In recent years, there have been increasing instances of cross-border crises, including climate change, terrorism, international trade disputes and global health threats, like the COVID-19 pandemic. These emergency situations require large-scale planning for preparedness and response in order for countries to be able to cope with unforeseen challenges.
The European Commission has recently funded many projects to work on different aspects of crisis management, many with a focus on managing pandemics. Trilateral Research plays a crucial role in several projects of this type, including COVINFORM, NO FEAR, PANDEM-2, STAMINA and STRATEGY. While each project has distinct aims and challenges, they all work towards a common goal.
It is for this reason that Trilateral Research, with the support of the STAMINA project, initiated the PREparedness and resPonse for emergency situAtions in euRopE (PREPARE) cluster. The group comprises of ten EU-funded H2020 projects, with a combined funding of €72 million. Each of the ten projects is tackling challenges specifically looking at the preparedness and response phases of crisis management and, working together, they aim to achieve stronger results and greater impact for the cause.
The PREPARE projects are:
CO-VERSATILE, COVID-X, COVINFORM, EUR3KA, NO-FEAR, PANDEM-2, PERISCOPE, PHIRI, STAMINA, STRATEGY
Together, the member organisations of the cluster will explore synergies, research opportunities and deliver joint activities to maximise impact. Through mutual support, the cluster will strengthen our response to the ongoing crisis and our aim to be better prepared for future health crises.
The cluster has already responded to an online public consultation launched by the European Commission on the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA).
Each participating project was able to spot different challenges, meaning the collaboration has resulted in a balanced and robust response focused on improving Europe’s capacity and readiness to respond to cross-border health threats and emergencies.
The feedback was structured around key questions on how HERA should be structured and what should be its priorities. As a whole, the PREPARE cluster agreed that current capacities need further development and more equal distribution, including foresight mechanisms, data sharing, quality assurance, and real-time data gathering.
Insights from this project cluster point to the need for HERA to develop dialogues with existing systems – rather than subsume them within its umbrella – in order to establish joint procurement agreements, fabrication networks, and build a strong capacity to trigger such EU-level coordination activities while maintaining economies of scale.
Trilateral will continue to lead activities for the PREPARE cluster throughout the duration of the projects. Our involvement in the cluster offers particular expertise in both the communications and ethical aspects of the projects’ work.
Please contact us for more information and would like to be updated about future events.
