The most prestigious European scientific grant at the Institute for Social Research in Zagreb

Dr Karin Doolan, from the Institute for Social Research in Zagreb, has been awarded a prestigious European Research Council (ERC) consolidator project worth €1,977,855. The five-year project titled Reimagining Schools through a Post-Disaster Lens (RESADL) brings to Croatia one of the most competitive European scientific grants, and for the first time in the field of social sciences.

About the Project

Climate and weather extremes are becoming increasingly frequent and intense. According to reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, every region of the world will face further increases in climate-related hazards in the near future. Acknowledging this warning, the project investigates the roles of schools in the aftermath of disasters caused by natural hazards and explores what explains the variation in how schools operate in post-crisis locations across Europe. The planned research will be carried out in schools and local communities in six European countries that have recently been affected by disasters triggered by natural hazards: Spain and Germany by floods in 2024, Slovenia and Greece by floods in 2023, and Türkiye and Croatia by earthquakes in 2023 and 2020.

Significance of the Project

Securing an ERC project represents one of the highest recognitions of individual scientific excellence and a major step forward for the advancement of educational research on disasters both in Croatia and globally. The RESADL project brings together themes of climate crisis, education, local communities, and social solidarity, opening up space to rethink schools as key actors in addressing future societal challenges.