International Workshop organized by Coastal Resilience research group, 
University of Groningen

‘Resilience – just do it?!
Governing for resilience in vulnerable places’

Groningen, the Netherlands, 9 and 10 October 2014
Open Call for Abstracts Deadline May 23rd 2014

The term ‘resilience’ has remarkably quickly gained currency in academia as well as in practice and is nowadays widely promoted as a promising concept to deal with shocks and uncertainties in the face of environmental, social and economic crises. However, there remains ‘an apparent gap between the advocacy of socio-ecological resilience in the scientific literature and its take-up as a policy discourse on the one hand, and the demonstrated capacity to govern for resilience in practice on the other’ (Wilkinson 2012: 319). The international workshop ‘Resilience: Just do it?!’ aims to bring the resilience discussion a step forward: from ‘defining’ resilience to ‘doing’ resilience – from concept to action while keeping a critical lens on ethical, social and political issues at stake. The further aim is to bring researchers and practitioners with different (levels of) expertise together to discuss the ways they conceptualize and use resilience. The international workshop ‘Resilience: Just do it?!’ provides space for both, making a start with ‘doing’ resilience as well as critically discussing it and is therefore divided into two interconnected parts: 1) a more practice-oriented field trip and interactive working sessions part and 2) a theory-oriented presentation and discussion part.

The number of participants is limited to a maximum of 40. PhD candidates, early career researchers as well as senior researchers and practitioners are welcome to participate.

Costs
There will be no charge for participation at the workshop and lunch will be provided. Participants are expected to arrange their own travel and accommodation (information and special offers will be provided on our web-page after the selection process is completed). Thanks to the RGS Planning and Environment Research Group (PERG), we are able to provide a small workshop scholarship (accommodation free of charge) for three participants. If you wish to be considered for the workshop scholarship please write a short motivation for why you wish to participate in the workshop and an explanation of why you are a good candidate to receive the scholarship.

Workshop themes (please indicate in your abstract which track you would like to participate in)
Track 1. How to govern for resilience? (keynote: Richard Sliuzas)
Track 2. The social side of resilience (keynote: Iain Biggs)
Track 3. Disaster management and disaster recovery (keynote: Steve Platt)
Track 4. Risk communication, public participation and capacity building (keynote: Natasa Manojlovic)

Important dates
May 23rd, 2014: Deadline for submission of abstracts (400 words max.)
June 30th, 2014: Notification of acceptance
September 26th, 2014: Deadline for submission of full conference papers (8000 words max.)

Output
The output of the conference will be an edited book with selected articles from the workshop, a networking document and an event webpage. A workshop report will be submitted to an academic journal by the organizing committee. Furthermore, the workshop and the contacts acquired during the workshop will form a basis for submitting joint project proposals in the future.

Details for submitting abstracts, and further workshop details: http://www.rug.nl/research/ursi/research-projects/coastal-resilience/international-workshop/ & e-mail: [log in to unmask]

Contact
Coastal Resilience Research Group, Faculty of Spatial Sciences, University of Groningen
Faculty of Spatial Sciences
University of Groningen
Email: [log in to unmask]
Website: http://www.rug.nl/research/ursi/research-projects/coastal-resilience/
Tel: +31 (0)50 363 3885

The workshop is supported by: Faculty of Spatial Sciences, University of Groningen; NETHUR – Netherlands
Graduate School of Urban and Regional Research; the RGS Planning and Environment Research Group (PERG).

See also:  http://www.rug.nl/research/ursi/research-projects/coastal-resilience/international-workshop/