Crisis Management and Collaboration

Center for Crisis Management and Collaboration

We prioritize practice-oriented research based on real crises and exercises—both at Nordlab’s training facilities and in external settings—to contribute to safer communities and strengthen trust in research results. We develop research projects in close cooperation with actors in preparedness and emergency collaboration, with particular emphasis on complexity, risk and vulnerability, learning in preparedness exercises, crisis management, and risk understanding. Through this work, we contribute to research in the High North and increase knowledge about preparedness, competence, and capacity in northern regions. We promote interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research and facilitate forward-looking knowledge development that meets future needs in preparedness and societal security.

To achieve its goals, the research group organizes seminars on preparedness and societal security, develops collaborations with industry and emergency management actors, and fosters cooperation across academic groups and disciplines during project development. Members of the research group work within a range of thematic areas, including maritime preparedness, municipal preparedness, nuclear preparedness, wildland fire preparedness, health preparedness, and self-preparedness. Key fields include emergency management, preparedness analysis, emergency organizations and systems, resilience and robustness, situational awareness and human factors, decision-making and risk perception, climate adaptation, organizational learning, team training, trust, and complexity. The group actively contributes to exercise planning and quality assurance in several study programs at Nord University, including the master’s program in Preparedness and Crisis Management, as well as life-long learning education programs in municipal preparedness, health preparedness, wildland fire preparedness, and preparedness in fisheries and aquaculture.

Internationally, the research group leads the UArctic Thematic Network “Arctic Safety and Security”; participates in CONRIS - a European network of universities focusing on emergency preparedness, risk, and societal security; and takes part in the Student Arctic Collaboration (formerly Student Barents Rescue), the Arctic Six Alliance, and SEA-EU, the alliance of coastal universities in Europe.

The research group consists of specialists from Nordlab and staff from the academic group “Marketing, Organization and Management.”