GCRI · Programmes
Guilds and communities of practice
Guilds are proposed communities of practice: people who share a competence, such as geospatial analysis, hydrological modelling or research software, and keep it strong across countries and projects. The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI) would host them beside its working groups. A guild becomes active only when its charter is approved. None is approved yet. Part of GCRI programmes.
01Workspace
The workspace for guilds and communities of practice.
GCRI · GCRI · Programme portfolioIllustrative
GCRI · Programme portfolio. Programme portfolio: example names and illustrative values, not a record.
02Purpose
What a guild is designed to do.
Competence
Shared practice
Keep methods, tools and quality expectations consistent for one competence across countries.
Mentoring
Learning
Pair experienced practitioners with newer ones, linked to the working-group learning pathways.
Review
Peer challenge
Offer peer review of work products within the guild’s competence.
03Charter
What an approved charter contains.
- 01
Competence boundary
The competence the guild covers, and where it stops.
- 02
Stewards
Named stewards with declared interests and a term.
- 03
Contribution rules
How people join, contribute and leave, with no fee for ordinary participation.
- 04
Quality and conduct
Review expectations, conduct rules and a complaints route.
04Process
How the process runs.
Process
Guilds and communities of practice: Programme through eight gates
The Global Risks Forum (GRF) records eight yearly gates, each a programme decision; a gate not passed stops its work, and the competent authority decides outside.
01 Q1 · Planning
- 01G0 · Annual programme authorisedGate · The Global Risks ForumGRF authorises the annual mandate. It never sets a national agenda.
- 03Route the candidate mission to standardsStep · Nexus StandardsNexus Standards routes each candidate mission to the standards and profiles that apply.
02 Q2 · Readiness and build
- 04G1 · Missions admittedGate · The Global Risks ForumGRF admits missions with reasons recorded. It cannot admit a mission without an accountable owner.
- 05G2 · Data and resources qualifiedGate · The Global Risks ForumReadiness preparation closes when data, people and resources are qualified.
- 06G3 · Build accepted for exerciseGate · The Global Risks ForumGRF records whether the build is accepted for exercise. A gate not passed stops the work it governs.
03 Q3 · Action Week
- 07G4 · Controlled live operation authorisedGate · The Global Risks ForumGRF authorises controlled live operation for Action Week.
- 08G5 · Evidence sealed and stand-down recordedGate · The Global Risks ForumThe evidence is sealed with its provenance and the stand-down is recorded.
04 Q4 · Reporting and renewal
- 02Competent authority decides and actsActor · The competent authorityThe competent authority decides and acts under its own rules. The programme informs it and never decides for it.
- 09Scientific and editorial reviewStep · Reviewers and the publisherQualified, conflict-managed reviewers and the publisher decide what is accepted. Institutions cannot decide a scientific conclusion.
- 10G6 · Publication authorisedGate · The Global Risks ForumGRF authorises publication of results that have passed scientific and editorial review. It cannot publish personal data.
- 11G7 · Renewal reviewedGate · The Global Risks ForumGRF reviews renewal and sets the next cycle’s mandate.
The programme year · The Global Risks Forum · Decision rightsDesigned programme process, not a record of operation. No cycle has run and every programme is at service level R0. A gate is a programme decision, never a public-authority approval, certification or deployment authorisation.
05Relationship
How guilds relate to working groups.
National Working Groups (NWG) carry out assigned work for a country programme. Guilds would cut across countries and keep a competence healthy. A person can belong to both. See Working groups and Learning and courses.
- Guild membership is not a qualification, licence or employment.
- A guild has no authority over national programmes or their work.
06Examples
Competences a guild could form around.
Guilds are designed around competences that recur across fields and countries. Examples from the STEM Commons: geospatial systems, hydrology, extreme value theory, research software engineering, scenario design and stress testing, and AI evaluation and assurance. These illustrate scope. They are not guilds that exist.
Method pages for each competence are in the STEM Commons.
07Status
No approved guild yet.
Information and enquiries are open today. Practitioners interested in founding or joining a guild can write to the expert application form. Financial professionals have separate communities at The Global Risks Alliance (GRA); see its Specialist risk communities.
08Questions
Questions and answers.
Can I join a guild now?
No guild charter is approved yet. You can register interest and receive a reference.
Does a guild certify its members?
No. Guild membership is not a certification, licence or professional qualification.
Do guild members need to belong to a country programme?
No. A guild would cut across countries. Members of National Working Groups could also join a guild, and others could join on the guild’s published contribution rules.
Who approves a guild charter?
The Secretariat records approval after review of the charter’s scope, stewards and conduct rules. The approval record is published with the charter.
The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation
Bring a method, a dataset or a question.
Information and enquiries are open today. An enquiry receives a reference and names the next step; applications, payments, compute allocations and registrations open only when their team, terms and review capacity exist.
Legal
Legal documents.
Maps, data and figures on this site are shown for context and general information. They are not advice, forecasts or warnings; the limits of the information are set out in the Disclaimers and Data Notices.