CSTAC

The primary goal of the Horizon 2020 Network of Practitioners project eNOTICE is to establish an interactive European network of civil and military training centres (TC), test and demonstration sites for improved CBRN risk assessment and management. One of the network’s benefits is its ability to share best practices and harmonise procedures in order to assist one another in times of cross-border crisis. This project began in September 2017 and will be completed in August 2023. To date, the network has 51 civilian and military CBRN-TCs from 17 European countries and 5 countries outside the EU. A public catalogue with information on the member TCs is available here. 
Contacts: eNOTICE website | Twitter

EuroBioTox focuses on improving the EU preparedness for biotoxin incidents, integrating 63 expert institutions from 23 countries. The project will therefore develop and validate improved analytical tools, reagents and standard operating procedures based on realistic incident scenarios. Certified Reference Materials for the threat biotoxins will be developed and, by establishing a European repository, will be made available to European organisations, expert laboratories, industrial partners and end-users. Training courses at basic and advanced levels will be developed and attended, followed by a series of proficiency tests which, through these “outer circle” associates, will disseminate best practice methods across Europe. After this project, there will be a pan-European network of competence, certified reference materials, standard operating procedures and a common way of handling biotoxin incidents.
Contacts: EuroBioTox website

HoloZcan brings a new tool for security actors (police, relief workers, disaster managers, crisis managers, stakeholders responsible for public safety, critical infrastructure, and service providers), notably in the fields of autonomous detection and response capabilities. The project will increase (environmental and exhaled) bio-aerosol sensing/measurement capability of CBRN practitioners by developing a high resolution, large throughput, automatic and highly portable detection system for making automatic classification of pathogens and particles. It develops a novel holographic microscopy and imaging technology for rapid and cost-efficient screening of potential biological threats and unknown, potentially dangerous substances, combined with methods of artificial intelligence and machine learning. The project also develops comprehensive and innovative means of respiratory, ventilation and environmental biological data sampling that can be used in real-time, standoff or in mobile bio-detection context.
Contacts: HoloZcan website | Twitter

IMPRESS aims at improving the protection of stations and trains by developing security training and awareness programmes for all stakeholders in rail stations and on trains. The scope of the training includes security culture in general, with a wide range of significant threats for several European rail operators, and CBRNe (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and explosive) threats specifically, which represent a more challenging scenario. The IMPRESS project will focus on the ‘immediate responders’ from the railway environment, or those who are most likely to be the first to prevent or react to a security incident when it occurs on railway premises. This target group of end-users includes rail staff at stations and onboard trains, security staff, staff from station shops, cleaning staff as well as other service providers.
Contacts: IMPRESS website | LinkedIn | Twitter

INCLUDING is an innovation cluster from around Europe managing demonstration sites, testing workbenches, and training facilities to provide a full-fledged and comprehensive training in the radiological and nuclear (RN) security sector at European level. Starting from the existing training resources of the Partners in the Consortium, INCLUDING aims to enhance practical know-how and to boost a European sustainable training and development framework for practitioners in the RN Security sector. Far from being a simple aggregation of entities separated geographically and with complementary expertise, INCLUDING is intended to be a cluster of facilities and resources pursuing a Federated Model in which individual components will cooperate together to provide a common framework for optimising the exploitation of all the potentialities available in the Cluster.
Contacts: INCLUDING website | LinkedIn | Twitter

NEST will design and implement a novel and unique standoff system with the capability to detect multiple threats, amongst which are CBRN threats or pandemic viruses. NEST will support owners, operators, and security staff working in commercial and transport facilities by providing them with (i) threat indications and warnings, and (ii) guidance for facility security by developing appropriate information-sharing and analysis mechanisms. The system will rely on the simultaneous use of low-cost CBRN detectors embedded in one unique detection equipment, which can be located into different sites inside the building or carried by security staff. NEST will help in the early detection of CBRN threats in real time, and also provide complementary information (e.g., location of threats, temperature, humidity, time, operators involved) useful for auditing or investigation purposes.
Contacts: NEST website | Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter 

