Integrating Knowledge Management and Human-Factor Risk Mitigation into Project Governance for Large Scientific and Space Infrastructures

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Large research infrastructures such as ITER and CERN, as well as big-science space projects within ESA, operate under long planning horizons, complex system interdependencies, multi-stakeholder interfaces, and high-consequence risk environments. In these contexts, human-factor mitigation and knowledge management implementation strategies become structural components of project governance rather than support functions. This contribution presents a technical framework tested within the Large Research Infrastructure Projects to address three recurrent challenges observed across large-scale scientific and space programmes: • Variability in knowledge retention across a multigenerational workforce; • Insufficient capture and transfer of tacit expertise; • Performance degradation linked to motivation gaps, inadequate intergenerational knowledge-transfer mechanisms, and the insufficient fostering of collaboration strategies, factors quantitatively confirmed through a two-wave survey across workforce age groups (20–50+), and consistent with findings previously reported to the IAEA during the International Conference on Nuclear Knowledge Management and Human Resources Development (1–5 July 2024, Vienna, Austria). The proposed approach embeds knowledge management and people management directly into Project Management cycles through the following project-integrated framework: • Risk-based tacit knowledge capture: mentoring, shadowing, structured technical walkthroughs prioritizing high-criticality know-how; • People-factor diagnostics: workload, communication, and motivation assessments to reduce knowledge-flow bottlenecks and PM-critical friction; • Structured onboarding + controlled documentation: ensuring configuration consistency and stable reporting across engineering units and suppliers; • Governance alignment mechanisms: linking knowledge management to risk registers, reporting cycles, decision log updates, and supplier-interface processes. Preliminary outcomes…