Rotating Resilience Roundtables
About Rotating Resilience Roundtables
The Rotating Resilience Roundtables are a collaborative effort between Virginia Tech and Old Dominion University with a goal of bringing researchers and stakeholders together to advance the coastal resilience in the Commonwealth. The Roundtables are in their 4th iteration, with successful workshop events held in the spring and fall of each year since 2018. Each Roundtable has a specific theme based on the science needs and interests of its participants and of the Commonwelath. These workshops gather the faculty participants from Virginia's institutions of higer education and coastal stakeholders, such as local officials, NGOs, and resource managers. They typically incorporate panel discussions, presentations, and small group discussions to ensure that all participants are afforded the chance to have their voices heard.
The Rotating Resilience Roundtables were designed to respond to the need for a cohesive and policy-relevant science that will align and coordinate efforts between researchers and other stakeholders to benefit the Commonwealth’s resilience planning for the coastal zone. The Rotating Roundtables’ concept was selected to facilitate active engagement of interdisciplinary audiences with different coastal themes, as well as to stimulate problem identification, critical thinking, and alignment between the real-time issues and research questions. Further, the event was envisioned to rotate among stakeholder Virginia institutions of higher education and thereby endorsing different structures and thematic areas to meet the following objectives:
1. Facilitate interactions between academic and non-academic stakeholders to improve the alignment of science with local problems in different coastal communities;
2. Identify pressing issues and knowledge gaps vital for the future of resilience research and programs;
3. Build effective networks between science-policy, science-industry, and science-NGO partners;
4. Foster collaboration around coastal issues between diverse groups of stakeholders to identify mutually-acceptable resilience strategies and opportunities for shared benefits in the coastal zone, and
5. Identify opportunities for resilience improvements in coastal-inland interface spaces.
Organizers:
Anamaria Bukvic (Assistant Professor, Geography, Coastal@VT, Virginia Tech)
Dr. Bukvic’s research is focused on coastal resilience, vulnerability, security, population displacement, and mobility. She is further interested in whether relocation can serve as a viable adaptation strategy to sea level rise in coastal communities and what opportunities could emerge from this process. She uses mixed-methods to study complex emerging issues in coastal urban and rural settings related to flooding, such as geospatial analysis, surveys, and interviews.
Michelle Covi (Assistant Professor of Practice, Ocean, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Department, Old Dominion University)
Michelle Covi is an assistant professor of practice in the Ocean, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Department at Old Dominion University and is one of the Virginia Sea Grant extension staff, helping to connect expertise in our universities to address climate change and sea level rise adaptation issues. She has a PhD in Coastal Resources Management from East Carolina University and focuses her research on climate change and sea level rise risk perception, communication and public participation in regional decision-making.
“I have already followed up with some of the connections I made at the roundtables event, and I look forward to future collaborations related to the impacts of sea level rise on private landowners and on marshes and the wildlife that inhabit them” -Ashley Dayer, Assistant Professor, College of Natural Resources and Environment at Virginia Tech.
Acknowledgement: We thank Dr. Rhiannon Bezore (ODU) for assisting with the Rotating Resilience Roundtables website