The multinational consortium project titled ‘Building European Communities’ Resilience and Social Capital’ (BuildERS, EU Horizon 2020, 2019-2021) aims to bring local and international governance levels together for more effective resilience in the face of increasingly complex disasters. Too often, EU and UN governance on disaster risk reduction ignores the realities of local communities, including the key factors that boost – or detract from – community resilience when disaster strikes. Prior research on vulnerability and the degree of harm to local populations during disasters (natural or human-made) show disproportionate effects within populations. The economically disadvantaged and elderly, for instance, are particularly harshly affected.

BuildERS will improve our knowledge of these risk reduction dynamics by focusing on three research elements: 1) risk perceptions, risk awareness and social trust; 2) institutional settings including organisational architectures, capacities and cultures of collaboration and shared values; 3) tools, processes and methods to enhance resilience-building, social capital and coping skills.

SU project member: Mark Rhinard

Link to project website: https://buildersproject.eu