Richard Bretton

University of Bristol | UB · School of Earth Sciences

Contextualisation is the critical process of interactions between volcanologists and risk governance decision-makers and specifically the tailoring of hazard assessments to ensure they are driven by the needs of decision-makers. Quality assurance standards for the contextualisation of the analysis and communication of volcanic hazards do not formal...

Scientific communication is one of the most challenging aspects of volcanic risk management because the complexities and uncertainties of volcanic unrest make it difficult for scientists to provide information that is timely, relevant, easily comprehensible and trusted. When poorly handled, scientific communication can cause social, economic and po...

When a volcano emerges from dormancy into a phase of unrest, the civil protection authorities charged with managing societal risks have the unenviable responsibility of making difficult decisions balancing numerous competing societal, political and economic considerations. A volcano that is threatening to erupt requires sound risk assessments incor...

The governance of volcanic risks does not take place in a vacuum. In many cultures, volcanic risks are perceived to be susceptible to governance with the objective of achieving their effective mitigation, and have become the responsibility of the institutions and stakeholders of relevant social communities. An array of international, national and l...

Discourse about the L'Aquila trial in Italy has overlooked the many different roles that laws play within risk governance. For volcanic risk governance, laws not only create the duty holders, beneficiaries and the relationships between them (the stakeholders) and the duties and rights (the stakes) but also dictate the acceptable standards of safety...

Since about 1948 the term “Black Box” has been used to describe a device, system or object in respect of which we know the inputs and outputs but we do not know (or do not need to know) the internal process or workings (Latour 1987). Separately, a distinction is often drawn between primary societal risks to members of the public and secondary insti...