Standard tools for designing power grids, railways, and other critical infrastructure rely on rigid forecasts that fail under unpredictable conditions like storms or surging energy demand. This grant supports the development of a new approach called Strategic Engineering, which designs complex systems to dynamically adapt and reconfigure in the face of uncertainty. Current methods—such as optimisation and cost-benefit analysis—assume a predictable future, leading to brittle systems that waste resources or fail to deliver value. Strategic Engineering instead builds flexibility into infrastructure from the start. Research shows it routinely improves economic value by 20–30% compared to standard tools, a significant gain for projects that typically cost over £100 million. If this paradigm becomes widely adopted, it could reshape how we build and manage energy grids, transport networks, and renewable energy systems—making them more resilient to climate shocks and more efficient in their use of materials and money. The grant funds international workshops and an open-access educational eBook to train the next generation of engineers and practitioners. It also aims to grow a global community of researchers, laying the groundwork for a larger follow-up network to accelerate adoption.
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Context: Climate change and new technologies like AI are having unprecedented impacts on the performance of critical engineered systems like infrastructures. For example, surges in the demand for electric power can exacerbate the impact of devasting floods and storms that can then wreck power grids. Coastal erosion disrupts railroads and impact transport and supply chains. The UN SDGs stress the urgent need for next generation infrastructures to make better use of resources, sustain economic activities, and recover readily from major disruptions. These are essential to face global societal challenges like climate change and transition to net zero. Challenge: Standard tools for designing and planning complex engineered systems (electrified transports, renewable energy systems, space-based remote-sensing) are poorly suited to deal with uncertainty in environmental conditions, markets, technologies and societal needs. Tools and measures of performance like optimization and benefit-cost analysis typically rely on deterministic forecasts that cannot deal with uncertainty or the value of strategic adaptation in the face of unforeseen conditions. They often lead to rigid systems that are insufficiently resilient, inefficient in terms of resource use, or cannot provide the originally intended societal value for money. Our ability to address complex global challenges like climate change is at risk if upcoming investment decision-making continues to rely on existing approaches. Aims & objectives: This OTG will push further the development of an emerging paradigm called Strategic Engineering, which promotes design & planning of complex systems like infrastructures to dynamically adapt and reconfigure to deal with uncertainty and risks. Many years of research show that strategic engineering produces systems with improved economic value for society, better sustainability, and resilience in the long run. This OTG will support travels to enable in-person meetings and workshops with colleagues in the US and Europe who have contributed to the development of this emerging paradigm. The objectives are to 1) continue development of an educational eBook presenting concepts and theories underlying strategic engineering and how to apply the methods and measure benefits in sectors like aerospace, defence, energy, transport, 2) research and co-develop new data-driven and AI technologies to better disseminate knowledge in engineering education and practice, and 3) contribute to grow a global community of researchers and practitioners to maximise impact and momentum in view of a follow-on EPSRC Network Plus proposal. Potential applications & benefits: Latest research shows that strategic engineering produces engineered systems with improved economic value for society (20-30% routinely compared to standard tools, significant for infrastructures typically requiring >£100 million investments). Strategic engineering is a unifying paradigm promoting sustainable use of economic and material resources via dynamic adaptation, as well as resilience in the face of uncertainty. As such, it supports global business and policy aspirations for a cleaner and greener future. The tools, methods and technologies developed over the years are, however, not widely accessible to engineering students, academics and practitioners. This is because the knowledge is highly cross-disciplinary and fragmented, and our community spread out across many institutions. This OTG will help consolidate our efforts to produce innovative, open access and accessible educational and research material for future engineering and system leaders. Crucially, it will support society’s ability to adapt to a changing world at a time when it is most needed.
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