On 24 June 2025, the Oxford Policy Engagement Network (OPEN) held the Risk and Resilience Forum, which took place at the Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford. The Forum brought together over 100 leading senior experts from UK government departments and agencies and leading University of Oxford’s academics, to explore how the UK government can better understand, anticipate, prevent and respond to major risks relating to energy and the environment, human health, and technology.
The ZERO Institute convened and led the Energy & Environment stream, chaired by Dr. Radhika Khosla. The three thematic sessions within the Energy & Environment stream were each co-led by academic and policy experts, with the participants invited to explore guiding thematic questions. In the first session on Energy Demand, Dr Radhika Khosla and Dr Tina Fawcett were joined by policy professionals from the UK Department for Energy Security & Net Zero (DESNZ), to explore how policy guides the reductions in energy demand necessary to meet the climate, energy security and affordability imperatives of the energy transition in the UK. The second session focused on Energy Storage. Here, Prof Paul Shearing and the Faraday Institution facilitated a discussion on the key energy storage challenges that the UK needs to address to grow the scale of energy storage, while mitigating systemic risks and building long-term resilience in its energy system. The third session zoomed into the design of Energy Markets. Co-led by Dr Jan Rosenow and DESNZ, it explored how electricity market reform can help UK manage the increased intermittency from the integration of renewable energy sources, while also delivering low-cost renewable energy to consumers. All discussions followed the Chatham House rule.
The Forum was convened in collaboration between the Oxford Policy Engagement Network, the ZERO Institute, Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford Martin School, and the Pandemic Sciences Institute, with support from the University’s Policy Engagement Team. The Forum will inform a high-level report on policy outputs for risk and resilience across the three streams, expected to be released later in the year.
