RUSI Resilience Essay Prize: Resilience 2050: A Blueprint for the Future 

Crisis Response Journal is delighted to be supporting a sub-category of this prestigious new prize, organised by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).



Individuals and organisations are invited to submit entries for the 2015 RUSI Resilience Essay Prize on the topic of Resilience 2050: A Blueprint for the Future.

The winning entry will be considered for publication in the RUSI Journal, and the author invited to present the paper at the RUSI Resilience Conference 2015 on Tuesday, October 27. All shortlisted applicants are invited to present an academic poster at the conference.

The CRJ category encourages new thought and leadership on international resilience. The winner of the Crisis Response Journal sub-category will receive a two-year subscription to the journal, will be published online and in the hard copy of CRJ, and will be given the opportunity to write regular blogs for CRJ over the next 12 months.

Essays should aim to:

• Propose what a ‘Resilient 2050’ will look like;
• Make practical suggestions of how this will be achieved;
• Identify barriers to reaching that endpoint;
• Suggest how such barriers can be circumvented or removed.

Beyond that, topics and approaches are at the author’s discretion.

The sub-categories are as follows:

1. The Resilience and Security of Urban Spaces – supported by the Security Commonwealth
2. Resilience and the Changing Environment – supported by the National and Environmental Research Council (NERC)
3. Human Resilience – supported by the Partnership for Conflict, Crime & Security Research (PaCCS)
4. International Resilience – supported by Crisis Response Journal
5. Communications Resilience – supported by BAPCO

The Crisis Response Journal sub-category is inviting thoughts on the following: Security, emergency preparedness and response are ever-more interdependent and improved resilience of nations, communities and business is vital. How should we approach resilience on an urban, rural, national and international scale over the next 35 years in this interconnected, unstable and increasingly digital world? Is it time for a complete rethink on resilience, or are there scalable, local initiatives that could be replicated elsewhere? What leadership examples exist in this field?

Authors should submit a 300-500 abstract only to the contact details below by August 28, 2015. Entries will be judged on abstracts only; no full paper is required at this stage.

Abstracts should be emailed in Word format, with the author’s details and contact information provided on a separate cover sheet. Entries will be judged anonymously. See the end of this blog for contact details.

Shortlisted authors will be informed by September 1; the full paper must be delivered by October 1, 2015.

If shortlisted, a final paper will need to conform to writers’ guidelines for the RUSI Journal, which can be found here. 

Results will be announced on October 2015: Results will be communicated in confidence to shortlisted authors by 16 October and announced at the RUSI Resilience Conference 2015.

Papers must not have been published already. The winning paper will be published following the conference.

RUSI is an independent think tank engaged in cutting edge defence and security research. A unique institution, founded in 1831 by the Duke of Wellington, RUSI embodies nearly two centuries of forward thinking, free discussion and careful reflection on defence and security matters.

RUSI consistently brings to the fore vital policy issues to both domestic and global audiences, enhancing its growing reputation as a ‘thought-leader institute’, winning Prospect magazine's Think Tank of the Year Award in 2008 and Foreign-policy Think Tank of the Year in 2009 and again in 2011.

This is a British institution, but operates with an international perspective. Satellite offices in Doha, Tokyo and Washington DC reinforce our global reach. We have amassed over the years an outstanding reputation for quality and objectivity.

The Institute has four main activities: Research; Events; Publications; and Service to members.

To submit an abstract or for more information, please contact: Jennifer Cole, Senior Research Fellow Resilience and Emergency Management