The mission of the National Centre for Critical Infrastructure Protection, Security and Resilience (NC-CIPSeR) is to develop and conduct multidisciplinary research in critical infrastructure protection with the goal of enhancing the safety and security of the Canadian population. Infrastructure protection, at its core, is a multi-disciplinary endeavour requiring the collaboration of professionals from a myriad of backgrounds and research interests for the development of effective and innovative mitigation solutions and strategies that can be quickly operationalized by CI professionals.
NC-CIPSeR collaborates with government, industry and academia to conduct research, innovate and educate. NC-CIPSeR research is organized into the following areas:
- Threat risk analysis and infrastructure resilience research– conduct research and investigate sources of threats and risks to infrastructure systems. Both natural and man-made hazards are investigated to establish the level of risk they pose to infrastructure systems and when the risk is high enough for mitigation action. This includes creating and integrating a comprehensive Canadian-specific dataset that can be updated, maintained, researched, and utilized for risk assessments and emergency management planning for CIP – enhancing the resilience and security of critical infrastructures across Canada.
- Infrastructure analysis and design– the development of robust and cost-effective solutions for resilient infrastructure systems is based on a sound understanding of their behaviour under natural and man-made hazards. This branch of research is aimed at developing an in-depth understanding of infrastructure systems, innovation material properties evaluation, and the development of hybrid materials for use in the construction, retrofit, and rehabilitation of ageing infrastructure systems.
- Policy solutions for critical infrastructure protection– CIP requires policy contributions to not only provide additional effective protection strategies, but also to make solutions cost-effective. Policy contributions to CIP research will investigate protection and resilience strategies for infrastructure.
- Critical Infrastructure Interdependencies (CII)- applying supply-chain statistics to Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) and analyzing them over time has revealed significant shifts in the interdependencies and associated risks among various Critical Infrastructures (CI). Examining how stakeholders can employ quantitative measures to gain a deeper insight into Critical Infrastructure Interdependency (CII) for strategic and tactical objectives. How are Canada’s national economic indicators linked to CII and how can the priorities indicated by these metrics guide policymakers and business leaders about potential risks?