Crisis Communication Think Tank
About CCTT:
The Crisis Communication Think Tank (CCTT) was established in 2018 at the University of Georgia (UGA) as a thought leadership entity. It is designed to further discussions and understanding of crisis communication and strategic conflict management, with an emphasis on evolving technologies.
Housed at UGA’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication and led by the C. Richard Yarbrough Professor in Crisis Communication Leadership, the CCTT aims to build collaborations among leading crisis scholars and practitioners globally, through dialogue on emerging topics and co-creation of evidence-based advice for next-generation crisis research and practice. Our overarching goals are:
- To connect crisis communication experts from the segmented worlds of academia and industry practice.
- To reshape and refine how crisis communication is understood and practiced.
- To advance crisis communication knowledge via academic-practitioner collaborative research.
- To educate the next generation of crisis communication scholars and practitioners.
- To design protocols for handling “sticky crisis” challenges effectively and ethically at top decision-making level via crisis preparedness and resilience.
CCTT membership is by invitation only, based on an individual’s recognized leadership status and contributions to academic research and/or industry practice in the crisis field. Also, members are expected to have a sustained contribution to the CCTT’s mission and goals. Crisis scholar and practitioner members and invited guests participate in an annual CCTT gathering [see featured story about our 2022 gathering on POP (Power of People) and the UGA news storyhighlighting the success and impact of CCTT on research, practice and education)].
Among various CCTT outputs, we have published a book “Advancing Crisis Communication Effectiveness: Integrating Public Relations Scholarship with Practice” and an e-booklet “POP (Power of People)”, co-created and contributed by crisis scholars and practitioners.
CCTT has become a model practice for center-based knowledge innovation and academia-industry collaborative research that tackles challenging, complex and recurring crisis and conflict issues affecting organizations and societies. The CCTT model is featured in The Handbook of Crisis Communication (2nd edition). We have led the new PR News annual crisis survey design and report. We recently launched the “global crisis index” project with Public Relations Organisation International (PROI) Worldwide.
For media inquiries email us at: crisiscommcoalition@uga.edu.