Designing new ways of risk awareness and enhanced disaster preparedness

Expected Outcome:

Project results are expected to contribute to some or all of the following expected outcomes:

• Development of innovative tools and methodologies to monitor and improve risk awareness across society, integrating diverse community perspectives and leveraging advanced technologies;
• Development and uptake solutions and tools for the successful increase of safety culture and societal resilience of communities with concrete material, while considering also the inclusion and protection of marginalized populations in disaster scenarios;
• Creation of comprehensive, inclusive preparedness plans that involve all societal sectors and governance levels, ensuring coordinated and effective responses to disasters (such as from early warning to early action), including scarcity of resources;
• Establishment of a resilient, adaptive response framework that enhances collaboration between public authorities, communities, and private sectors, improving overall disaster resilience.

Scope:

Building on the whole-of-society and whole-of-government approach, this topic should contribute to enhancing risk awareness and disaster preparedness through the development of innovative tools, methodologies, and frameworks. A key focus should be on integrating diverse societal and resilience perspectives considering people in a vulnerable situation, ensuring inclusive participation in risk communication strategies, and leveraging accessible advanced technologies and processes to improve public understanding of hazards and vulnerabilities (such as gender, disabilities and others social factors. and capabilities. Efforts should aim at designing and validating novel approaches to risk perception, communication, including digital platforms, immersive technologies, and participatory tools that foster citizen engagement and behavioural change, as well as wildlife protection. Behavioural insights should inform the projects on effective methods in population’s preparedness including the risk communication. Special attention should be given to marginalized or vulnerable groups in a vulnerable situation ensure equitable access to risk information and preparedness resources.

To strengthen disaster preparedness and response capabilities across Europe, there is a clear need for an innovative, interoperable solution that enables the development of new strategies for risk awareness and disaster management. Such a solution should facilitate seamless collaboration between public authorities, civil society, local communities, and the private sector. It must support the co-creation of comprehensive preparedness plans that ensure a coordinated, robust, resilient, and effective response to a wide range of disaster scenarios. Central to this approach should be the integration of a command-and-control system that allows for centralized information management, efficient coordination among all stakeholders, and rapid, data-driven decision-making in emergency situations. For example, efforts to guarantee early action from early warning should be taken into account.

Furthermore, proposals should work towards the creation of comprehensive, multi-stakeholder preparedness plans that involve all levels of governance, civil society, the private sector, and local communities. These plans should establish mechanisms for cross-sectoral coordination, efficient resource allocation, and effective decision-making in crisis situations and the development of solutions and tools to ensure a greater culture of safety and societal resilience in the communities. Research should also explore innovative governance models that enhance interoperability and cooperation between different entities. To strengthen disaster resilience, proposals should develop and test adaptive response frameworks that enhance collaboration between public authorities, civil society, communities, and businesses. These frameworks should incorporate near real-time risk assessment tools, digital simulations, and scenario-based exercises to improve the capacity to anticipate, respond to, and recover from disasters. The integration of AI-driven decision-support systems, taking into account existing biases, digital twin technologies (including Destination Earth), and predictive analytics could further contribute to a more effective, evidence-based crisis response.

Projects are expected to contribute to the overall enhancement of societal resilience by fostering a culture of preparedness, strengthening community-driven disaster risk reduction initiatives, proactive engagement in prevention- and mitigation of disaster’s effects, and ensuring that all actors within society have the necessary tools and knowledge to respond effectively to future crises.

Where relevant, projects may take into account the assets, but also particular challenges faced by the European outermost regions and may include entities from these regions in the consortium’s composition.

Projects should conduct a stakeholder or market analysis and a roadmap or plan for uptake of the developed methodologies, findings, and technologies to the industry, the research and innovation community, and/or the relevant authorities.

International cooperation in this topic is strongly recommended. Proposals should also take into account lessons learned from past disasters and align with existing EU policies, frameworks, and international commitments in the field of disaster risk reduction and crisis management. Especially the population preparedness chapter of the Preparedness Union Strategy, such as the preparEU initiative, should be considered. Finding synergies with projects from operational grants, such as the Knowledge for Action in Prevention & Preparedness (KAPP)^[1], is recommended.

Technology Readiness Level - Technology readiness level expected from completed projects

[1] Knowledge for Action in Prevention and Preparedness (KAPP) - European Commission - https://civil-protection-humanitarian-aid.ec.europa.eu/funding-evaluations/financing-civil-protection/cp-calls-proposals/knowledge-action-prevention-and-preparedness-kapp-0_en