On May 7 2025, over 50 leaders from science, policy, and finance convened in Washington, DC, for a high-level workshop titled From Insights to Impact, aimed at refining the Resilience Science Must-Knows. This is a set of distilled, evidence-based insights designed to guide effective, coordinated action in the face of accelerating climate disruption.
Co-organised by the Stockholm Resilience Centre, Global Resilience Partnership, Future Earth, the Atlantic Council’s Climate Resilience Centre, and the Resilience Hub, the workshop emphasized making resilience science practical and accessible.
The Resilience Science Must-Knows aim to distill complex academic research into key messages that are clear, relevant, and ready to use, laying the foundation for an additional policy report, the Road to Action, to support decision-making across sectors.
The workshop marked a pivotal moment in advancing science-based action on resilience, fostering mutual learning and co-creation among experts to address the complexities of a warming climate, rising inequality, and increasing geopolitical instability.
Participants were first introduced to a long list of 13 draft Must-Knows that were organized into four categories: what resilience is, why it matters, what fosters it, and what needs to be considered. Through an interactive ranking process, six of the Must-Knows were prioritized for deeper exploration. These covered everything from the importance of anticipatory capacity to the role of inclusive finance.
In the second part of the workshop, the focus shifted to implementation. Participants were invited to select two Must-Knows they felt faced the greatest barriers in their work and explore why. Discussions revealed persistent tensions: between short-term profits and long-term resilience, between global frameworks and local realities, and between data-driven decisions and the need for inclusive, justice-oriented approaches.
Participants emphasized that building resilience requires a shift from reactive responses to proactive investments, from siloed efforts to systemic thinking, and from top-down mandates to community-driven innovation.
The feedback gathered at the workshop will go directly to the editorial board, who will integrate it into their ongoing work of revising the Resilience Science Must-Knows.
