UGA GRAIL team initiative awarded 2025 Interdisciplinary Research Pre-Seed Grant

The University of Georgia has awarded a 2025 Teaming for Interdisciplinary Research (TIR) Pre-Seed grant to support the launch of “Leading with GRAIL: Strategic Crisis and Risk Management Innovation for Health, Security, and Resilience,” a new interdisciplinary initiative designed to advance crisis and risk management research and leadership development.

The TIR Pre-Seed Program supports early-stage, cross-disciplinary faculty research and collaboration efforts that address critical and emerging research topics. Through its pre-seed award, GRAIL, led by the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication’s Crisis Communication Think Tank (CCTT) in collaboration with the Terry College of Business and the School of Law, will advance interdisciplinary research addressing risks and crisis issues essential to health, security and resilience.

The initiative aims to integrate insights from communication management, business and law to develop research-driven approaches that help organizations anticipate, manage and respond to complex risks and disruptions in uncertain and rapidly changing environments. 

GRAIL is grounded in a research-driven framework that emphasizes five core principles: Governance, Readiness, Alignment, Integrity and Legitimacy. Together, these elements guide GRAIL’s mission to strengthen how organizations anticipate, prepare for and lead through risks and crises that impact health, security and long-term resilience.

Through this integrated model, the initiative will support research that examines how organizations can better manage emerging threats such as misinformation and disinformation, cyber risks and growing public distrust in medicine and science. The work will focus on developing theory-driven, evidence-based strategies that strengthen coordination, communication and decision-making across high risk sectors, including healthcare and public institutions.

In addition to collaboration within the University of Georgia, the GRAIL initiative is also supported by national and international academic partners, including Denise Bortree and Holly Overton at the Penn State Arthur W. Page Center for Integrity in Public Communication, CCTT U.S. member Timothy Coombs (editor-in-chief of the Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management), CCTT international member An-Sofie Claeys at Ghent University in Belgium and Nadeem Kasmani at Harvard Medical School. The initiative also benefits from practitioner engagement through its founding external collaborator, CCTT practitioner member and 2024 Yarbrough Distinguished Lecturer Rodrigo Sierra.

An interdisciplinary student and alumni leadership team representing Grady College, Terry College and the School of Law also contribute to the ongoing development and implementation of  GRAIL’s programming, working alongside faculty and CCTT leadership. Student leaders include Mason Brock, a public relations major; Anna Rachwalski, an economics and political science major; and Devin Thomas, a public relations major.

“Our UGA GRAIL team, together with our U.S. and international GRAIL coalition partners, look forward to collaborating in the complex, fast-evolving space of crisis and risk management,” said Yan Jin, CCTT Director and C. Richard Yarbrough Professor in Crisis Communication Leadership. “We are excited to develop and share interdisciplinary research insights that contribute to strategic leadership innovation and help protect business, public and societal wellbeing with readiness and resilience.”

The GRAIL launch program will be held on April 24, 2026 at the University of Georgia.

Authors: Mason Brock, Mason.Brock@uga.edu and Devin Thomas, Devin.Thomas@uga.edu