Dr Luisa Cortesi has won a prestigious Veni grant to study how people in Europe experiencing first-time disruptive flooding deal with their new circumstances.
The personal grant (of up to €320,000) will allow Cortesi to develop her research over the next three years.
The premise of her research - 'From flood-prone to flood-ready: Environmental learning in first-time flood-affected urban Europe' - argues that going through a disaster is a profound, life-changing experience that compels one to suddenly rethink the forces of nature to which one is subjected.
To explore this pivotal moment that can lead to adaptation, Cortesi will examine how people in Europe experiencing first-time disruptive flooding learn to live in their new circumstances.
With an ethnographic, reflexive and reciprocal research approach, she will support local learning processes through community events (RiverFestivals) including the self-production of disaster management guidelines.
Unpacking environmental knowledge formation will advance understanding of adaptation mechanisms and contribute to bottom-up disaster intervention policies, especially relevant as floods are expected to aggravate.
- Assistant professor
- Related content
