What can past refugee crises teach us about resilience through entrepreneurship – particularly in light of potential new displacement risks?

On March 4, 2026, the project team of RES²CUE – Building resources and resilience through the crisis for Ukrainian entrepreneurs met at the University of Münster.

RES²CUE is a joint research project of the University of Bremen and the University of Münster, funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Project no. 518069799). The team includes Prof. Dr. Julia Kensbock, Loa Lieberum, and Anna Dünnwald (University of Bremen) as well as Prof. Dr. David Bendig, Moritz Julius Sickert, and Leoni Onken (University of Münster).

The project examines how forced displacement affect entrepreneurial behavior and how aspiring and active entrepreneurs rebuild resources and resilience after sudden loss. It integratively combines qualitative and quantitative methods to systematically analyze dynamics across individuals, ventures, and communities.

Early insights discussed at the meeting include:

• Coping is not uniform; male refugees, on average, appear to show less constructive coping patterns in certain contexts.

• Refugee entrepreneurs are highly relevant but often difficult to access for research.

We thank our colleagues from Bremen for the fruitful exchange.