NASA’s approach to Risk, Culture and Leadership – Some insights
13th January 2026, 19:00 to 20:00 GMT
Overview
This webinar will provide a fascinating look inside how NASA manages risk, ensures that its culture supports safe human spaceflight and provides extraordinary leadership to explore the unknown.
Aims
To explore NASA’s approach to risk management and safety culture, demonstrating how effective leadership fosters an environment where every team member’s expertise is recognised, encouraged, and leveraged to enhance safe and reliable performance
Learning Objectives
By the end of this webinar, attendees should be able to:
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Understand the universality of risk
To recognise that risk is an inherent feature of all complex systems and tasks including across aerospace, healthcare, and other high-stakes environments.
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Examine the role of leadership in shaping safety culture
To understand how expert leadership develops, nurtures and sustains a robust safety culture that supports effective risk management.
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Apply cross-industry lessons to healthcare practice
To identify practical insights from NASA’s approach to safety and teamwork and to consider how leaders in health and care can empower teams, enhance organisational learning and reduce the risk of harm.
Panellists
Our panellists include:
Dr Nigel Packham
Dr. Nigel Packham recently retired from NASA after almost 35 years at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, the last 17 of which were as the Associate Director for Safety and Mission Assurance. He started his career in the Engineering Directorate working as a subject matter expert in Space Shuttle and International Space Station life support systems. He then went on to lead a team of scientists and engineers to ensure the quality of spacecraft environments from the water, air, microbiological, radiation and acoustic perspectives.
Dr. Packham is a world-renowned speaker on the Columbia accident and how NASA manages risk in the ever-expanding world of human spaceflight.
Manoj Kumar
Education Lead for the Patient Safety Group and Course Director for the Team-Based Quality Reviews (TBQR) Course at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, where he also serves as a Regional Surgical Ambassador.
He is a faculty member and Convenor for the Non-Technical Skills for Surgeons (NOTSS) course. He is a Consultant General and Upper GI Surgeon and Associate Director of Medical Education at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
CPD
1 Hour
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Recording
A recording of the webinar will be made available on this page in the days following the live broadcast.
