Adaptation and Resilience Task Force
Putting people at the centre of UK climate adaptation and resilience is a new report from ACCESS and the Government Office for Science, which calls for the inclusion of social science insights at every stage of the policymaking process to help society achieve fairer and more-effective adaptation and resilience processes and outcomes.
In the report, the ESRC-funded ACCESS Adaptation and Resilience Task Force, supported and co-chaired by the Government Office for Science, demonstrates that adaptation is not only a technical challenge, but also a social one that is shaped by how climate risks are experienced, understood, and managed by different people and communities.
The report synthesises social science evidence for policymakers, alongside 6 case studies and a list of useful resources and practical tools.
Professor Dame Angela McLean DBE FRS, Government Chief Scientific Adviser, has written a foreword to the report.
Executive Summary & Full Report
Full report
- Foreward
- Executive Summary
- Introduction
- How can social science insights add value to adaptation policy and action?
- Incorporating social insights into adaptation policy and action
- Case Studies
- References
- Annexes: Practical resources, analytic tools, research networks, organisational and people-centred examples and case studies, published resources and policy documents, methodology
Key insights
- Effective adaptation depends on considering how people understand the problem and the solutions proposed, not just technical design.
- Adaptation requirements will change over time as people’s exposure and vulnerability to climate hazards evolves.
- Adaptation is more effective when tailored to different people and places.
- Joining up adaptation with other goals can lead to wider benefits.
- Assess adaptation policies for unintended and unequal impacts.
How the social sciences support adaptation policy making
“This report outlines how insights from social sciences, alongside other approaches, provide support for an agile and responsive policy process on adaptation and long-term resilience. The report invites policy makers to include social science insights into decision making, by considering real world contexts, differentiated risks and vulnerabilities, and how people make decisions. Case studies and resources illustrate how this approach offers the opportunity of creating and reviewing workable policy options to better respond to the impacts of a changing climate over time.”
Professor Irene Lorenzoni, Task Force Co-Chair, University of East Anglia
The Task Force
The Adaptation and Resilience Task Force (ACCESS Task Force 3) brings together academic and government social scientists with extensive subject knowledge and experience of working across the science-policy interface.
The task force runs from September 2025 to September 2026.
AIM
To increase the consideration and use of social science evidence, insights, language, frames and data by policy makers for adaptation and resilience in respect to behavioural and societal responses, to natural hazards, disasters and climate change.
OBJECTIVE
For policy makers to more effectively apply social science approaches and insights to accelerate and improve adaptation and resilience to natural hazards, disasters and climate change, by, with, and for individuals and communities in the UK.
We propose to achieve this by:
- making existing evidence from the social sciences more accessible to policy makers
- bridging the gap between existing social science evidence and its application in policy
- building a better understanding on how individuals, communities and institutions perceive and adapt to chronic, acute, and compound hazards
- strengthening policy practice enabling it to be more inclusive and evidence based
THE TASK FORCE
- Patrick Devine-Wright, University of Exeter
- Ashley Diggins, Defra
- Jens Evans, Environment Agency
- Steve Guilbert, University of Exeter
- Anika Haque, University of York
- Tim Harries, Department for Transport
- Carrie Heitmeyer, Government Office for Science
- Candice Howarth, Visiting Professor in Practice, Grantham Research on Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, London School of Economics
- Irene Lorenzoni, University of East Anglia (taskforce co-chair)
- Shona Paterson, University of Brunel
- Helen Roberts, Met Office
- Clare Saunders, University of Exeter
- Rory Walshe, Government Office for Science (taskforce co-chair)
For more information on the Adaptation and Resilience Task Force, please contact:
Rory Walshe – Rory.Walshe@Go-Science.gov.uk
Irene Lorenzoni – i.lorenzoni@uea.ac.uk
Steven Guilbert – s.guilbert3@exeter.ac.uk
