Biotechnology and Biosecurity

01Contents

Biotechnology and Biosecurity in seven parts.

In this dossier7 parts

01The problemPowerful tools, shared risks
02Mandate and boundariesWhat Biotechnology and Biosecurity studies, and the lines it does not cross
03Across the domainsBiotechnology reaches every domain
04Reports, standards and contributionsWhere biotechnology evidence goes
05What the platform doesEvidence for responsible biotechnology
06Foundations and counterpartsGrounded in the life sciences, read across three institutions
07Status and participationEstablished, open to enquiries

02The problem

Powerful tools, shared risks.

Biology has become an engineering discipline. Tools for reading, writing and editing genetic material have become faster, cheaper and more widely available, and they now underpin vaccines, diagnostics, crop improvement, industrial enzymes and new materials. The same capabilities that let a laboratory design a vaccine in weeks also lower the barriers to misuse, and the same global networks that distribute biological products also distribute pathogens.

Biological risks cascade in distinctive ways. Pathogens replicate, so a small release can grow into a large outbreak. Disease moves between people, animals and the environment, so a problem in a farm, market or ecosystem can become a human health emergency. Outbreaks strain health systems, disrupt supply chains, close borders and reduce trade, and these economic and social effects often last longer than the outbreak itself. Agricultural pests and diseases can spread through food systems with similar dynamics.

Governance has struggled to keep pace. Oversight was designed around particular organisms, institutions and countries, while research is increasingly distributed, digital and commercial. Biosafety practice, which protects people from accidental exposure, and biosecurity, which protects materials and knowledge from misuse, must both adapt.

03Monitor

Oversight and capacity register.

The screen a team would use to follow this field: its measures, states and decisions. Names are examples and values are illustrative.

Oversight and capacity register

National committee · Review year 2

Institutions with a committee, %
88Watch
Staff trained, %
79Normal
Reviews completed
34this year
Incident reports filed
5Info

Capacity and oversight onlyGCRI · Biotechnology and Biosecurity

Institutional oversight


Institution A	Active	Q4	83	Current
Research campus	Active	Q1	87	Audit due
Biomanufacturing site	Forming	none	67	Support
Diagnostic network	Active	Q3	92	Current

Scope note

Covers: governance, training, review capacity
Excludes: technical methods and agents
Authority: national oversight body
Label: SURVEY

Oversight and capacity register: the screen’s structure, terms and states for National committee.Example names and illustrative values; a design, not a record or a live system.

04Topics

The questions this field works on.

Topic

Synthetic biology

Design-build-test biology and safeguards.

Topic

Biomanufacturing

Industrial biology and production systems.

Topic

Diagnostics and therapeutics

Health innovation and evaluation.

Topic

Agricultural biotechnology

Food system applications and environmental effects.

Topic

Biological threats

Accidental, natural and deliberate biological risks.

Topic

Lab biosafety and biosecurity

Research environment controls and governance.

Topic

One health impacts

Cross-species and environmental factors.

Topic

Dual use and ethics

Responsible research and escalation.

05Simulator

SEIR on a network of places.

An outbreak seeded in one place spreads through a small-world network by the share of contacts people make elsewhere; play it to see the order of arrival and how the timing of measures moves the peak. Teaching model with stated illustrative values, not a prediction. The map on this page shows West Africa; the model itself is not tied to a place.

Controls

Basic reproduction number R0: 2.5
Latent period: 3.0 days
Infectious period: 5.0 days
Share of contacts made in other places: 8%
Places in the network: 24
Measures start on day: 40
Contact reduction from measures: 40%
Days simulated: 240 days

Readouts

Peak new infections: 5.34 per 1,000 a day
Day of the peak: 156
Share ever infected: 57%
Places reached: 100%
Reproduction number under measures: 1.50

Numbers, methods and sources

Day	New infections per 1,000	Cumulative infected (%)
0	0.00	0.0
17	0.02	0.0
34	0.17	0.1
51	0.52	0.8
68	1.04	2.1
85	1.84	4.5
102	2.83	8.5
119	3.88	14.3
136	4.81	21.7
153	5.32	30.5
170	5.06	39.4
187	3.99	47.1
204	2.54	52.6
221	1.33	55.8
238	0.61	57.3

