Nordic Fire and Rescue Services, Problem solving in the 21st Century

Societal change is accelerating through continued rapid population growth and significant changes in demographics, technological advances, and increasing interconnectedness between various infrastructures. Together with climate change and a new global security situation these trends will inevitably lead to a change in the risk landscape. One of the key actors that has to deal with such change is the Fire and Rescue Services. These organisations are both governed by, and dependent on, formal and informal networks. There is a clear risk that these formal and informal networks are slow to recognise and adjust to a rapidly changing world, which could inhibit the application of new technology or the translation of national and international directives to local implementation, ultimately leading to inefficient handling of crises. This project will study existing formal and informal networks in the Nordic context, how they are established and used throughout the whole emergency management life-cycle including prevention, preparedness, response and recovery. Based on sociometrics, qualitative methods and tools from active network theory and social network theory, this project will develop strategies to proactively change emergency management networks in support of a future risk landscape.

Societal change is accelerating through continued rapid population growth and significant changes in demographics, technological advances, and increasing interconnectedness between various infrastructures. Together with climate change and a new global security situation these trends will inevitably lead to a change in the risk landscape. One of the key actors that has to deal with such change is the Fire and Rescue Services. These organisations are both governed by, and dependent on, formal and informal networks. This project will study existing formal and informal networks in the Nordic context, how they are established and used throughout the whole emergency management life-cycle including prevention, preparedness, response and recovery.