PANDEM-2 aims to develop new solutions for efficient, EU-wide pandemic management to prepare Europe for future pandemics through innovations in training, building capacity between EU member states responding to pandemics on a cross-border basis. PANDEM-2 will advance the state-of-the-art by delivering a suite of novel simulations and predictive models for cross-border resource allocation and management concepts, to support cross-border pandemic preparedness and response. A principal output of PANDEM-2 is a prototype IT system that integrates innovative tools and supports existing emergency frameworks. A single Dashboard of specific services and visualisations, which combine inputs from multiple sources to support specific pandemic-management missions, will deliver greatly enhanced decision support.
Contacts: PANDEM-2 website | LinkedIn | Twitter

The EU-funded project PROACTIVE stands for “PReparedness against CBRNE threats through cOmmon Approaches between security praCTItioners and the VulnerablE civil society”. PROACTIVE can help security practitioners make CBRNe crisis preparedness and response fair, accessible and inclusive. Liaising with the civil society, including vulnerable groups, PROACTIVE is co-creating a crisis communication system for both practitioners and citizens as well as pre-incident information materials. These tools are tested in three field training exercises where members of the public interact with first responders. These outputs, combined with recommendations on how to include civil society in future exercises, will allow CBRNe practitioners and policymakers to improve societal resilience.
Contacts: PROACTIVE website | LinkedIn | Twitter | YouTube

Virtual Enhanced Reality for inTeroperable training of CBRN military and civilian Operators (VERTIgO) supports an integrated approach to conflict and disaster relief by virtualisation and simulation of Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) defence training. Its objective is the validation of a European Exercise Simulation Platform (EESP) for virtual reality (VR) applications to CBRN training, complemented by the prototyping of an ad-hoc hardware solution integrating a VR headset and a CBRN mask for enhanced realism and user experience. The VERTIgO EESP will include an innovative scenario-builder tool, allowing end-users to develop independently their own CBRN training scenarios, drawing from a built-in 3D library that can be continuously expanded.
Contacts: VERTIgO website | Twitter

The VR4CBRN Initiative is a project funded by the Italian Military Airforce and implemented by LINKS Foundation and Technical University of Turin, aimed at creating Virtual Reality Simulations of NATO CBRN procedures to be used in CBRN Training Courses.
The initiative has already created three full VR simulations of three different NATO Procedures, namely RECCE_TEAM, CCA_COLPRO and CCA_MED. These three simulations started to being tested in real CBRN training courses in Italy from April 2022 .

PEERS aims to advance and reinforce the European Union’s operational safety and security policies through the development of a practitioner-driven ecosystem focused on pre-normative / standardisation processes and supporting tools. It supports the effective strengthening of preparedness and response in the field of Disaster Risk Resilience and CBRN-E through the practitioner-driven Better Practice Guide initiative, gamification, e-Learning support as well as an integration capability to existing community-building platforms and furthering user training skills based on situational awareness. PEERS primarily targets Europe’s disaster risk management for natural hazards and CBRN-E practitioners, European research policymaking as well as other stakeholders including the research community and national standardisation bodies. A comprehensive engagement and consultation governance mechanism will be applied for the realisation of the ecosystem.
Contacts: PEERS website | LinkedIn | Twitter

The STRATEGY project aims to improve the interoperability of systems, tools and operational procedures in the crisis management domain. This will be accomplished by developing a Pan-European pre-standardisation framework that will be validated and tested in simulated disaster scenarios with first responders. The ultimate project goal is to strengthen the resilience of the EU against all types of natural & man-made disasters (multi-hazard approach), by ensuring first responders’ safety and empowering their operational capacity through standardisation that may support next generation solutions and procedures, ensuring an effective and efficient collaborative response to crises.
Contacts: STRATEGY website | LinkedIn | Twitter

VALKYRIES focuses on standardising, pre-standardising, and harmonising emergency teams’ processes across Europe. The initiative analyses current nomenclatures, technologies, and procedures, identifying interoperability gaps amongst different emergency teams. Based on identified needs, pre-standardisation actions are designed and integrated into a “reference integration” platform, Sigrun, for demonstration and potential implementation. The project structure involves several work packages for management, design, responsible innovation, and gap analysis of emergency equipment. It culminates with 4 cross-border demonstration scenarios in Spain-Portugal, Slovakia-Italy, Bulgaria- Greece, and Norway-the Netherlands-Denmark.
Contacts: VALKYRIES website | LinkedIn | Twitter