Methods

SEIR compartments Kermack and McKendrick (1927), Proc. R. Soc. A 115
Metapopulation coupling by mobility Balcan and others (2009), PNAS 106
Small-world network Watts and Strogatz (1998), Nature 393
Modelling infectious diseases Keeling and Rohani (2008), Princeton University Press
Uncertainty fan (parameter Monte Carlo) Spiegelhalter, Pearson and Short (2011), Visualising uncertainty about the future, Science 333
One-at-a-time sensitivity (tornado) Saltelli and others (2008), Global Sensitivity Analysis: The Primer, Wiley

Data

The model runs on the teaching values set by the controls. To calibrate it for a place, read it against these admitted layers and series, which this page’s map can draw:

Cities Natural Earth
Airports Natural Earth
Major roads Natural Earth

SEIR on a network of places. Illustrative teaching model: it runs on the values set by the controls, not on measured data. Methods: SEIR compartments (Kermack and McKendrick (1927), Proc. R. Soc. A 115); Metapopulation coupling by mobility (Balcan and others (2009), PNAS 106); Small-world network (Watts and Strogatz (1998), Nature 393).

Across the six pillars, led by Nexus Consortium

Experiments Labs
Built in Biotechnology and Biosecurity in Foundry
Tested at Biotechnology and Biosecurity in Universe
Codified in Health and Biosecurity in Standards
Published in Biotechnology and Biosecurity in Reports
Taught in Faculty of Health and Society in Academy

06Mandate and boundaries

What Biotechnology and Biosecurity studies, and the lines it does not cross.

Biotechnology and Biosecurity, studies how life-science tools create benefits and risks, and how biosafety and biosecurity are governed. It conducts no hazardous research, publishes no information that would enable misuse, and assesses no laboratory as an authority; national biosafety authorities and institutional committees decide.

Examples here are general mechanisms. Dual-use concerns are handled by restricting detail, not by describing it carefully.

07Twin and cascade simulator

Model Biotechnology and Biosecurity as a system. Run the cascade.

Assembled from the Nexus Standards area profile Biological hazard standards: the hazards it names, the systems and sectors that carry the loss, the controls that dampen it and the data that observe it. Choose the components, pick an initiating hazard and step through the cascade. The Map view places the run on an example geography with open data. Every coupling weight is a stated assumption you can change. A teaching model, not a forecast, an assessment or a certification. To model a place of your own choosing, open the full System Builder.

Hazards

HIV epidemic

Systems and couplings

Biological hazard standards
Health risk standards Cascade
Food and agriculture risk standards Cascade
Biodiversity and nature risk standards Common driver
Health security and One Health Mechanism

Controls

NS-0 Constitution and principles
NS-3 Risk record UNIs (grammar, legacy crosswalk, allocation authority)
NS-11 Verification and monitoring (evidence, attestations, zero-trust conformance observation)
NRS-H41 Hazard family: Animal-to-human spillover (NHS-1 health.zoonotic)
NRS-H44 Hazard family: Plant disease and pests (NHS-1 health.plant-health)
NRS-H43 Hazard family: Livestock and aquaculture epizootics (NHS-1 health.animal-health)
NRS-H35 Hazard family: Airborne and respiratory infection (NHS-1 health.respiratory)
NRS-H40 Hazard family: Blood-borne and sexually transmitted infection (NHS-1 health.bloodborne)
NRS-H60 Hazard family: Supply-chain and flow disruption (NHS-1 sys.supply-chain)

Observation

WHO Disease Outbreak News (listed for reference)
WAHIS animal health events (listed for reference)
GBIF occurrence API and downloads (listed for reference)
International Health Regulations capacity and health emergency preparedness
Proportion of countries adopting relevant national legislation and adequately resourcing the prevention or control of invasive alien species

Example geography

West Africa: 59 hexagonal cells
Night lights tonight, outages (VIIRS Day/Night Band), NASA GIBS

08Across the domains

Biotechnology reaches every domain.

09Sector signature

The sector signature of Biotechnology and Biosecurity.

The sectors Biotechnology and Biosecurity touches and how strongly they depend on each other: what a study has to observe and model together.

Select corners · hover lines6 / 15 relations

Signature

Health and its partners

Health gives workforce for operations to infrastructure (0.3), farm labour to food (0.3) and utility workforce to water (0.2).

