Sensitivity analysis is more and more frequently adopted by scientists to understand numerical models that are employed to simulate and predict natural and social-economic phenomena. Sensitivity analysis is the study of how the variation in the output of a model can be apportioned, qualitatively or quantitatively, to different sources of variation.
Scientists at the JRC’s Institute for the Protection and Security of the Citizen (IPSC) have been working on developing a new paradigm for sensitivity analysis, called global sensitivity analysis. The most recent evidence for the world wide recognition of the innovative methodologies developed at the JRC has been the invitation by the prestigious Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL, New Mexico) to Marco Ratto and Stefano Tarantola to hold a two-day training course on Global Sensitivity Analysis and Uncertainty Quantification (GSA-UQ). The course, held in Santa Fe on 18-19 November 2009, attracted 35 senior researchers from LANL, Sandia Labs (Albuquerque) and Lawrence Livermore National Lab (Livermore, California) involved in research and technology for national security related projects.