Liz Varga (42min)

University College London

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Abstract

Reliability is a well-established discipline in power and electricity sectors. It establishes minimum standards for quality of an energy system to reduce unacceptable interruptions. This is informed by risk management and operationalized through asset management. However, we are increasingly exposed to systemic risks, variable demand and supply, indirect interdependencies, and increased severity and frequency of hazards and threats. The testing, contingencies and measurements used for reliability need extending by methods from resilience, which highlight the need for absorbing and adapting in changing environments. A new international standard ISO22372 published Nov 2025 sets out six principles of infrastructure resilience. It moves the discipline of resilience beyond a focus on speed of recovery toward ex-ante assessment and preparation for resilience through multi-agency collaboration and sharing. Whilst reliability continues to be part of the solution to resilience, this talk changes the focus toward essential services which may be delivered by more than just the electricity network.

Brief Bio

Liz Varga is Professor of Complex Systems in the Civil, Environmental, and Geomatics Engineering Department of University College London (UCL) where she leads the Infrastructure Systems Institute ( https://www.ucl.ac.uk/infrastructure-systems ). She was awarded Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in the King’s birthday honours (June 2024) for services to critical infrastructure. Prof Varga teaches, writes, and advises globally on energy, transport, digital communications, water, and waste systems. Her key research themes include infrastructure resilience, sustainable innovation, and decarbonisation. She uses digital methods including digital twins, computational ontologies, and AI and she is a member of the governing board of the Data and Analytics Facility for National Infrastructure( https://dafni.ac.uk/ ). She is a commissioner with the National Preparedness Commission (https://nationalpreparednesscommission.uk/about/commissioners/ )and the project manager for a new international standard ISO 22372 ( https://www.iso.org/standard/50275.html ) on infrastructure resilience. She is director of UKCRIC Services Limited, and an Executive of UKCRIC ( https://www.ukcric.com/ ) a 15 university collaboration for Research in Infrastructure and Cities.