Alan Purvis's research while affiliated with Durham University and other places

This position paper addresses resilience in complex engineering and engineered systems (CES). It offers a synthesis of academic thinking with an empirical analysis of the challenge. This paper puts forward argumentations and a conceptual framework in support of a new understanding of CES resilience as the product of continuous learning in between disruptive events. CES are in continuous evolution and with each generation they become more complex as they adapt to their environment. While this evolution takes place, new failure modes arise with the engineering of their resilience having to evolve in parallel to cope with them. Our position supports the role of an overarching complexity science framework to investigate the resilience of CES, including their temporal evolution, resilience features, the management and decision layers, and the transparency of boundaries between interconnected systems. The conclusions identify the value of a complexity perspective to address CES resilience. Extending the latest understanding of resilience, we propose a circular framework where features of CES are related to a resilience event and complexity science explains the importance of interconnections with external systems, the increasingly fast system evolution and the stratification of heterogeneous layers.

Addressing Challenges of Complexity and Resilience 44 ENCORE, an EPSRC-funded grand challenge Network+ research project, was established to structure this problem space and establish how the research community might pursue these fundamental gaps. It has gathered communities of academics, professionals, and practitioners in the areas of complexity, engineering and resilience to set the research agenda that will guide nationwide efforts towards more resilient complex engineering systems. The example of these systems include complex products consisting of many interacting components that include gas turbine engines and complex networks such as the UK’s digital, energy and transport networks. Complexity science teaches us the value of heterogeneity and self-organisation which has been reflected in the constitution and behaviour of our network which stimulated dialogue and a cross domain exploration of methodological opportunities and interdisciplinary challenges. The task of developing resilience science for complex engineered and engineering systems (CEES) is currently as mature as early science of climate change. Understanding this behaviour is not only important for their theoretical description but has practical industrial implications. In the context of resilience, the research gap is that we lack: 1. A coherent understanding of what unifies the complexity of engineered entities such as jet engines, cities and our national infrastructure; 2. A firm understanding of the capabilities that form the Complex Engineering Systems (CEgS) which create and manage Complex Engineered Systems (CEdS). This Strategic Research Agenda for both Complex Engineered and Engineering Systems is the final deliverable to be produced by ENCORE. It describes and reflects upon ENCORE processes and findings providing a research vision and roadmap for how scientific endeavours should be shaped in order to address the strategic challenges identified.