Cells · Observatory Protocol

Observation and protocol cells

Teams that design, build and run observation on the open Observatory Protocol, from local sensors to shared data. Conformity support is evidence for review, never a certification.

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Cells · Observatory Protocol

What would you like to do?

Type

Each type comes with roles, a decision rule and a first project you can change later.

Cell type

Pick the type closest to your work. Everything can be changed later.

Teams on the ground

Research and learning

Data, systems and tools

Policy, standards and review

Mission and area

What the cell will do, where, and the first problem it takes on.

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Scale
The problem it works on

Roles and founders

You lead unless you choose someone else. Open roles show on the cell's page for others to take.

Email addresses or member names, one per line. Members get an invitation; others get an email to join.

Who holds each role (you lead unless you choose)
  • Lead
  • Data steward
  • Quality reviewer
  • Operations coordinator
  • Monitoring and learning lead
  • Safeguarding contact
  • Maintainer
  • Reviewer
  • Security contact
  • Secretary
  • Ethics contact
  • Panel chair
  • Integrity contact
  • Convenor
  • Editor
  • Host adviser
  • Deputy lead
  • Logistics coordinator
  • Rapporteur
  • Facilitator
  • Sector liaison
  • Independent methods reviewer

Host organisation

The organisation the cell works under. A network body can host it if you have none.

Charter

A starting charter from the type. The founders ratify it by a vote once the cell forms, and can amend it by proposal.

Safeguards on decisions
Who can join
Meets

Safeguarding

Who takes part

With members under 18, a safeguarding contact is named in Roles, and their names are never shown in public.

Find a cell

No cell is open to join here yet

Go back and choose "Form a cell" to start the first one.

Ask to join

What you bring and what you would like to do. An open cell lets you in at once; any other reads your note first.

Your organisation

The network body reviews the offer and lists the organisation as a host.

Cells it can host

Review and submit

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What a cell is

A small team with a mission, a host and a record

  • Mission-bound

    A cell forms under a host organisation for a defined mission, place and time, with the outcomes it aims for.

  • Roles you can show

    Every role in a cell becomes a credential the member holds, and the competence it needs is shown by evidence.

  • Decided and recorded

    The cell chooses its own decision rules and agreements. Every action is a recorded event anyone can verify.

  • Local to global

    A cell works at one scale, local, national, regional or global, and links with other cells into networks of cells.

Cell types

Start from a type that fits your work

Every type is interdisciplinary: it names the expertise and disciplines it draws on, so people from any field can find it and ask to join.

  • Data and observation cell

    Observation network cell

    Runs sensors or stations for a place and shares the readings openly under the protocol.

    • Earth observation and Earth system data
    • Data infrastructure, compute and semiconductors
    • Atmosphere and air chemistry

    3 or more membersDecides by consent (sociocratic objection rounds)

  • Field and operations cell

    Early warning cell

    Turns observations into local protocols and triggers with the partners who hold the authority to warn.

    • Early warning and anticipatory action
    • Disaster risk reduction
    • Humanitarian action and displacement

    4 or more membersDecides by advice process

  • Engineering and digital cell

    Protocol implementer cell

    Builds or adapts equipment and software to the Observatory Protocol and tests it in the open.

    • Digital public infrastructure and digital identity
    • Cybersecurity and digital resilience
    • Reliability, safety and resilience engineering

    3 or more membersDecides by advice process

  • Research cell

    Observation science cell

    Researches what to observe and how, and publishes methods and open datasets.

    • Risk governance and institutions
    • Multi-hazard and compound risk assessment
    • Foresight and futures

    3 or more membersDecides by consent (sociocratic objection rounds)

  • Review and assurance cell

    Data validation cell

    Checks readings and claims against the agreed quality rules and records the review, without certification.

    • Risk governance and institutions
    • AI assurance and audit

    6 or more membersDecides by supermajority

  • Standards cell

    Protocol specification cell

    Drafts and comments on changes to the protocol specification with its stewards.

