Looking back and looking forward: a successful year for the Social Resilience & Security programme
With the start of the new academic year, the Social Resilience & Security programme proudly presents their yearbook. In the yearbook, you read about the programme’s interdisciplinary research building bridges between institutes, its educational activities such as the new Minor ‘Violence Studies’ and its ways of co-creating research with the public to make society more resilient and secure.
How to transect disciplinary boundaries?
What are the mechanisms of adolescent resilience, how does uncertainty impact behavior, and what are the key drivers are of violence in society? Finding answers to these questions requires operating across interdisciplinary borders. Hence, collaboration between different fields of expertise is key for the programme. To bring researchers together on these cross-disciplinary topics, five faculties are part of the programme and team up to organise seminars, workshops and symposia. Also, the programme developed a new minor ‘Violence Studies’ and is developing a masters track, in which students approach the subject ‘’interpersonal violence’’ from different disciplines.
Building bridges between research and society
The programme aims to build bridges between its research and society. To do so, the programme has set up its own outreach and engagement platform: BrainTrain. Read more about the BrainTrain platform and discover how the programme exchanges perspectives and experiences with societal stakeholders.
Moving forward
In the following years, the programme will continue to expand its focus and learn from inspiring colleagues from the five faculties involved. For instance, the new research stream ‘’Suicide’’ is included in the programme. The programme encourages young academics to become affiliated with its projects and invite them to apply for seed funding. The aim of this funding opportunity is to boost interdisciplinary research. Find out more about the programme’s road ahead in the 2021 - 2022 yearbook.
Social resilience and security has never been more important than now. Over the last two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has created a considerable disturbance to our personal and social lives. As a result, the general population reports more stress, loneliness and decreased quality of life. At the same time, there has been a sharp increase in suicidality and violence. For instance, rates of child maltreatment, and intimate partner violence have increased, and over the last year, adolescent suicidality has increased by 15%.
The Social Resilience & Security programme seeks to improve social resilience and security through a focus the following topics: Adolescent risk and Resilience, Uncertainty and Violence in Society. Multi- and interdisciplinary approaches are needed to fully understand their etiology, underlying mechanisms and societal impact. Hence, the programme aims to promote lateral thinking and borrowing and exchanging tools from a variety of disciplines, in order to make significant steps in research. To make this happen, researchers in our programme work together in teams from across the Social Sciences, Governance and Global Affairs, Law, Archaeology, and Humanities.