Open topic on Improving disaster risk management and governance to ensure self-sufficiency and sustainability of operations in support of enhanced resilience

Expected Outcome:Project results are expected to contribute to the following expected outcome(s):

• Better understanding of the impact of disasters and crises, and improved early warnings and long-term planning linked to natural causes or to human-made threats (including CBRN) on risk governance, including emergency services, regional and/or local authorities, and citizen volunteers, and improved adaptation and resilience of emergency systems for disaster prevention and preparedness – especially in a multi-risk environment with cascading disasters.

Scope:Improved risk governance, adaptation and resilience requires authorities and communities to adopt risk and resilience management approaches, which are inclusive and innovative, through pre-defined plans and procedures, as well as through adaptable and flexible capabilities to prepare for, respond to, recover from and learn from disasters and crises. It requires the implementation of policies at different levels (international to regional and/or local) and strategies for a better understanding of impacts and enhanced risk preparedness and adaptation, which are co-developed and enabled through all-of-society engagement and participation, and hence strengthen resilience to disasters among authorities, decision-makers, private actors, intermediary actors, volunteers and citizens, and the most vulnerable.

The European Commission is developing and implementing an EU Preparedness Union Strategy[1] following whole-of-government and whole-of-society approaches. The proposals’ outcomes should especially work towards supporting the Strategy and follow the recommendations of the Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO) to ensure a successful uptake to the end users.

Under the open topic, proposals are welcome to address new, upcoming or unforeseen challenges and/or creative or disruptive solutions for an enhanced understanding of impacts of disasters and crises linked to natural or human-made causes on risk governance and improved resilience of emergency systems, that are not covered by topics of Horizon Europe Calls Disaster-Resilient Society 2023-2024. If they related to some of the topics covered by Horizon Europe Calls Disaster-Resilient Society 2021-2022, the proposals should convincingly explain how they will build on and not duplicate them.

Proposals are expected to address one of the following options:

Option a: Enhanced impact forecasting and early warning systems, understanding of climate / weather extreme events and geohazards and adaptation of emergency systems for disaster prevention and preparedness;

Option b: Enhanced impact forecasting and understanding of Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosive (CBRN-E) threats and adaptation of emergency systems for disaster prevention preparedness and response (including medical countermeasures). Projects do not need to address all elements of CBRN-E.

Adapted to the nature, scope and type of proposed projects, proposals should also convincingly explain how they will plan and/or carry out demonstration, testing or validation of developed tools and solutions. Furthermore, proposals should outline the plans to develop possible future uptake and upscaling at national and EU level for possible next steps once the project is finalised. Proposals should also consider, build on if appropriate and not duplicate previous research, including but not limited to research by other Framework Programmes’ projects. Coordination among the successful proposals from this topic should be envisaged in order to avoid duplication and to exploit complementarities as well as opportunities for increased impact.

Proposals funded under this topic are expected to engage beyond the project consortium with volunteers' organisations, regional and/or local authorities and disaster management authorities during the lifetime of the project, including validating the outcomes, with the aim of facilitating future uptake of innovations for the Disaster Risk Reduction community.

To ensure the active involvement of and timely feedback from relevant practitioners, i.e., emergency responders (with expertise in the different types of natural or human-made threats), proposals should plan a mid-term deliverable consisting in the assessment, performed by the practitioners involved in the project, of the project’s mid-term outcomes.

Due to the scope of this topic, legal entities established in LAC (Latin America and Caribbean), African, and Central Asian countries are encouraged to participate.

This topic requires the effective contribution of SSH disciplines and the involvement of SSH experts, institutions as well as the inclusion of relevant SSH expertise, in order to produce meaningful and significant effects enhancing the societal impact of related research and innovation activities.

[1] Europe’s choice – Political guidelines for the next European Commission 2024-2029, p. 14.