    • Risk governance and institutions
    • Digital public infrastructure and digital identity
    • AI assurance and audit

    3 or more membersDecides by consensus with fallback

  • Youth, campus or chapter cell

    Community observers cell

    Neighbours, schools or clubs who observe their own place and contribute open data.

    • Capacity development and technical assistance
    • Community resilience and inclusion
    • Work, skills and occupational safety

    5 or more membersDecides by simple majority

  • Community emergency response team (CERT)

    Community emergency response team (CERT)

    Local preparedness and first response, informed by the observations of its place.

    • Preparedness, emergency and crisis management
    • Community resilience and inclusion
    • Early warning and anticipatory action

    5 or more membersDecides by advice process

  • Policy and advisory cell

    Observation policy cell

    Prepares evidence for public authorities on what to observe and how to share it, labelled as advice.

    • Risk-informed public policy
    • Risk governance and institutions
    • Foresight and futures

    3 or more membersDecides by consensus with fallback

  • Learning cell

    Observer training cohort

    Learns to install, run and read observation equipment safely.

    • Capacity development and technical assistance
    • Work, skills and occupational safety
    • Human development, poverty and inequality

    3 or more membersDecides by simple majority

  • Sector cell

    Sector observation cell

    Observes what one sector depends on, such as water, energy or food.

    • Health
    • Food
    • Water

    3 or more membersDecides by consent (sociocratic objection rounds)

  • Finance and risk transfer cell

    Trigger data cell

    Prepares the observation data a parametric trigger relies on. Nothing is priced or arranged.

    • Disaster risk finance
    • Actuarial science
    • Insurance, reinsurance and protection gaps

    3 or more membersDecides by supermajority

Find a cell

Cells are forming

Active cells on this network. Filter them, or draw an area on the map, then open one to see its mission and ask to join.

No cell is active here yet

Cells appear here once their core areas are done. Form the first one: it takes about two minutes and starts as a draft that only its members see.

Form a cell

How cells work here

Open, peer to peer and protected

  • A public good

    Forming and running a cell is free, outputs are open access by default, and nothing here is priced.

  • Peer to peer

    Members work directly with each other and with other cells, under the rules they adopt together.

  • Trust from records

    Nobody is trusted by default: roles are credentials, decisions and agreements are signed records, and each can be checked.

  • Protected

    Members under 18 are never listed in public and always have an adult safeguarding contact. Small numbers are never shown in public.

Across the networks

Cells under every organisation

Each network forms cells in its own field. A cell can work with cells of the other networks.

  • GCRI

    Nexus Competence Cells

    Institutionally hosted, mission-bounded expert units. They localise and operate risk capabilities, keep a record of everything they do, and incubate new work with partner institutions.

  • GRF

    Field and practice cells

    Working groups, practice communities and forum teams. They turn expert dialogue into shared readiness outputs across the councils, the sector and national forums and the annual programme.

  • GRA

    Alliance, sector and operations cells

    Teams of member institutions and experts who build shared understanding of systemic risk in financial services. They prepare evidence for finance readiness and never lend, underwrite, rate, invest, advise on or arrange transactions.

  • Nexus Standards

    Standards development cells

    Teams that draft, test and correct open standards in the open, with the technical committees. A validator report is evidence for review, never a conformance claim, and each jurisdiction decides what it adopts.

  • Risk Academy

    Learning-by-doing cells

    Cohorts, study groups and labs that learn by doing real risk work together. A completion record is a learning record: not a licence to practise and not an academic credential.

  • The Global Risks Index

    Index evidence cells

    Teams that bring evidence, corrections and local knowledge to the country risk indexes. An index value is not a rating, a risk signal is not verified risk, and every contribution is reviewed in public.

  • KCO

    Kurdish community cells

    Teams of members who organise where Kurdish communities live: city chapters, language circles, heritage, civic voice and mutual support. Cells are for adults; younger members can follow them but not join.

  • IDCDC

    Iranian diaspora cells

    Teams of members who organise where Iranian diaspora communities live: city chapters, language circles, heritage, civic voice and mutual support. Cells are for adults; younger members can follow them but not join.