W · E · I · F · H · B

Sectors: 4 of 6
Relations: 6 of 15
Coupling: 0.42 share of total

Strongest relations in play

Water → Food · irrigation0.8
Food → Health · nutrition0.7
Infrastructure → Water · pipes, dams and treatment works0.6
Water → Health · drinking water and sanitation0.7

Teaching values for a typical city-region, not measurements for any place. Coupling is the summed strength of the relations in play, as a share of all fifteen.

10Reports, standards and contributions

Where biotechnology evidence goes.

Governance and capability studies are designed for the Exponential Technology series. Biosafety records would follow the restricted handling classes of the proposed Nexus Standards.

Biosafety professionals can contribute governance reviews.
Researchers can share responsible-innovation case studies.
Anyone can raise a biosecurity concern about GCRI work through the integrity address.

11Methods and evidence

How Biotechnology and Biosecurity is modelled, measured and tested.

The model, its assumptions, its data and its uncertainty, in the form a scientist or engineer would check. Structures follow published methods. The values drawn are illustrative, not findings.

Uncertainty bands

How far the outlook for Biotechnology and Biosecurity could spread, shown as ranges rather than a single line.

Central estimate: median of the ensemble
Ranges: likely and very likely, in IPCC calibrated language
Ensemble: members, scenarios and initial conditions stated
Read with: the sensitivity of the result to each input

Illustrative ensemble spread on an index scale; the form follows IPCC uncertainty guidance. Not a projection.

System model

The couplings between the systems in Biotechnology and Biosecurity: signs of influence, a reinforcing and a balancing loop, and cross-links where stress jumps.

Causal loop diagram from the page’s systems; signs show the direction of influence. Illustrative structure for a system dynamics or network model, not estimated couplings.

FAIR guiding principles · GO FAIR and FORCE11W3C PROV · World Wide Web ConsortiumGuidance on consistent treatment of uncertainties · IPCCCEOS Analysis Ready Data · Committee on Earth Observation Satellites

12What the platform does

Evidence for responsible biotechnology.

Biotechnology and Biosecurity is designed for life scientists, bioengineers, biosafety experts and biosecurity analysts who need shared, rigorous methods for evaluating technologies and governing risk.

Primers

Biosecurity method primers

Introductions to bioassurance, laboratory governance and risk assessment methods, with their limits.

Cases

Biotechnology case studies

Evaluations of how technologies have developed, been governed and been used, drawn from the public record.

Practice

Responsible research and development

Evidence on practices that let research proceed while reducing risk, for institutions to adapt under their own rules.

The platform works at the level of governance, evaluation and risk methods. It publishes no protocols, techniques or information that would increase anyone’s capacity to cause harm. GCRI is not a health-service provider or clinical authority, and it does not regulate, certify, license or approve.

13Geography

Environmental exposure in West Africa.

Daytime surface heat, population density and haze over West Africa, from NASA GIBS. Each layer carries its own date.

The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.

Layers 3

Environmental exposure, for this page

About this layer

Evidence: Observed (persistent cloud still leaves gaps)
Source: VIIRS NOAA-20 Level 3, 8-day (NASA LANCE)
Provider: NASA LANCE
Licence: NASA open data
Vintage: 8-day; Satellite 8-day composite; persistent cloud still leaves gaps
Newest at build: 2026-09-14
Resolution: about 1 km grid
Uncertainty: Satellite skin temperature of the ground over the 8 days ending on the date shown, a heat exposure indicator; not air temperature, heat index or a heat warning.
Reached through: gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map

About this layer

Evidence: Estimated
Source: Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (NASA SEDAC (CIESIN, Columbia University))
Provider: NASA SEDAC (CIESIN, Columbia University)
Licence: CC BY 4.0
Vintage: null; Census-based estimate, static (2020)
Resolution: about 1 km grid
Uncertainty: Census-based estimate of people per square kilometre in 2020, shown as exposure context; not a count of people affected by any hazard.
Reached through: gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map

About this layer

Evidence: Observed (clouds leave gaps)
Source: VIIRS NOAA-20 Deep Blue AOD (NASA LANCE)
Provider: NASA LANCE
Licence: NASA open data
Vintage: daily; Satellite retrieval; clouds leave gaps
Newest at build: 2026-10-14
Resolution: about 2 km grid
Uncertainty: Satellite measure of haze, smoke and dust through the whole air column on the day shown; an exposure indicator, not ground-level PM2.5, an air quality index or a health warning.
Reached through: gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map

