Engaging volunteers in aid work is an unavoidable and existentially important component of disaster aid and recuperation. In spite of this paramount importance, scarcely any attention has been given to the idea that volunteerism is an independent and influential factor in vulnerability and resilience to extreme situations. At the same time, the knowledge of the dangers from, and the possibility of being affected by, disaster is an essential motivation for the involvement of potential volunteer helpers. As a result, the overarching goal of the group project INVOLVE is to investigate vulnerability and volunteerism in an integrated research design covering multiple cross-cultural perspectives. The research conclusively aims to strengthen various form of civil engagement, to reduce vulnerability, and to boost resilience.

In the sub-project TIV-MILIEU, the Disaster Research Unit (DRU) is developing an integrated and transdisciplinary conceptual framework for evaluating the vulnerability and resilience to extreme events. Hereby, the project also recognizes and highlights the connection between vulnerability/resilience and civil engagement, with the intention of supporting volunteer engagement in a more concise manner. By analyzing the two core concepts behind this constellation of vulnerability/resilience and volunteerism, namely that of “suffering” and “helping,” the project aims to build a social scientific reference portfolio an approach will be developed. This approach will be developed for and applied to three socio-spatial entities, being: mega-regional space, city space, and rural space. The findings of said investigation aim to serve as aid in the development, evaluation, and betterment of strategies and training for key actors in disaster management.

The following goals are being pursued as per the sub-project’s framework:

1. The initiation of intercultural learning processes between India and Germany so as to acquire a greater and deeper understanding of vulnerability and resilience
2. The bringing of relevant stakeholders, and above all the civil population, into the research process so as their needs and specific forms of knowledge are taken account of. Likewise the project aims to facilitate the creation of a public conscience, as well as guarantee the realization, the practical-capability, and the lasting effectivity of the strategies and solutions developed.
3. The development of an understanding of the formational processes and (re)production conditions within the specific social context on the milieu-level, in which said understanding is seen as the first essential step in being able to reduce the susceptibility to damaging effects through the utilization of customized, sustainable, effective solutions.
4. The identification of resilience strengthening factors (both for adaptation and recuperation capacities) within various milieus as well as the identification of factors which contribute to a boosting the motivation for volunteer engagement.
5. The identification of regional differences between the various research areas: mega-regional space, city space, rural space.
6. The problem-specific improvement of training concepts and forms from the end users (especially the German Red Cross) with a special focus on the needs the actors and those affected.

Results

• Ausstellung "Was(ser) bleibt? - Lokale und wissenschaftliche Perspektiven auf die Flut 2013 im Elbe-Havel-Land" in Schönhausen, siehe auch: https://www.geo.fu-berlin.de/geog/fachrichtungen/anthrogeog/katastrophenforschung/aktuelles/news/20180609_Austellung_Was_ser__bleibt_.html
• Sonderausstellung im Bismarck Museum Schönhausen
• Flutausstellung: Exponate wecken Erinnerungen, siehe auch: https://www.volksstimme.de/lokal/havelberg/flutausstellung-exponate-wecken-erinnerungen
• Ausstellung Jahrhundertflut - fünf Jahre danach, siehe auch: https://www.volksstimme.de/lokal/genthin/ausstellung-jahrhundertflut---fuenf-jahre-danach 

