With its second research funding initiative “Flood Resilient Communities – Managing the Consequences of Flooding” (http://www.crue-eranet.net/calls.asp), the FP6 Era-Net CRUE project, which generally aims to introduce structure within the area of European Flood Research by improving coordination between national programmes, plans to

– further integrate the European Research area to support the implementation of national and European policies on Flood Risk Management (FRM) and, in particular, of the Directive 2007/60/EC (or Floods Directive) on the assessment and management of flood risks;
– to develop evidence and innovation required to underpin sustainable FRM across Europe, reducing the potential for duplication of research effort;
– to improve the integration of knowledge and to further develop the systematic exchange of information and good practice on flood management and research.

Seven joint research projects with case study areas all over Europe are funded (see attached factsheet for further information). The 2nd CRUE Funding Initiative is accompanied by a scientific coordination project performed by alpS GmbH, Innsbruck, Austria, led by Annegret Thieken from the Climate Service Center, Germany.

The purpose of the special issue is to present the highlights of the 2nd CRUE Funding Initiative. Results in the following areas will be presented:

– Understanding and applicability of the concept of resilience
– Risk awareness and communication
– Stakeholder participation
– Flood risk management

The special issue will cover a broad spectrum of aspects and will have a very inter- and transdisciplinary character. Besides research results concerning natural processes, engineering and socioeconomic aspects, the special issue will also touch the question of implementing research findings in practice.