Project Details
Abstract
This study proposes a comprehensive national resilience framework that aims to bring stakeholders from different critical sectors and society together to collectively work under a common objective of improving Qatar’s capacity to prepare for, respond to, and recover from emergencies and disasters. The resilience framework, to be developed in sub-project 1, will adopt a “network of networks” approach that fully considers the cascading effects from different sources and sectors. Consequently, this resilience framework will integrate inputs from four sub-projects which address social, governance, and technical aspects that are the pillars of the Qatar National Vision (QNV) 2030 and the Qatar National Development Strategy 2018-2022. Sub-project 2 will focus on the social, societal, and policy dimensions of national-level resilience-building as they cut across aspects of resilience (physical, technological, informational, and economic). It will provide a vital and dynamic bridge between Sub-project 1 and the critical cluster sectors. Sub-projects 3, 4 and 5 will serve two pivotal roles. They will be the source of technical knowledge and information about the networks incorporated in the framework (Sub-project 1). At the same time, they represent the critical sectors for which we will develop score cards and help to demonstrate the efficacy of the national framework. The first sector is physical infrastructure (Sub-project 3), which includes water supply, power generation, and the transportation network. The second sector is manufacturing systems (Sub-project 4), which will improve the preparedness of the supply chain network in order to open alternatives for enhancing national resilience. The third sector (Sub-project 5) is industrial plants and facilities, including upstream (oil and gas production) and downstream products. This project is based on the merit that achieving a deep and truly effective national resilience framework with added value for policymaking and business continuity is only achieved by accounting for the human, social, behavioral, and larger societal factors affecting physical and technological assets. In a world today that is perpetually changing, strategic sectors that guarantee a country’s responsiveness and resilience in the face of disruptive events are increasingly becoming interdependent. However, one of the significant challenges in achieving national resilience is the lack of understanding of such inherent interdependencies within and among strategic sectors. Therefore, there is an ever-increasing need to design and usher in a paradigm shift in the way nations assess and manage these interdependencies to harness robustness and resilience. At the same time, technological innovations have improved understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of sector-specific responses to disruptions in the last decade, but unsynchronized sector-specific solutions to interdependent problems are often not effective and can only lead to partial improvement at best. Ample evidence suggests that uncoordinated responses often undermine a nation’s resilience and can become counterproductive in achieving responsiveness at scale. Lack of preparedness or a comprehensive coping strategy in the face of disruptive events (both natural or human-made) could have severe and negative economic, social, or environmental implications. Therefore, to mitigate the cascading effects of disruptions across interdependent strategic sectors, the proposed, overarching objective of this research is to design and implement a new and innovative framework for achieving national preparedness, resilience, and adaptive response to ensure continuity and benefits from Qatar's impressive development efforts. The proposed framework integrates qualitative and quantitative assessment of resilience, community engagement, policy, national-level governance, risk management, and an effective supply chain system. In turn, the framework will be used to develop score cards for the resilience of critical economic sectors, and it will also develop data-driven strategies for enhancing national resilience at large. The resilience framework emphasizes the significance of accounting for the societal and economic impacts of the disruptions and developing a response system that minimizes population vulnerability. The PIs have a proven record of working with stakeholders in the State of Qatar. They have led major projects that had significant impacts at the national and international levels.
Submitting Institute Name
Texas A&M University at Qatar
Sponsor's Award Number | NPRP14C-0920-210017/ NPRP14C-37882-SP-503 |
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Proposal ID | EX-QNRF-NPRPC-27 |
Status | Active |
Effective start/end date | 1/01/23 → 1/01/28 |
Primary Theme
- Sustainability
Primary Subtheme
- SU - Sustainable / Circular Economy
Secondary Theme
- Sustainability
Secondary Subtheme
- SU - Resource Security & Management
Keywords
- Risk management, Supply chain and logistics Resilience
- Manufacturing
- Physical infrastructure
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