Successful APPRAISE Final Event

On the 21-22 February 2024, ISCPSI hosted the APPRAISE final event - Securing the Unfortified: Navigating the future of counter-terrorism with a focus on soft target resilience in Lisbon, Portugal. With more than 150 attendees and many others viewing the livestream, the event marked the successful culmination of two-and-a-half years of intensive work from the APPRAISE consortium. 

Kicking the event off, the attendees received a warm welcome from representatives from ISCPSI, the PSP and members of the APPRAISE coordination team - Yana Lazarova and Anastasios Dimou. The welcome gave ISCPSI the chance to introduce their institute and the APPRAISE team to recap the aims, objectives and outcomes of the project. Alexandra Ahmad from CS Group then gave a brief introduction to the pilots before there was a chance for attendees to get hand-on with a range of technologies developed within APPRAISE during the Technology Fair. To read more about the technology offering of APPRAISE check out the brochure that explores the key results at the bottom of the page. 

 In a sunny court yard setting, attendees had time for lunch, networking and a group photo to commemorate the occasion before going in-depth with the pilots in the afternoon. Representatives from all four APPRAISE pilots shared their experiences in testing the APPRAISE solutions and what they learned from the whole experience. See the video below for a brief recap on the pilot scenarios. 

Day two started with the first of three panel sessions chaired by Anastatsios Dimou, focused on the theme of 'Better Together: Successful synergies between organizations, countries and sectors to enhance the cyber and physical resilience of public spaces against terrorist threats'. This panel sought a range of external perspectives with presentations from Claudio Rossi of the Links Foundation on the ATLANTIS project that explores many similar themes to APPRAISE but in the domain of the protection of critical infrastructure. Next up Massimiliano Sorba shared the experience of Mr Security a private security operator in Turin who provided invaluable additional support to the final pilot, while Rafał Batkowski from the University of Lodz - discussed the SAFESTADIUM project and their efforts to combat CBRN-based threats. Finally, Yves Vandermeer shared his experiences as the ECTEG coordinator. 

The second panel, chaired by Prof. Sónia Morgado, looked at the nexus between surveillance, privacy and freedom in the context of public spaces to understand the impact and level of acceptance the technologies used to protect public spaces might have on citizens. The first speaker, Prof, Saskia Bayerl from CENTRIC, spoke about the research carried out in the context of APPRAISE on societal and stakeholder acceptance. Ismaela Murgia from DG Home then gave an overview of the policy and funding environment for the protection of public spaces in the EU context while Superintendent Pedro Moura talked us through the challenges faced in organising the World Youth Day in Lisbon in 2023. Lastly, Nina Czyżewska of the Polish Platform for Homeland Security represented the SHIELD4CROWD project which is supporting pre-commercial procurement activities for technologies that can improve crowd management in public spaces. 

The final session brought together Superintendent, Prof. Dr. Sérgio Felgueiras, Researcher, Learning and Training Director of ISCPSI and the three panel chairs to discuss the role of training in protecting public spaces before a wrap up from our hosts. 

APPRAISE offers a huge thank you to the organisers, speakers and attendees for making the event such a success. Watch the video below to see a recap of the event. 

The livestreams can also be watched back at the links below. 

 

 

Download
APPRAISE Brochure (website).pdf