About this layer

Evidence: Observed
Source: VIIRS NOAA-20 corrected reflectance (NASA LANCE)
Provider: NASA LANCE
Licence: NASA open data
Vintage: daily; Satellite image
Newest at build: 2026-10-14
Resolution: about 250 m grid
Uncertainty: Satellite image. Satellite or model raster as the provider publishes it. Clouds, swath gaps and retrieval error leave gaps and noise; values are indicators, not measurements at a place.
Reached through: gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map

About this layer

Evidence: Observed (clouds leave gaps)
Source: OMI Aura (NASA GES DISC)
Provider: NASA GES DISC
Licence: NASA open data
Vintage: daily; Satellite retrieval; clouds leave gaps
Newest at build: 2026-10-10
Resolution: about 2 km grid
Uncertainty: Satellite column of nitrogen dioxide in the lower atmosphere on the day shown, mostly from combustion; not a ground-level concentration or a health warning.
Reached through: gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map

About this layer

Evidence: Modelled (latest year GIBS publishes)
Source: MODIS Terra and Aqua land cover (MCD12Q1) (NASA LP DAAC)
Provider: NASA LP DAAC
Licence: NASA open data
Vintage: yearly; Satellite classification; latest year GIBS publishes
Newest at build: 2024-01-01
Resolution: about 500 m grid
Uncertainty: Satellite land cover classes for the year shown, including croplands; a classification with known errors, not a farm register.
Reached through: gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map

Latest available

NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth

Loading the latest NASA imagery.

Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.

Environmental exposure, framed on West Africa.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date. They are indicators, not assessments of any place.

Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · NASA EONET · ESA Copernicus Sentinel-5P TROPOMI · NASA JPL OPERA DIST-ALERTSources and licences

We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University. 2018. Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 11. NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). doi:10.7927/H49C6VHW. CC BY 4.0
MODIS and VIIRS atmosphere products, NASA LANCE and LAADS DAAC; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
OMI nitrogen dioxide (Aura) and OMPS aerosol index (Suomi NPP), NASA; distributed by the NASA GES DISC; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
MODIS land products (vegetation indices, gross primary production, land cover), NASA LP DAAC and LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). Cite as: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2019). ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003. doi:10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.003. NASA open data
Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
© OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). ODbL
Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
Live events: NASA Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker (EONET); events are indicative and keep their original source links.
Live: NASA EONET Events are indicative, not authority warnings.
Observed (EO): ESA Copernicus Sentinel-5P TROPOMI (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2026). We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
Observed (EO): NASA JPL OPERA DIST-ALERT (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2026). We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
NASA GIBS: We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
Air quality forecast, 5 days, PM2.5 (CAMS via Open-Meteo): Contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information 2026.
Past year, daily temperature (ERA5 via Open-Meteo): Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (https://open-meteo.com/), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Optional layers (14 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.

Layers and dates

Land surface temperature, day, 8-day composite: VIIRS NOAA-20 Level 3, 8-day, NASA LANCE · 14 Sep 2026
Population density, 2020: Population: CIESIN, Columbia University, Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (2018), NASA SEDAC, CC BY 4.0 · static
Aerosol optical depth, daily: VIIRS NOAA-20 Deep Blue AOD, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
True colour: VIIRS NOAA-20 corrected reflectance, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
Nitrogen dioxide, lower atmosphere column: OMI Aura, NASA GES DISC · 10 Oct 2026
Land cover type (IGBP), yearly: MODIS Terra and Aqua land cover (MCD12Q1), NASA LP DAAC · 2024

14Foundations and counterparts

Grounded in the life sciences, read across three institutions.

The platform stewards two methods in the STEM Commons, molecular and life sciences and biotechnology platforms, and applies epidemiology and public health science, probability and statistics, agricultural, soil and food science and process and industrial safety engineering. Each is described with its assumptions on the STEM foundation of Biotechnology and Biosecurity.

Inside Foundry, it works with the NXS-LAB (research, experiments and simulations), The Global Risks Index (NXS-GRX) and NXS-NSF (trust, authorisation and assurance) systems. Its findings are designed for the Exponential Technology and Evidence Brief report series, and a biosecurity readiness drill is its planned theme in the annual Universe programme.

