Leaders and managers need to understand the developing threats to individuals, societies, organisations and programs.  They need to know how to reduce the probability and impact of such threats; and they need to build organisations and systems which are robust and resilient. The Institute provides education, training and resilience-focused workshops and seminars with the aim of increasing the knowledge and skills of individual leaders and managers.

The need for such education and training has already been identified at a range of levels from short vocational training courses up to masters-level education.  The Institute works with other organisations which specialise in vocational training, but its main emphasis is on post-graduate education and the training of professional managers who need to apply rigorous academic thought to practical problems in their sector, and wish to acquire the necessary knowledge to analyse threats and to build resilient organisations and systems.

Degree courses are conducted by the four partner universities in Adelaide and off-campus through distance learning.  Short courses, workshops and seminars are held at convenient locations in Australia, although some are delivered in the countries of South East Asia and the Pacific Rim - particularly those dealing with humanitarian resilience subjects.

The Institute draws heavily on existing courses and teaching by the four partner universities.  Cranfield University, for example, delivers an MSc in Resilience aimed at professional managers of the local authorities, emergency services, international organisations, commercial companies, non-governmental organisations and the armed forces.