Tomorrow's Railway and Climate Change Adaptation Final Report

• Consortium experience from: (a) the development of their own organisation’s
research strategy, (b) involvement in developing industry body research strategies
and (c) research projects which have involved prioritising research or different
options.
The review focused on methodologies used by rail and transport organisations, but also
included approaches used in other sectors if they illustrated a different approach which
could be relevant to rail. The benefits and disadvantages of different methodologies for
prioritising research were evaluated and the findings summarised in the report.
The findings from Task 7B suggest that in order to identify and prioritise research topics,
it is necessary to:
• Understand the research objectives and context of the research programme
• Decide on the scope and type of research to be supported
• Review existing knowledge and practice to identify research gaps
• Define the required attributes for research topics and prioritisation criteria
• Apply evaluation techniques to assess research topics
• Produce a list of priority research topics
• Plan how to take these forward
• Review and update priorities regularly.
The importance of understanding the reasons for research
When identifying research priorities, it is important to understand the reasons behind
the research and be clear on the objectives and type of research that will be funded. It is
also necessary to understand the context and external influences in which research
prioritisation is being carried out.
Some aspects to consider are:
Research benefits. What does the research programme hope to achieve and should the
research focus on attaining particular benefits? Take as an example addressing topics
related to the highest risks from climate change (most probable climate impact x largest
consequence in terms of economic costs and passenger disruption). This could make use
of the bow tie risk assessment methodology used by Network Rail and others to identify
actions to prepare and recover from weather-related hazards 2 . Also should it include
benefits that cannot easily be monetised or measured, such as keeping customers
informed of weather related delays?
2
The bowtie method is a risk evaluation method that can be used to analyse and demonstrate causal
relationships in high risk scenarios. The method takes its name from the shape of the diagram that is
created in the process, which looks like a bowtie. A bowtie diagram provides a visual summary of all
plausible accident scenarios that could exist around a certain hazard and by identifying control measures
the bowtie displays what is being done to control those scenarios. The bowtie diagram provides a simple,
visual explanation of a risk that would be much more difficult to explain otherwise
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