The end-user focus of the PRECRISIS consortium is provided by the Johanniter Research and Innovation Centre (JOAFG) in Austria. Along with the other partners, JOAFG provides contacts with a diverse range of local, civil, public and LEA authorities. The organisation will facilitate the pilot-testing of the PRECRISIS solution. JOAFG is dedicated to national and international projects in the fields of social welfare, health and care, and security and disaster management.
Mr. Liehr gave a special interview for the PRECRISIS newsletter.
What is the Johanniter Research and Innovation Centre? What kind of work does it implement in the fields of social welfare, health and care, and security and disaster management?
The research activities at the Johanniter Research and Innovation Centre aim to support the development and improvement of the various services provided. The Centre was founded in 2012 and represents the role of the end-user providing support in strategic development and scenario development as well as in needs assessments and usability tests. Johanniter can also offer the testing of measures to increase resilience – for example in the form of classroom training or e-learning. Around 15 researchers with a variety of backgrounds ranging from social sciences to health sciences are currently involved in research projects, mainly funded through research programmes of the European Union.
Focus is also given to the effects of climate change which are also of central importance for safety. Extreme weather events such as floods, cold spells, heat waves and fire hazards require a reorientation in disaster preparedness and disaster relief. In this area, the Centre is often working in cooperation with other emergency organisations such as the fire service, police, and armed forces.
Why is JOAFG participating in the PRECRISIS project: what are your expectations from its involvement in this initiative?
According to its mission statement the main target of Johanniter in Austria is to support people in need. Therefore, it is a must to participate in projects with a focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI) to explore its potential for humanitarian applications. Although PRECRISIS is mainly strengthening the protection of public spaces by preventing terrorist attacks and violent crimes and mitigating their impacts, which generally is not a task for humanitarian organisations, there are still many intersections to the activities of the Johanniter.
One is that video surveillance could be of use to survey a certain area with CCTV and applying AI to detect situations which require special attention. This could be a person fainting unnoticed but in need of medical assistance, falling to the ground which is recognized by an algorithm which issues an alert or notification in a control room.
What other EU projects does JOAFG have in its portfolio?
The range of projects is very broad, some are focusing on the application of Virtual Reality and Mixed Reality in the training of first responders in the emergency medical service (e.g. MED1stMR, SMARTSKILLS or SKILLDRILL). Other projects aim to improve the resiliency of social services (Krise mit Plan!) and the broader public (Survival Kit @ Home) or aim on the application of drones under various circumstances (e.g. CHAMELEON, UAV-Rescue or TREEADS). The projects currently in process with a description in German can be found on our website.
About Johanniter
The Johanniter Research and Innovation Centre, based in Vienna, Austria, is dedicated to national and international projects in the fields of social welfare, health and care, and security and disaster management. The aim of the research is to develop and implement innovative solutions and new quality standards in order to optimise the quality of care and safety in these areas. Based on our ideas and projects, we try to help our organisation continuously evolve in order to provide the best possible quality of care and service. Every idea is considered valuable and welcomed. The Johanniter Research and Innovation Centre always sets itself the task of finding ways to implement new concepts and transform them into something bigger.
In the PRECRISIS consortium, JOAFG is providing the end-user focus. What is your project work about?
As a humanitarian organisation, the Johanniter Centre is providing first aid service for events and emergency medical service with operating a number of ambulance vehicles. Within the project the focus is put on the first-aid service at events, because since the last terror attack in 2020, security planning and cooperation with the police have become more important. The threat of terrorism requires a different approach regarding situational awareness and also the preplanning of counter measures and emergency response. It is aimed to communicate output of the project within the Johanniter organisation and to deduct necessary steps to improve the processes in emergency management.
JOAFG will facilitate pilot testing sessions of the PRECRISIS solution. What will be your approach and what outcomes do you anticipate from this work?
As an end-user organisation, the Johanniter is very interested in exploring cutting-edge technology to test their applicability for future implementation. Especially the possibilities of Artificial Intelligence in interpreting video footage being recorded on events where the Johanniter are providing first aid service is of high interest. Therefore, the Johanniter are organising two pilot events were video footage is to be produced, which will be made available for the technology partners in the project. This will support them in developing and testing an algorithm to detect suspicious behaviour or critical situation recorded by video-surveillance.
In what other collaborations with consortium partners in PRECRISIS will the Johanniter Centre be involved? How is this partnership useful for your organisation?
Being part of the PRECRISIS consortium is an important added value for the Johanniter. The multi-disciplinary consortium of 9 partners representing 7 EU member states helps to broaden its perspective as an organisation and to gain a foresight into technical advancements and their ethical implications in the nearer future. This is certainly relevant for current advancements in AI and its ethical implications which are of high interest for the Johanniter.
Based on your experience, how safe are our European public spaces?
Generally, European public spaces are very safe. Nevertheless, from time to time we have to deal with large-scale terrorist attacks which requires preparation for an adequate emergency response but also more preventive in spatial planning to reduce the probability and impact of an attack. A notable example is a set of bollards placed at specific points can be sufficient to prevent a truck driving through a pedestrian zone at high velocity.
About Clemens Liehr
Clemens Liehr is Project Manager at the Johanniter Research and Innovation Centre. He also serves as expert evaluator of proposals for the Horizon-2020 Programme. Clemens has extensive experience with life support and trauma management through his work as an Advanced Emergency Medical Technician with the Austrian Red Cross. He also has solid expertise with project proposals development, project management, research, disaster risk management, and civil protection. Clemens Liehr is a graduate of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna. As part of the ERASMUS programme, he spent a year at the Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK.
