GHD partners with the University of Edinburgh to examine the impact of communication strategies
Movement Strategies, the movement consulting arm of GHD, one of the world’s leading professional services companies, has partnered with the University of Edinburgh on a four-year research project: Simulating the Impact of First Responder Communication Strategies on Citizen Compliance in Emergencies. By enhancing understanding of which strategies increase and hinder citizen adherence, the project aims to ultimately facilitate safe behaviour and optimise planning responses in emergencies.
The research, which will combine expertise from first responders, social psychologists, and pedestrian modellers, will be led by a league of professionals from different backgrounds, including Movement Strategies’ Dr. Steve Gwynne, Research Lead, Dr. Aoife Hunt, Market Leader, and Dr. Hui Xie, Advisor.
Computational pedestrian models provide a key tool for emergency planning by simulating the consequences of crowd response during emergencies. These models can then be used to explore the impact of first responder and citizen communication on crowd conditions. Movement Strategies will enhance modelling capabilities to capture the impact of responder communication on crowds by better representing the physical and social factors present.
The interdisciplinary team will ascertain how different communication strategies can impact adherence to the instructions and provide a foundation for incorporating evidence-based group processes into a pedestrian model. As a core part of the project, the Movement Strategies team will create innovative evidence-based models of behaviour in emergencies that reflect the impact of group dynamics on the impact of different communication strategies.
Steve Gwynne
Dr. Steve Gwynne, Research Lead at Movement Strategies, said: “Crowd management is critical to both avoiding crowd emergencies and limiting the consequences of them. We are delighted to be partnering with the University of Edinburgh on such an important project, which will help to inform safer and more effective crowd management strategies in the future. Furthermore, bringing together a range of disciplines will encourage more robust designs and better-informed procedural and policy decision-making in the future.”
Anne Templeton
Anne Templeton, Principal Investigator at the University of Edinburgh, said: “This project will make novel insights into how group dynamics impact emergency response, and integrate these social psychological factors into movement models to improve safety planning. I am thrilled to be working with Movement Strategies, whose expertise in developing research-led movement models is invaluable to this project.”
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GHD is a leading professional services company operating in the global markets of water, energy and resources, environment, property and buildings, and transportation. Committed to a vision to make water, energy, and communities sustainable for generations to come, GHD delivers advisory, digital, engineering, architecture, environmental and construction solutions to public and private sector clients. Established in 1928 and privately owned by its people, GHD’s network of 12,000+ professionals is connected across 160 offices located on five continents.