perspectives. From a theoretical perspective, an overview of the main assumptions and methods will be delivered, emphasizing the implications of framing healthcare as a highly complex socio-technical system. From a practical perspective, five guidelines for supporting the intrinsic resilience of healthcare systems will be introduced, and practical examples of applying the guidelines will be shown. Some current trends in the management of healthcare systems will also be discussed and the potential contribution of RHC for coping with them will be highlighted.
Short Bio: Tarcisio Abreu Saurin is an Associate Professor at the Industrial Engineering Department of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brazil. He has a BSc in Civil Engineering (1994), MSc in Civil Engineering/Construction Management (1997), and PhD in Industrial Engineering (2002). He was a visiting scholar at the University of Salford (UK, 2012) and at the Australian Institute of Health Innovation (2018). His main research interests are related to the modelling and management of complex socio-technical systems, resilience engineering, safety management, lean production, process improvement, and performance measurement. He has carried out research and consulting projects on these topics in healthcare, construction, electricity distribution, and manufacturing. He has been actively involved and regularly attended the conferences organized by the Resilience Engineering Association and the Resilient Health Care Network. He has supervised 10 PhDs and 41 MSc, and has authored a number of papers in book chapters and journals such as Safety Science, Applied Ergonomics, Reliability Engineering and Systems Safety, and International Journal of Production Research.
Wednesday, June 26, 3:30-4 pm
Milena Studic:
Disaster avoided: Was it due to system resilience, robustness or pure chance?
Abstract: The commonly agreed definition describes resilience as “the intrinsic ability of a system to adjust its functioning before, during or after changes and disturbances, so that it can sustain required operations under both expected and unexpected conditions”. While the definition in theory appears to be sound and self-explanatory, translating the concept into practice is far from being straightforward. While the definition provides an alternative to that of Safety(-I), it is actually subject to the same vagueness, subjectivity and under specification. Over time, it has also become a popular buzzword which both research and practice communities exploit to promote ideas at times not even related to the concept of resilience. A number of case studies inspired by the true events from the aviation industry are used to illustrate this confusion and highlight the gaps between the theory and practice when it comes to the application of the Resilience Engineering (RE) concepts. Lastly, a number of recommendations from the perspective of the aviation industry will be provided towards scaling up and speeding up the adoption of the ideas of RE.
Short Bio: Dr Milena Studic, Corporate Safety Management Expert at Skeyes, is an expert in aviation safety with substantial experience in ATM, ANS and ground handling domains. She has gained experience working with academic, industrial, national and international entities, including the skeyes, EUROCONTROL, BBA Aviation, UK CAA and ICAO. Currently in charge of strategic transversal safety management improvement activities at skeyes, Dr Studic is actively working on bridging the gap between safety theory and practice with the ultimate aim to improve overall performance the ATM/ANS system, including safety. In the past, Dr Studic has made significant contributions to the improvement of the safety of ground handling operations, including the development of new safety regulatory requirements for ground handling operations. Her other areas of expertise include resilience engineering, safety risk management, punctuality performance management and modelling future air travel demand. Dr Studic holds an MSc degree in Air Traffic and Transport Engineering from the Faculty of Transport and Traffic Engineering, University of Belgrade, Serbia, and a PhD at Imperial College London.
Thursday, June 27, 8:30-9 am
Helen Alm:
Resilience in a world of barriers, an industry update on Resilience within the Swedish nuclear industry.
Short Bio: Helen Alm, Safety and Environment manager at Fuel, Engineering and Projects within Vattenfall, one of Europe’s largest producers and retailers of electricity and heat. Today she is leading a team of 17 specialists within Human Factors, Environment, Radiological Protection, and Severe Accidents. Her previous experience is in nuclear safety, hydro power (dam safety), and patient safety with expertise in safety management and accident investigation. She was a pioneer in utilizing Hollnagel’s FRAM in Swedish patient safety and has since been supporting FRAM projects, for example an analysis on locating risks in labour and delivery and evaluating FRAM as a process evaluation tool for dam measurement (hydro power). With a great interest in developing safety towards resilience engineering she has been involved in the Vattenfall Safety Management Institute, an institute strengthening and developing safety within nuclear and hydro power operations by arranging leader training and development projects. She is interested in finding valuable connections in experiences and learning between different industries. Helen holds a MSc degree in Cognitive Science from Linköping University, Sweden.