Who Funds Engineering Safety Research?

Engineering safety research is a term used for this project to describe the generation and sharing of scientific knowledge related to assessing and controlling risks within engineered systems and processes, with the overall aim of preventing accidents and reducing harm to people and property. The goal of this project was to explore how engineering safety research has evolved globally over the past decade; where the funding has gone, what areas have grown, and what trends are shaping the landscape.

The findings show that engineering safety research is a rapidly growing field, having developed considerably in recent years. Broadly, the bibliometric review of 15,705 publications from 130 countries found:

• Large differences in engineering safety research outputs and funding across the globe. China, the USA and South Korea generally led the way, having published and funded the most engineering safety research.
• Significant national variation in funding sources, collaborations and funder acknowledgements, with collaborative working seen more in Europe than elsewhere.
• Differences between countries in the types of leading funding organisations may contribute to variation, with researchers in high publication countries being heavily supported by their governments.
• The popularity of different engineering safety topics has changed over time, with publications on machine learning and data-driven methods growing the most in the past decade.
• Funding patterns in sectors related to Lloyd’s Register Foundation’s strategy are similar to those overall, except in maritime and electrical power where Europe has a larger role.