Experts from PRECRISIS, PROTECTOR, SHIELD, SHINEs and other ISF-funded projects gathered in Poland for the conclusive conference of PRoSPeRes.
On November 22, 2023, the PRoSPeReS project conducted its final conference in the Polish city of Łódź. Multiple first responders, academia, CSOs, law enforcement and policing representatives, officials from key EU institutions, and other stakeholders, working in the domain of safety and security of public places, attended the conference.
The participants discussed the importance of interaction between the EU-funded projects – in particular through the European Commission-managed Internal Security Fund – for making all communities better protected and safer, including public spaces, places of worship, major religious sites, and ethno-religious communities.
The conference hosted speakers from the EC’s DG Home, religious leaders and congregation representatives, and international security specialists. In addition, colleagues from a number of sibling projects were in attendance, too, and engaged in insightful panel discussions during the event.
PRECRISIS was represented by project coordinator Andrew Staniforth from SAHER (Europe). He participated in the opening session together with experts from sibling projects. Maria Ismaela Murgia, Policy Officer for Counterterrorism at the EC, delivered opening remarks. The panel was moderated by Vivian Gravenberch from the Dutch Institute for Safe and Secure Spaces – DISSS.
“As project coordinator of PRECRISIIS, I was delighted to attend and represent the project at this major event. It is always important to meet and exchange ideas with other professionals and projects, all working to make public spaces safer for everyone. Congratulations to the PRoSPeReS partners for excellent outputs, bringing faith leaders together with public authorities, police forces, and private industry representatives. It was inspiring to see how research is being brought to operational reality,” Andrew Staniforth commented.