Its counterparts look at the same field through other mandates: Health and Biosecurity Governance at The Global Risks Forum (GRF) convenes the institutions that govern health security, Climate and Nature Governance at The Global Risks Forum (GRF) convenes those that govern food and nature, and Insurance Nexus at The Global Risks Alliance (GRA) builds shared industry understanding of health and pandemic risk in insurance. At GCRI, Health Nexus and Food Nexus study the wider systems. All are listed on counterparts across the Consortium.

15Status and participation

Established, open to enquiries.

Biotechnology and Biosecurity is an established platform: its scope and methods are published, and its activities, records and services appear here as each one opens. Scientists, biosafety professionals and policy researchers can contribute evidence, case studies and review.

Read the scope of the field on the field overview and dependencies and consequences.
Propose a contribution through participation paths.
Follow method development on methods and uncertainty.
Report an error or a concern through corrections and concerns.

16Sources

Where this page’s references lead.

The bodies and documents this page is read against. Status and editions change; each link goes to the issuing body.

18Connected

Where this page leads across the Consortium.

19Questions

Questions and answers.

Who publishes Biotechnology and Biosecurity?

The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI) publishes the platform and answers for its content. GCRI is a research, development and policy institution; it is not a regulator, and it does not certify, license or approve.

Does the platform provide clinical or medical advice?

No. It is a research and biosafety practice platform, not a health-service provider or clinical authority.

Will the platform publish sensitive technical information?

No. The platform works at the level of governance, evaluation and risk methods. It publishes no protocols, techniques or information that would increase anyone’s capacity to cause harm.

Is the platform active?

Biotechnology and Biosecurity is an established platform: its scope and methods are published, and its activities, records and services appear here as each one opens. Information and enquiries are open today.

How can I contribute?

Start with the participation paths or write to the contact form. An enquiry receives a reference and names the next step; it does not create a role or an assignment.

ReportsContribute

Contribute evidence from this page.

Reports is the Consortium’s quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.

GCRIBiotechnology and BiosecurityExponential TechnologyEvidence Brief

Never send personal data, sensitive infrastructure detail or anything you have no right to share. A contribution is reviewed before use; sending it confers no authorship or editorial rights, and sponsorship never buys a finding.

How it works

How Biotechnology and Biosecurity works.

Choose a view and press Play to follow the platform’s process, its programme year, the standards it applies and how its findings are published. The outline shows how the work is designed to run, not the status of any decision.

Biotechnology and Biosecurity

How Biotechnology and Biosecurity works

Platforms · Programme year · Standards · Reports

A platform joins a field to named methods, labelled evidence and the outputs it publishes, without becoming the authority it serves.

01 Scope
1. 01Field and familiesStart · The platform leadThe home states the field, its families and who it serves.
2. 02Topic dossiersRecord · Platform authorsTopics explain the subject with labelled evidence.
02 Evidence
1. 03Evidence labelsRecord · GCRIEach value is labelled: observed, published statistics, estimated, modelled, scenario or unknown.
2. 04MethodsStep · Method ownersMethods come from the STEM Commons, each with one canonical page.
03 Work
1. 05Scenarios on the systemsModel · Foundry pillarScenarios run on the Nexus systems, labelled as scenario.
2. 06Standards that applyRecord · Nexus StandardsThe platform names the standards that apply. A validator report is evidence for review.
04 Publish
1. 07EditionsRecord · ReportsFindings are published through Reports with their limits.
2. 08Authority decidesOutcome · The competent authorityDecisions and execution stay with the government, operator or licensed institution.

Biotechnology and Biosecurity home · Platforms · Shared methodsAn outline of how the work is designed to run; it does not report the status of any decision or record.

Take part

Take part in Biotechnology and Biosecurity.

Start from who you are. Answer an open call. Or form and lead a competence cell on the Biotechnology and Biosecurity platform.

Route

National institutions

Ministries, statistics offices and agencies: a national desk and chapter, and a seat in the working groups. National chapters

Route

Sectors and professions

Operators, regulators, banks, insurers and professional bodies whose work touches Biotechnology and Biosecurity. Participate

Route

Learning

Courses and practice, with a record of every course completed. Free to study. Open learning

Route

Standards

Draft, review and adopt the methods and data standards with the working groups. Working groups

Route

Communities and research

Universities, civil society and individual experts: projects, data and review. Write to the team

