P33 Strengthening Civic Engagement, Citizen Interactions and Social Capital in relation to Emergency Services: Issues, Challenges and Opportunities

Panel Chairs

Corresponding & Review Group Chair

Prof. Paresh Wankhade, Edge Hill University, UK. Email: Paresh.Wankhade@edgehill.ac.uk 

Co-chairs

Informal inquries about abstracts or the panel can be made to:

Prof. Peter Murphy, Nottingham Trent University, UK, Email: peter.murphy@ntu.ac.uk

Dr.  Lucia Velotti, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, USA. Email: lvelotti@jjay.cuny.edu

Mrs Katarzyna Lakoma, Nottingham Trent University, UK, Email: katarzyna.Lakoma@ntu.ac.uk

Panel Details:  

Emergency services, globally, are dealing with complex societal pressures such as an ageing population, migrations or other socioeconomic factors, while coping with significant reductions in operational budgets and increasing demand for their services.  The relationship between citizen-government interaction, civic engagement, and social capital within emergency services is intricate and deeply interconnected. Effective interaction between citizens and government builds trust improves accountability and ensures transparency in the operations of emergency services. When citizens trust their government, they are more likely to follow guidelines and cooperate during disasters and emergencies. Similarly, regular interaction allows for feedback from citizens on the effectiveness of emergency services, leading to improvements and better resource allocation. Through such interactions, governments can educate citizens about emergency procedures, preparedness, and available services, which enhances community and individual resilience. Civic engagement often includes volunteer efforts that support emergency services, such as community emergency response teams and spontaneous volunteers.

Civic engagement therefore enables communities to advocate for better emergency services, policies, and funding, ensuring that local needs are met. Similarly, building social capital helps to create strong community networks that can provide immediate support and resources during emergencies, such as shelter, food, and information, thus fostering a sense of solidarity and mutual reciprocity, which is critical for recovery and rebuilding during post-emergency and response to a crisis. In summary, citizen-government interaction, civic engagement, and social capital collectively enhance the efficiency, effectiveness, and resilience of emergency services. Addressing these issues requires a joined-up approach involving stakeholders, providers, technology experts, government agencies and academics to successfully navigate the hybridisation of modern emergency services.

We welcome submissions of a 500-word abstract on the theme of “Strengthening Civic Engagement, Citizen Interactions and Social Capital" in the context of emergency services in addition to other themes including:

• Challenges of multi-agency cooperation and interoperability
• Building theoretical and methodological foundations for research, and professional development
• System re-design and associated challenges
• Strengthening civic engagement and social capital
• Organisational resilience and service delivery 
• Designing effective strategies for citizen-government interactions 
• Building community and organisational capacities and citizen interactions
• Organisational culture and culture change
• Improving wellbeing and resilience of emergency service workers
• Flexible working and workplaces

This panel follows the successful panels at IRSPM since 2017 on the leadership and management of the emergency services. At the 2024 Conference in Helsinki, 12 papers were presented at the panel. Prof. Wankhade and Prof. Murphy have vast experiences in running emergency management at the EGPA and Academy of Management (Critical Management Studies) conferences, EURAM (since 2015), BAM (2016, 2019) and PAC (since 2009) conferences. The panel chairs have published widely on this subject area.  Prof. Wankhade is also the Editor-In-Chief of the International Journal of Emergency Services,  IJES (https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/journal/ijes?id=IJES ), an Emerald publication. Katarzyna Lakoma is the Editorial Assistant and Prof. Murphy has also served as the editor to IJES. A special Issue of IJES, guest edited by Profs. Murphy and Velotti, was published in Feb 2020 (Vol.9, Issue 1) from the papers submitted at the IRSPM 2018 Conference in Edinburgh.

Best Paper Award

Emerald Group Publishing and the International Journal of Emergency Services (IJES) will sponsor the best paper award at the panel. For more information on IJES and submission guidelines, please go to:

http://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/products/journals/journals.htm?id=IJES