UROP Project

Evolution of Disaster Aid Targeting and Coordination

Disasters, Philanthropy, Emergency Management, Civil Society

Research Mentor: David Berlan, He, Him, His
Department, College, Affiliation: Reubin O'D. Askew School of Public Administration and Policy, Social Sciences and Public Policy
Contact Email: dberlan@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor):
Research Assistant Supervisor Email:
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:

Looking for Research Assistants: Yes
Number of Research Assistants: 4
Relevant Majors: Open to all majors
Project Location: On FSU Main Campus
Research Assistant Transportation Required:
Remote or In-person: Partially Remote
Approximate Weekly Hours: 5-10, Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link:

• Day: Wednesday, September 2
  Start Time: 1:00
  End Time: 2:00
  Zoom Link: https://fsu.zoom.us/j/92513913721

Project Description

After each hurricane or natural disaster, a wide range of actors mobilize to respond, across the nonprofit, for-profit, religious, and governmental sectors. Knowing how resources are made available for communities to recover and rebuild is crucial to help with continued recovery efforts and identify lessons for disaster planning and responding to future disasters. This project builds on a 2018-2020 study of disaster philanthropy with a second wave study to gauge organizational learning and changes in how organizations coordinate and collaborate. The research will include a survey and other data collection efforts, now moving into a second year of data collection. The study’s initial wave identified fragmented collaboration networks and unequal targeting of assistance to communities; whether these patterns hold across multiple disasters is a key question.

Research Tasks: Student research assistant(s) will participate in: (1) updating survey participant recruitment strategies and identifying supplemental data, (2) recruiting survey participants, (3) analysis of combined data from this project and earlier survey, and (4) reporting of results to academic and practitioner audiences.

Skills that research assistant(s) may need: Required: interest in civil society (nonprofits, philanthropy, religious organizations, grassroots organizations, etc.)
Recommended: comfort with surveys (training will be provided for the qualtrics survey used)