Developing resilience in the face of uncertainty: what changes, how would we know, what would we see?
Image: sketchbook page by Gaëlle Vallée-TourangeauAbstract
Research on how people respond to uncertainty sits in separate literatures, which treat it as a preference revealed in choice, a disposition measured by self-report, or a property of organisations. This online workshop brings researchers from judgment and decision-making, clinical psychology and organisational behaviour together to ask what it would look like for someone to become more able to engage productively with uncertainty, and how we would know.
Description
GRACE (Gauging Resilience in the face of uncertAinty through Creative Engagement) asks whether people can become more able to engage productively with uncertainty, and whether that change can be observed in behaviour rather than inferred from questionnaire scores. The project brings together behavioural science, creative practice and computer vision.
This launch workshop brings researchers from judgment and decision-making, clinical psychology and organisational behaviour together around three questions:
- What changes as people become more able to engage productively with uncertainty?
- How would we tell that change apart from familiarity, practice or the effect of being observed?
- What would that change look like in what people do, moment to moment?
The workshop takes place online on Friday 6 November 2026, 15:00 to 17:30 UK time (16:00 to 18:30 CET, 10:00 to 12:30 US Eastern, 07:00 to 09:30 US Pacific). A link to the event will be sent to registrants before the meeting.
Programme
| Time (UK) | Session |
|---|---|
| 15:00 | Welcome and introduction to GRACE |
| 15:15 | Keynotes and Q&A: judgment and decision-making, clinical psychology, organisational behaviour |
| 15:45 | Break |
| 15:55 | Small-group discussions, one group per question |
| 16:40 | Break |
| 16:45 | Plenary: bringing the groups’ answers together |
| 17:20 | Next steps |
| 17:30 | Close |
Keynote speakers
To be announced.
How the workshop works
The workshop is interactive. Before the event, registrants can post the topics they would most like to discuss on a shared board, and the most popular topics set the agenda for the small groups.
The keynotes will be recorded and, with the speakers’ permission, published on this page after the event. The small-group discussions will be transcribed for participants only, to support the writing of the workshop report. The plenary will not be recorded.
Workshop report and the GRACE network
The discussions will feed into a workshop report setting out a shared working definition, which will be openly available. Participants can choose to become co-authors of the report, with each contribution recorded using CRediT roles, and to join the GRACE network to continue the conversation and collaboration.
Registration
Please register using this registration form by Friday 30 October 2026. The form asks for your name, email, a link to your scholarly or professional profile (for example an institutional page, Google Scholar or ORCID), and your consent preferences. Registration data are held by Kingston University in compliance with UK GDPR.
Organising team
- Gaëlle Vallée-Tourangeau, Kingston Business School, Kingston University (project lead)
- Marcus O’Dair, Kingston School of Art, Kingston University
- Dimitrios Makris, School of Computer Science and Mathematics, Kingston University
- Christine Mulrooney, project coordinator
- Olly Hixon-Fisher, research and innovation associate
Funding
GRACE is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), grant reference UKRI6755.
Gaëlle Vallée-Tourangeau
Professor of Behavioural Science
My research explores creative cognition, sustainable decision-making, and behavioural change in creative, organisational and health contexts.