Publications

• Dittmer, Cordula; Lorenz, Daniel F. (2018): Hitzewellen 2018 – Lessons Learned. Workshopdokumentation vom 27.09.2018. Berlin: KFS. Online verfügbar unter https://www.geo.fu-berlin.de/geog/fachrichtungen/anthrogeog/katastrophenforschung/forschung-lehre/forschung/forschungsprojekte/involve/Dokumentation-Diskussionen-Hitzewellen-2018_final.pdf.
• Reiter, Jessica; Wenzel, Bettina; Dittmer, Cordula; Lorenz, Daniel F.; Voss, Martin (2017): Das Hochwasser 2013 im Elbe-Havel-Land aus Sicht der Bevölkerung. Forschungsbericht zur quantitativen Datenerhebung. KFS Working Paper 04. Berlin: KFS. Online verfügbar unter https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/bitstream/handle/fub188/21893/KFS_Working_Paper_Nr_04_Reiterx_Wenzelx_Dittmerx_Lorenzx_Voss.pdf.  DOI: 10.17169/FUDOCS_document_000000027713.
• Voss, Martin; Dittmer, Cordula; Reiter, Jessica (2018): Transdisziplinäre Integrative Vulner-abilitäts- und Resilienzbewertung (TIV). Theoretische und Methodologische Grundlagen. KFS Working Paper Nr. 5. Berlin: KFS. Online verfügbar unter https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/bitstream/handle/fub188/21879/TIV_Transdisziplinaritxt_Voss_Dittmer_Reiter.pdf. DOI: 10.17169/FUDOCS_document_000000027714.
• Reiter, Jessica; Wenzel, Bettina; Dittmer, Cordula; Lorenz, Daniel F.; Voss, Martin (2018): The 2013 flood in the community of Elbe-Havel-Land in the eyes of the population. Research report of the quantitative survey. KFS Working Paper 08. Berlin: KFS. Online verfügbar unter https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/bitstream/handle/fub188/21920/Working_paper_Elbe_flood_English_final.pdf. DOI: 10.17169/FUDOCS_document_000000028852.
• Schmersal, Elsa; Voss, Martin (2018): Erklärung und Sinnstiftung nach dem Elbehochwas-ser 2013. Narrationen von Betroffenheit, Bewältigung und Verantwortlichkeit. KFS Working Paper Nr. 11. Berlin: KFS. Online verfügbar unter https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/bitstream/handle/fub188/21975/KFS_WP11_Narrationen_Elbe-Havelland_Schmersal.pdf. DOI: 10.17169/ FUDOCS_document_000000029621.
• Dittmer, Cordula; Lorenz, Daniel F. (2018): Ausstellungsdokumentation:
  Was(ser) bleibt? Lokale und wissenschaftliche Perspektiven auf die Flut
  2013 im Elbe-Havel-Land. KFS Working Paper Nr. 14. Berlin: KFS. Online verfügbar unter https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/bitstream/handle/fub188/23131/181204_Working_Paper_Ausstellung.pdf. DOI: 10.17169/refubium-925.
• Reiter, Jessica; Lorenz, Daniel F.; Dittmer, Cordula; Voss, Martin (2017): Vulnerabilität aus der Perspektive der sozialwissenschaftlichen Katastrophenforschung. In: Deutsches Rotes Kreuz e.V. (ed.): Stärkung von Resilienz durch den Betreuungsdienst – Teil 1. Wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse zu Bedingungen für einen zukunftsfähigen Betreuungsdienst, Schriftenreihe der Forschung 4, S. 22-24.
• Dittmer, Cordula; Lorenz, Daniel F.; Reiter, Jessica; Wenzel, Bettina (2016): Drei Jahre nach dem Deichbruch – Über die Gegenwart einer nicht abgeschlossenen Katastrophe, Notfallvorsorge 4/2016, S. 17-25.
• Lorenz, Daniel F.; Dittmer, Cordula (2016): Resilience in Catastrophes, Disasters and Emergencies. Socio-scientific Perspectives. In: Maurer, Andrea (Ed.): New Perspectives on Resilience in Socio-Economic Spheres, Heidelberg, S. 25-59.
• Reiter, Jessica; Wenzel, Bettina;  Dittmer, Cordula; Lorenz, Daniel F.; Voss, Martin (2016): The Social Dimension of Heat Waves – Blind Spots in Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management in Germany and India. In: Ghafory-Ashtiany, Mohsen; Izadkhah, Yasamin O.; Parsizadeh, Farokh (Ed.):  Proceedings of Extended Abstracts 7th International Conference on Integrated Disaster Risk Management Disasters and Development: Towards a Risk Aware Society, Teheran, S. 353-355.
• Voss, Martin; Dittmer, Cordula (2016): Resilienz aus katastrophensoziologischer Perspektive. In: Wink, Rüdiger (Hg.): Multidisziplinäre Perspektiven der Resilienzforschung, Heidelberg: Springer, S. 179-198.
• Reiter, Jessica; Wenzel, Bettina;  Dittmer, Cordula; Lorenz, Daniel F.; Voss, Martin (2016): The Social Dimension of Heat Waves – Blind Spots in Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management in Germany and India. In: Ghafory-Ashtiany, Mohsen; Izadkhah, Yasamin O.; Parsizadeh, Farokh (Ed.):  Proceedings of Extended Abstracts 7th International Conference on Integrated Disaster Risk Management Disasters and Development: Towards a Risk Aware Society, Teheran, S. 353-355.
• Lorenz, Daniel F. (2015): The  Emergence of Resilience in Disaster Research. In: Lessenich, Stephan (ed.): Routinen der Krise - Krise der Routinen. Verhandlungen des 37. Kongresses der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie, Trier 2014.
• Lorenz, Daniel F.; Dittmer, Cordula, Voss, Martin (2017): Workshop 8: Gegenwärtige Entwicklungen und Dynamiken sozialer Vulnerabilität und Resilienz. In: Deutsches Rotes Kreuz e.V. (ed.): Kurz-Dokumentation Fachtagung Katastrophenvorsorge Berlin, 02.-03.11.2016, Berlin, S. 33-35.