The Sendai Framework for Disaster Reduction 2015-2030 points out that global evidence indicates that in all countries the exposure of people and assets to disasters has increased faster than attempts to decrease vulnerability. The Framework underlines an all-society engagement, which addresses the most vulnerable groups, whilst accounting for contextual and cultural differences. It also calls for a more explicit focus on people, their health and livelihoods, and the local level, since individuals and local communities possess their own capabilities, networks, methods, tools and means to absorb impacts and bounce back. Thus, the ‘capital’ that is available at the root-level deserves to be recognised and incorporated in the policies and strategies for disaster risk reduction and enhancing of resilience. To improve the overall resilience of people, communities and thereby the whole society, the BuildERS project focuses on the most vulnerable individuals, groups and communities. Strengthening the social capital, risk awareness and preparedness of the most vulnerable segments of the societies and communities will increase understanding on what societal resilience comprises. BuildERS will develop knowledge and insights that will device recommendations for policies, plans, strategies, and competencies for building partnerships, networks and trust for progressively fortifying the social capital and resilience against future threats, be they natural or man-induced. The special focus on communities and in particular on the most vulnerable groups answers to the so-far unfulfilled needs of these communities.BuildERS uses several research methods such as i) Stakeholder engagement with co-design and co-creation processes, ii) Field surveying and questionnaires, iii) Comparative research, iv) Multiple case analysis.

Clarus is a multidisciplinary and multi-organisational consortium comprised of 6 academic research organisations; 4 forensic and 3 police agencies (LEAs) from 6 European member states and associated countries. Clarus will study how communication, taken-for-granted ways of doing things, organisational cultures, disciplinary backgrounds or even gender and specific languages can contribute significantly to a context for biased judgements and erroneous decisions at an organisational level in digital evidence examination and investigation. Clarus will achieve its objectives by co-producing, with the direct involvement of end-users, (1) a map of ambiguous information flows and points of miscommunication; (2) a report on potential sources of misunderstandings, errors and biases from organisational cultures, terminologies and communication patterns; (3) a common lexicon with reference points in multiple languages and (4) a bias checking tool for enhancing quality, impartiality and reliability of digital forensics. Clarus will thus produce new knowledge related to issues of communication, language and vocabulary, both within and across borders in Europe in the field of forensic digital evidence in Europe and will highlight areas of risk for the execution of unbiased forensic procedures. Clarus’ vision is: by detecting the organisational context for bias and errors in methods of informal and formal inter-agency communication, as well as the implementation of a common lexicon and bias checking tool, Clarus will improve objectivity, neutrality and fairness in the pursuit of safer justice outcomes in terrorism and serious crime exploiting digital technologies. This will enhance communication and improve efficiency and increase trust between citizens and the professional services in policing, forensic science and the courts leading to: "Improved forensics and lawful evidence collection, increasing the capabilities to apprehend criminals and terrorists and bring them to the court"

In combatting domestic violence progress has been made, however policy implementation remains slow and domestic violence mostly remains under-reported by the victims and under-detected by the frontline agencies. IMPROVE project develops several tools to increase reporting and detection of domestic violence by empowering the victims to understand their rights for services and justice, and by supporting Police Authorities, Civil Society Organizations and other frontline responder organisations to enhance their competencies to utilize innovative solutions that enable and accelerate policy implementation. IMPROVE will develop Conversational (multilingual) AI Chatbot (AINO) that provides the victims immediate advice and risk assessment as well as guidance towards the available service provisions. The performance of AI Chatbot will be consistently improved by machine learning using inputs from the victim-survivors. IMPROVE will support the planning and decision making of policy makers and managers to fully utilize innovative solutions in the priority areas in order to accelerate policy implementation and enhance positive operational outcomes through effective application of tools, procedures and measures to combat domestic violence. IMPROVE will address frontline responders training needs by designing training materials covering sector specific and cross-sector contents supported by innovative teaching and learning methods. IMPROVE will construct and deliver targeted awareness campaigns for the victims, their social environs, and community representatives as well as frontline responder practitioners, managers, policy makers and academic experts. Innovations produced by IMPROVE are based on applied research that constructs a pioneering conceptual approach that is able to address diverse identities of the victims, the under-served, vulnerable and marginalized individuals and multiple forms and situations of domestic violence.

The NEXES Research and Innovation Action aims to research, test and validate the promising integration of IP-based communication technologies and interoperability into the next generation emergency services, so that they attain increased effectiveness and performance. Empowered by smartphones with cameras, messaging and internet-based applications connecting to social media, citizens expect emergency services to use the same technologies. However, this is not the case. NEXES innovates the approach to the dynamics between emergency services and citizens, allowing (i) the use of total conversation capabilities in emergencies, including social media, to the benefit of citizens, including those with disability or special needs (ii) the exploitation of improved location information to rapidly and effectively identify and locate the caller and the incident site and (iii) the leverage of Internet-enabled connectivity to enhance interoperability and shared awareness among emergency services, to the benefit of a more secure society. The NEXES Consortium gathers world-class European entities, well experienced in the research and development of innovative solutions for communications and emergency products and solutions. The NEXES Team presents extensive background knowledge and in-house solutions to adapt, test and validate in NEXES’s open Testing Regime and Validation Framework, ensuring solid results are achieved to produce relevant Recommendations and contributions to Europe’s standardisation effort on emergency services. To leverage related dissemination and market exploitation activities, the NEXES System, Apps and its operational benefits are demonstrated in three realistic pilots to end-users and stakeholders. In fact, end-users’ involvement, directly ensured by NEXES Partners and indirectly by invited Advisors, is a key contributor to guarantee NEXES’s operational validity as a reference implementation system for next generation emergency services.