Learning about Community in a Crisis

At the start of the pandemic, Government assumed that people would lack the ability to sustain the measures necessary to limit infection spread. This reflected a more general assumption that individuals are psychologically fragile and prone to panic in a crisis. What happened was very different, as people came together in communities and the sense of community was critical to pandemic resilience. In this talk we will explore this phenomenon of collective resilience, what it tells us more generally about the psychology of community and how (not) to build inclusive and cohesive communities. 

Lecture and Q&A: Thursday 30 June 2022, 6pm to 8pm

Small group session with lecturer and facilitator (credited option only): Monday 11 July, 6pm to 7pm

Speaker

Headshot of Stephen Reicher

Professor Stephen Reicher

School of Psychology and Neuroscience

Professor Stephen Reicher, a social psychologist and expert in crowd psychology, is a member of the UK government's SAGE subcommittee advising on behavioural science and the Scottish Government's Covid-19 Advisory Group. He has regularly published commentary on the pandemic and government response in media such as The Guardian.

Photograph of a crowd of people wearing protective masks in a busy shopping street

Photo by Xavi Cabrera on Unsplash