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.”

Acerca de GHD

GHD es una empresa líder en servicios profesionales que opera en los mercados mundiales de agua, energía y recursos, medio ambiente, infraestructura y edificaciones, y transporte. Comprometidos con la visión de garantizar que el agua, la energía y las comunidades sean sostenibles para las futuras generaciones, GHD ofrece soluciones en consultoría, servicios digitales, ingeniería, arquitectura, medio ambiente y construcción a clientes del sector público y privado. Fundada en 1928 y propiedad de sus trabajadores, GHD cuenta con una red de más de 12.000 profesionales en más de 160 oficinas en cinco continentes.