Pia-Joanna Schweizer - Governance of Systemic Risks

Systemic risks are characterised by high complexity, transboundary effects, stochastic relationships, nonlinear cause-effect patterns with tipping points. Furthermore, systemic risks tend to be attenuated rather than amplified in public perception. Due to these characteristics, systemic risks and create new, often unsolved challenges for risk assessment and policymaking. The presentation addresses these challenges, explores reasons why systemic risks seem to be attenuated in public perception and discusses governance strategies for anticipating, mitigating and managing systemic risks.

Dr Pia-Johanna Schweizer leads the research group "Systemic Risks" at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) and is Speaker of the IASS research area “Global Implications of Sociotechnical Change”. The research group analyses the complex interface of science, economics, and civil society with regard to systemic risks, paying particular attention to complexity, scientific uncertainty and social ambiguity. She studied Sociology and English & American Literature at the University of Stuttgart, Germany and the University of Aberdeen. She gained a Ph.D. in Sociology from Stuttgart University with a dissertation on discursive governance. You can find out more on her website: https://www.iass-potsdam.de/en/people/pia-johanna-schweizer