Risks

Renn, Ortwin; Ortleb, Julia; Benighaus, Ludger; Benighaus, Christina

Risk is our daily work and often our obsession – as risk researchers we are working on research projects which are intended to increase our knowledge about all aspects of risks. Being a “risk researcher” means looking at things through a specific ­perspective – the perspective of what negative consequences a natural or man-made event, a technology, a decision could probably have on the world we live in. Our perspective is a socio-scientific one. This means, we are analyzing what consequences do risks have on the society and what can we do to decrease or prevent them. This includes the possible actions of a single consumer as well as strategies of whole governments to manage risks. How are risks perceived by people? What kinds of knowledge are needed to deal with different kinds of risks? Who should be involved, and when? What to do if conflicts evolve about how to handle risks? How to communicate risks? It is our job to answer questions like these. We are dealing with these questions in many different thematic areas: food safety, climate change, chemicals, nanotechnology, electromagnetic fields, etc. These risks pose very different problems and it seems difficult to find general strategies to deal with them.