On the epistemology of crises and disasters Passed
Wednesday September 22, 2021 13:30 - 14:40 F
Workshop leaders: Evangelia Petridou, Jörgen Sparf
Presenters: Evangelia Petridou, Jörgen Sparf, Kari Pihl, Luc Rombout, Olof Oscarsson, Olov Hemmingsson
- Crisis-as-practice: Conceptualizing the role of everyday work practices in crisis management, Olof Oscarsson
- I became TRANS, how about you. - On transdisciplinarity and opening windows, Luc Rombout
- Designing Immersive Simulation Exercises: Evidence from an Experimental Study, Evangelia Petridou, Jörgen Sparf, Olov Hemmingsson, Kari Pihl
Panel description
The increasing and constantly evolving wickedness of extraordinary events requires sophisticated methodologies, agile and nuanced enough to adapt to a shifting societal context. What is more, the interdisciplinary character of crises, emergencies, and disasters, not to mention the teams researching them calls for methodological pluralism. In this panel, we take a pragmatic methodological approach. Pragmatism addresses the “so what” and the “what does it matter” of research and “…unstiffens all our theories, limbers them up and sets each one at work” (James, 1907/2014, p. 63). It offers the bridge from theory to practice and considers the practical implications on the ones who are being researched. Encompassing elements from positivism and constructivism, it allows for the usage of both qualitative and quantitative methods, depending on the kind of data collected. In this panel, we welcome papers addressing methodological issues in disaster, crisis, and emergency management research, regardless the orientation of the method itself or the data collected. We especially welcome innovative research designs such as experimental, interpretative or narrative, in addition to mixed methods and survey research.
James, W. (1907/2014). Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking Retrieved from https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/j/james/william/pragmatism/index.html
Lecturers
Evangelia Petridou Workshop leader
Associate Professor
Mid Sweden University
Jörgen Sparf Workshop leaderOrganizer
Associate Professor
Mid Sweden University
Evangelia Petridou Presenter
Associate Professor
Mid Sweden University
Jörgen Sparf PresenterOrganizer
Associate Professor
Mid Sweden University
Kari Pihl Presenter
Mid Sweden University, RCR Simulation Lab
Luc Rombout Presenter
PhD researcher / Practitioner
Antwerp University
My career in Crisis Management started in 1990 in the field of international geo-political crisis management and disaster response.
For several years this involved a combination of academic, commercial and operational work as Emergency Planning & Operations Coordinator of Ghent University (Belgium).
I was involved in crisis management projects from Norway to Northern Africa and in diverse domains ranging from anti-terrorism over floods, pandemics, CBRN incidents to business continuity.
In 2020 I returned to academics to do PhD research in the field of optimisation of crisis management decision making.
My primary field of research interest is into the transdisciplinary complementary interaction of man, group, decision making technique, information, incident and scenario to determine critical factors in crisis management quality.
I am currently also Head of Disaster Relief & Crisis Management for Rotary BeLux (Belgium-Luxemburg) in response to the massive floods that hit Belgium in July 2021.
Olof Oscarsson Presenter
PhD student
Mid Sweden University, RCR
Olov Hemmingsson Presenter
Mittuniversitetet