ICRS 2026 highlights resilience and modelling research from DARe Hub

Three DARe team members presented their research at the recent International Conference on Resilient Systems (ICRS) 2026, held at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. The event brought together an international community of researchers, practitioners and policymakers to explore cutting-edge approaches to strengthening resilience across complex social, technical and environmental systems. 

This year’s theme, ‘Resilience in an Age of Disruption’, focused on pressing global challenges including climate change, infrastructure resilience, digital systems, urban governance, and risk management. Through keynotes, technical sessions, and interdisciplinary discussions, the conference provided a valuable platform for sharing insights and fostering collaboration across sectors and borders.  

DARe team members Dr Alistair Ford, Dr Kristina Wolf, and Dr Si Chen each presented papers covering multiple aspects of DARe’s work and research:  

• Dr Alistair Ford: An Integrated Modelling Framework for Assessing Climate Risks and Adaptation Options for Urban Transport Infrastructure 
• Dr Kristina Wolf: Enhancing transport system resilience during mass participation events 
• Dr Si Chen: Assessing the Robustness of the Urban Transport–Energy Nexus: Evidence from the Glasgow City Region 

Prof Rich Dawson, DARe Hub Co-Investigator, also presented two papers at the conference related to his research on enabling more robust assessments of long‑term urban and infrastructure resilience using geospatial Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), and how temporary and demountable flood protection measures can be optimally deployed to enhance the resilience of critical infrastructure systems under flood risk.

Members of the DARe team share their reflections on the themes, discussions and connections that shaped their time at ICRS 2026:

“ICRS 2026 was a fantastic three‑day event. I presented my research in the session focused on resilience of coupled energy and transport systems under deep decarbonisation, which explored resilience of the urban transport‑energy nexus, considering EV uptake and climate‑related disruptions such as storms and flooding. The session generated valuable discussion on key risks and often overlooked resilience challenges in coupled energy and transport systems. I also enjoyed reconnecting with colleagues, meeting new researchers, and spending time in the beautiful city of Delft.” – Dr Si Chen, University of Glasgow

“My main takeaways from ICRS 2026 were the need for shared responsibility across sectors, and the importance of shifting from “cure” to “prevention”. Evidence-based data can help move local authorities and agencies from reactive transport incident management to proactive, anticipatory resilience planning. Socio‑economic data can reveal how incidents differentially affect communities and where interventions are most needed, helping to sustain societal resilience. Data can help to make resilience more equitable and help us learn from past incidents, aiding in prioritisation, and identification of risk hotspots, dependencies, and procedural gaps.” – Dr Kristina Wolf, Newcastle University

The DARe Hub’s attendance at ICRS 2026 reflects its ongoing commitment to engaging with global resilience research and contributing to international knowledge exchange in this rapidly evolving field.  

Well done to our DARe team members on their presentations at the conference. Congratulations also to Dr Wei Bi, former member of the DARe Hub, who received the inspirational presentation award for her paper, ‘Advancing Network Modelling for Flood Resilience Assessment of Urban Rail Transit under Power Dependencies’.