Open call	Seeks	Closes
Founding call for experts to the working groups CALL-FOUNDING-EXPERTS	expert, editor, chair	2026-12-15
Open nomination for the three independent expert seats of the Global Standards Council CALL-GSC-IND	council-member	2026-12-01
Nominations of interim regional members (applies only if the transitional provision is decided) CALL-GSC-REG	council-member	2026-12-15
Review of the wave-1 risk core outlines (C1, C2, C3, C4, C8, C10, C11) CALL-REVIEW-WAVE1	contributor	2027-01-31
Experts for the core standards of risk science: uncertainty and evidence grading, scales, structured expert judgement, tolerability, extremes and compound events, catastrophic and existential risk, ethics and equity, units and measurement (NRS-C17 to NRS-C24) CALL-CORE-SCIENCE	expert, editor, chair	2027-01-31
Independent reviewers for the families of the hazard atlas, three from at least two regions for each family (NHS2-R19), priority families first CALL-ATLAS-REVIEW	expert	2027-03-31
Members of the interim Frontier Safety Review Panel and red-team reviewers (biosafety and biosecurity, AI safety and security, critical-infrastructure security); applications treated in confidence CALL-FRONTIER-SAFETY-REVIEW	expert	2026-11-30
Experts in ontology, metrology, software verification and conformity assessment for the requirement register, the NHS-2 machine representation, the conformance test suites and the conformity assessment scheme CALL-CONFORMANCE-ONTOLOGY	expert, editor	2027-01-31

Calls past their closing date are hidden automatically. Every call, proposal and route: open areas and calls.

The Global Risks Index

Every figure on this page is indexed: health, society, demography, West Africa.

The Index is the Consortium’s indexing system for risk data. Every indicator, hazard, series and country profile carries its Nexus Standards identifier, its source and its licence, so what this page shows can be traced, corrected and reused.

01 · Sources205 registered sourcesEvery value keeps its source and licence; withheld values are counted.Data and licences
02 · Nexus StandardsNIS-1 and NHS-1451 indicators, 905 hazards; every record carries a UNI.Nexus Standards
03 · The Index54 series, 195 country profilesComputed on the standards; no value is published until an edition is released.The Global Risks Index
04 · This pageBiotechnology and BiosecurityMaps, figures and feeds read the Index in the context of health, society, demography and West Africa.Public API

Sources205registered, each with its licence

Indicators451NIS-1, 106 composites, 20 domain indices

Hazards905NHS-1, crosswalked to UNDRR-ISC HIPs

Series54global, sector, strategic, technology, thematic

Country profiles195one site per country

Series in this context health, society, demography

GSGlobal DevelopmentPoverty, inequality, human development, demographic pressure and displacement as the ground on which shocks become losses.NXS-GRX-AR-000064Society · Demography · Health
GLBGlobal SystemsThe state of interdependent global risk: the twenty domain indices aggregated to the world, the five core systems (water, energy, food, health, biodiversity) and their couplings, the global tail register and the gap…NXS-GRX-AR-000002Society · Health · Demography
GSGlobal HealthHealth security capacity, epidemic emergence and spread, heat and air-quality burden, health system stress and access.NXS-GRX-AR-000062Health · Society · Demography
SRConflict, fragility and human securityConflict risk and escalation, fragility, organised violence, civilian harm and the conflict–climate–food–displacement nexus.NXS-GRX-AR-000075Demography · Society

All 54 series · The 20 domain indices

Country profiles West Africa

NGANigeria GHAGhana CIVCôte d’Ivoire SENSenegal GINGuinea BENBenin TGOTogo SLESierra Leone LBRLiberia BFABurkina Faso GNBGuinea-Bissau GMBGambia all country profiles

Every country profile carries the source and licence of each value. Correct a value or reply

Hazard domains NHS-1

Health and biosecurityNXS-GRX-AR-000143
Society, conflict and economyNXS-GRX-AR-000147

Geodata and API open

Open layers on an equal-area hexagon grid, shown as densities per km² or as symbols: People · GHSL 2025People · WorldPop 2025Built-up areaPortsAirportsRoadsRailwaysRivers and lake centrelines

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/api/v1/public/grix · https://nexustandards.com/uni/{uni}
Developers · Data · Made with Natural Earth, Public domain; GHSL and WorldPop, CC BY 4.0

Snapshot of the Index registries pinned 2026-10-23 · 22c6eed. Research and risk-analytics information: not a rating, an official classification, a warning, a benchmark or advice.

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Biotechnology and Biosecurity