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Understanding and working under complexity has become ‘the new normal’ in public administration. Hence complexity must also be integrated into teaching and training of public administrators, not only in higher education but also in in-service training and educating wider society. This can be done by combining the ongoing research agenda into courses and teaching methods. This article describes the integration of complexity thinking and teaching in one university, both by giving examples on the courses and methods applied, student feedback received and by anticipating future developments. Finally, practical advice for teachers of complexity is given.

Informal volunteerism in its various forms is on the rise in the safety and security arena. This study focuses on a new mode of informal volunteerism, virtual volunteerism. The study uses the complex context of a nuclear emergency to explore (1) the extent to which informal volunteerism, in the form of virtual volunteerism, can develop information resilience and (2) the problems and challenges involved. The study relies on interview data gathered from 18 Finnish public authorities and NGO actors working in expert or managerial positions connected to nuclear emergency response. The study results suggest that informal virtual volunteerism could play a role in the development of information resilience in society. However, as suggested in previous studies, virtual volunteerism could be a double-edged sword. There is a real risk of mis- and disinformation because of the volatile times in which we live. The identified risk sparked a debate on the inclusion and exclusion of unaffiliated disaster knowledge workers and virtual emergent groups in nuclear emergency preparedness, response, and recovery.

Obscure and rootless? Fourth sector as a phenomenon and concept in the context of safety and security work This article explores the concept and pheno­ menon of the fourth sector as an element of safety and security work. The article is based on interviews with 18 public authorities and NGO actors working in expert or managerial positions associated with nuclear emergencies. The article’s findings and previous literature indicate that the concept of the fourth sector remains somewhat unclear, rootless, and confusing. The use of the term differs in different contexts and different research streams remain rather separate and siloed. Nevertheless, the phenomenon itself is more self­evident: The fourth sector in safety and security work refers, in general, to spontaneous, temporary, and self­organizing actions appearing in informal, unstructured settings, on both the group and individual levels of civil society.