Crisis and Resilience Expertise (CaRE)

Group leader

Dr Mark Forshaw

About the Group

The Crisis and Resilience Expertise Group (CaRe), formally Crisis and Pandemic Interest Group (CPIG), was founded by Dr Mark Forshaw at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) in April 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, we have grown in international membership to 40 colleagues working across disciplines; Art and Design, Business Management, Computer Forensics and Cyber Security, Law, Neuroscience, Operations and Supply Chain, Psychology (Clinical, Forensic and Health), Public Health and Social Justice. In November 2021, we created a Board of members to facilitate ongoing decision-making.

We have seen successful publications of our members in:

Our members have successfully secured research funding such as that achieved by The LJMU PHOENIX Project: A survey of People and Households’ Ongoing Efforts in Response to the National COVID-19 Guidance and its Impacts Across the North West, and funding from the British Academy to examine public and officers’ perceptions of police powers under The Coronavirus Act 2020 and to carry out analysis of COVID-related arrests and powers in Merseyside.

We have welcomed several guest speakers. Professor Lucy Yardley, OBE, member of the SAGE Committee, shared experiences from the pandemic, and introduced the newly adapted behaviour change intervention website Germ Defence. Professor Rory O’Connor, Professor of Health Psychology at the University of Glasgow and Director of Suicidal Behaviour Research Laboratory, shared current insights into his research on suicidality across the pandemic. One of our members, Dr Jane Hutton, Trust Professional Lead for Psychology at Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, shared the Trust experiences of staff support during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Whilst we began with a focus on the pandemic, we have broadened to incorporate challenges to communities caused by traumatic incidents, natural disasters, wars and political unrest, and financial crashes.

Research Themes

All aspects of crisis, and the building of resilience against crisis, specifically trauma and crisis affecting groups of individuals and communities, societies, or nations.