Author, Institution: Natalia Ewa Beldyga, Kaunas University of Technology
Science area, field of science: Social Sciences, Sociology, S005
Research Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Aistė Balžekienė (Kaunas University of Technology, Social Sciences, Sociology, S005)
Dissertation Defence Board of Sociology Science Field:
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jurga Bučaitė-Vilkė (Vytautas Magnus University, Social Sciences, Sociology, S005) – chairperson
Prof. Dr. Thomas Andrew Bryer (Kaunas University of Technology, Social Sciences, Political Sciences, S002)
Chief Researcher Dr. Donatas Burneika (Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences, Social Sciences, Sociology, S005)
Prof. Dr. Maria Grazia Galantino (Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, Social Sciences, Sociology, S005)
Prof. Dr. Audronė Telešienė (Kaunas University of Technology, Social Sciences, Political Sciences, S002)
Dissertation defence meeting will be at Rectorate Hall of Kaunas University of Technology (K. Donelaičio 73-402, Kaunas)
The doctoral dissertation is available at the library of Kaunas University of Technology (Gedimino 50, Kaunas) and on the internet: N. E. Beldyga el. dissertation.pdf
© N. E. Beldyga, 2025 “The text of the thesis may not be copied, distributed, published, made public, including by making it publicly available on computer networks (Internet), reproduced in any form or by any means, including, but not limited to, electronic, mechanical or other means. Pursuant to Article 25(1) of the Law on Copyright and Related Rights of the Republic of Lithuania, a person with a disability who has difficulties in reading a document of a thesis published on the Internet, and insofar as this is justified by a particular disability, shall request that the document be made available in an alternative form by e-mail to doktorantura@ktu.lt.”
Annotation: The reality of various social actors is getting more complex due to a polycrisis, when a contemporary world is coping simultaneously with multiple and intersecting crises triggering ontological security. In February 2022, a few days after Russia invaded Ukraine, Poland experienced a massive intake of people fleeing Ukraine – Poland’s neighbor. Main aim of this dissertation was to analyze the role of community resilience and individual risk perception in Polish border region communities’ response to crisis and uncertainty caused by Russian invasion of Ukraine. Conceptual framework integrated research concepts such as community, community resilience, risk perception and riskscapes as well as a relational risk theory. A case study methodology was employed, including in-depth interviews with volunteers, community members and municipalities in geographically vulnerable Polish border region communities, directly affected by humanitarian and refugee crisis, in the proximity of the borders with two countries at war, namely Suwałki (the Suwałki Gap) with Russia, and Biecz (Little Kraków) with Ukraine. Results revealed a pattern of a response to crisis and uncertainty which, in times of a crisis, is triggered by agency, while agency is activated by the way the risks are perceived. Community resilience may be both universal and strongly contextualized, specifically in the historical (memoryscape) and geographical context (riskscape). Both affect the agency and motivation to take action in response to a crisis. Findings indicated that the most significant dimensions of community resilience were resources, self-reliance and social networks.