What is the problem/issue being addressed?
RESILIENCE addresses the need for a broader and more structured involvement of Pan-European excellent researchers, producing skills, new knowledge, a cutting-edge approach and a visible impact in terms of innovation in the scientific field of Religious Studies.
The ESFRI Roadmap 2018 highlights that Religious Studies have become a strategic area in the framework of EU pluralism not only for researchers, but also social actors and decision makers. This is because knowledge on religions is a prerequisite to develop informed dialogue and effective policy in the evolving multi-religious and multicultural society. It also expresses the need to effectively address the challenges of the evolving European societal landscape and dialogue with neighboring countries through access for scholars and other users to infrastructural facilities and services, “at a higher level than typically available today” (p. 11).
RESILIENCE openly addresses this call: its implementation and the intrinsic transdisciplinary approach of the study of religions is of high strategic value “for creating a diachronic understanding of the historical development of religions and for enabling the appropriate elaboration of tools to manage inter-religious stress” (p.115).
The issue was complementarily addressed by:
- TRES Network (Socrates Prog. 2006-10)
- INFRAIA ReIReS starting community (quoted as evidence in 2018 Esfri Roadmap)
- RETOPEA Project (H2020 2018-21)
- European Academy of Religion established by 506 universities (2015-)
- Questionnaire submitted for the 2018 ESFRI Roadmap, bringing to an High Potential Strategic Area of Religious
Studies
All these activities created a critical and gravitational mass capable to give effectiveness to the scientific community
of religious studies: RESILIENCE demonstrates the excellence of a partnership which can prove to be more effective; it describes how to achieve an implementation which is feasible and stable; it aims to express the capacity of the infrastructure to attract resources and competences. It enriches the open science cloud with a series of challenges and opportunities which will preserve and improve the EU leadership in the area of religious studies.
Why is it important for society?
RESILIENCE contributes to the establishment of a Research Infrastructure capable to open new opportunities in several research areas by addressing inter/multidisciplinary scientific frontiers and societal challenges such as:
- Understanding the impact of religion on shaping/challenging/promoting values, choices, practices;
- Giving a European answer to the globalisation of Religious Studies, religious facts and phenomena;
- Identifying models to analyse multireligious societies;
- Evaluating the effectiveness of plans of social inclusion and innovation (e.g. against stigma and violence);
- Creating innovative models of global cultural diplomacy for the EU;
- Facing crises (e.g. COVID19) by valuing digital changes in RS and supporting developments in digitisation and innovation.
What are the overall objectives?
The purpose of RESILIENCE is to create, select and test processes and functions capable of bringing back knowledge about religions into the public arena, to facilitate further exchanges between the various super-specialized and overarching approaches to religion, to assemble results and pave the way for more and more effective research (investing money to produce knowledge) and more innovation (investing knowledge to produce money).
RESILIENCE aims at becoming part of the ESFRI Roadmap 2021 with a European research infrastructure which makes new frontier research results in religious studies possible.
RESILIENCE creates, selects and tests digital and physical infrastructures capable of generating, preserving and transmitting knowledge between academics, members of religious communities, and the many groups on whom religious studies have a consequential impact.
RESILIENCE aims at offering a fertile and supportive environment to the widest scientific community of scholars in religious studies, where sources, tools and experiences make inter- and multi-disciplinarity of highly-specialized scholars a benchmarking research approach. The subsequent outcomes of this approach will contribute to the growth of the scientific community, help tackling societal challenges, and reflect the EU’s inclusive and reflective mission.
