Volume 19 Issue 1 

Overworked, underpaid, crisis managers are running out of paths to move forward. Some are leaving their public sector jobs for 'greener' pastures, not out of ambition, but more out of necessity. It takes insurmountable talent to extinguish a burning house when one is doing so from a sinking ship; I'm not quite sure how fair it is for us to expect practitioners to continue doing so.

CRJ's community has informed the pages of this edition in more ways than one. On page 22, Beverley Griffiths talks about how crisis managers are failing owing to a lack of planning on how they can find more stability in their careers and, ergo, their lives. Similarly, Jeannie Barr breaks down all the different ways in which the pressure on crisis managers has never been higher, while simultaneously, the resources they have available to them have never been fewer.

This issue has also examines conflict. On page 46, Gilles Pache points out that while we focus on immediate humanitarian crises, there is a longer-term bomb waiting for us in the form of environmental decay caused by weapons of war. Stefano Betti dissects terrorism concerns for the upcoming Olympics in France, and Andy Blackwell and John Wood write about how we're increasingly facing blended physical and digital threats and how our defences must be blended too (page 50). Nicolò Broglia explores methods for building resilience against digital threats.

It is somewhat poetic that we are also introducing a new section called 'Next Gen' within an edition focused on so many things that are going wrong. Through it, we will explore conceptual solutions with the potential for significant impact. For instance, on page 74, we take a look at Gracie Broom and Magdelana Garibaldi's 3D housing concept, which aims to provide immediate and affordable housing for victims of domestic violence.

Where there is darkness, there is light indeed. We just need to acknowledge that there may be a few light bulbs missing!