How do we Prosper Even in Crises?
Having not yet dealt with the fallout of the Covid Pandemic, Europe is faced with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Additionally, a changing global climate and struggling economies create further hardship for many. Individuals, worrying for their future, demand from their representatives to act. Mostly, however, politics and civil society find themselves merely reacting to the most immediate shocks.
The challenge of the day is to build crisis resilience for our following generations. In this, the role of demographic researchers is to collect, analyse and cross-reference population data over time. To support policy-making for a better future – not without hardship, but prepared.
“FutuRes: Towards a Resilient Future of Europe” is funded by the European Union's Horizon Europe Research and Innovation programme. It is directed by Prof. Arnstein Aassve of Bocconi University in Milan, one of Europe’s leading experts on crisis resilience.
Objective
FutuRes brings together a transdisciplinary group of experts to identify policies for the resilience of Europe’s ageing population. Research will happen in three steps: First, a policy-oriented framework on “resilience” in the context of ageing is built, including a robust terminology and a definition of “resilience” which can be employed in transdisciplinary research; Second, three teams of demographers will draw from data to identify the factors which promote resilience in individuals. They will classify these factors within the contexts of a) social inequalities b) fertility and b) migration behaviours; Third, the findings will feed into economic models that feed into scenarios for societal resilience reaching several decades ahead. From the findings, the project will generate policy recommendations.
What is exceptional about FutuRes: a dialogue with the public is underway from the very beginning. “Behind us are the days when researchers simply presented their findings at the very end of a project”, says Prof. Aassve. Alongside its research, Futures develops the FutuRes Policy Lab, where scientists will engage with politics, civil society and the public. Rather than a teaching moment, the FutuRes Policy Lab is a resilience incubator, where research is shaped by researchers and stakeholders together. This will happen through a series of larger and smaller events across all three years.
More about FutuRes on the Project Website, as well as on Twitter and LinkedIn.