NEWSLETTER #3

December 2021

This newsletter keeps you updated on the latest activities of the Search & Rescue (SnR) project and informs you on news and activities related to Search and Rescue operations. On behalf of the consortium, we hope you enjoy reading this issue.

 

The Search and Rescue project will convene its upcoming workshop on 9 December 2021. The workshop will be divided into two parts. The first (11-12) will introduce the project and provide an update on its progress to interested stakeholders. The second part (1-3pm) will address SAR operations in the context of the recent wildfires (Greece) and floods (Belgium, Germany) in Europe. SAR experts will exchange their experience and lessons learnt in facing these crises, namely discussing the challenges encountered and the technologies used to carry out their operations. Stay tuned!

 

1st Project Periodic Review

In September 2021 took place the 1st periodic review during which the progress and results achieved during the first year of the Search and Rescue project were presented to the European Commission. The Commission emphasised that the consortium had fully achieved its objectives and milestones for the period and delivered exceptional results with significant immediate or potential impact, even under a difficult COVID situation. A big congratulations to SnR partners for the work done!

 

French National Firefighters Congress

The SnR project was presented at the 127th National Firefighter Congress in Marseille by our partners Pompiers de L'Urgence Internationale (PUI). The event was attended by over 250,000 French and international firefighters. Several players from the public safety sector were also present and were eager to learn what we are doing to develop enhanced technologies for first responders in SAR operations. The French President Emmanuel Macron also attended the event, delivering the concluding remarks on the importance of public safety and the rise of natural disasters, in particular, addressing the RESCEU, part of the EU Civil Protection mechanism.

 

PSCE Conference in Brussels

We were happy to present SnR in the course of a poster session organised as part of the PSCE Conference that took place in Brussels on 30 November 1 December 2021. One of the poster addressed the issue of gender equality in SAR missions. The event was attended by around 80 participants from various communities (research, industry, practitioners, EU representatives) in the area of public safety and disaster management. The project was presented by our partners ESDP in an elevator pitch session at the beginning of the conference.

 

Gender approach in Research & Innovation projects

The gender perspective has become cross-sectional in many aspects of European projects, and it is necessary to include a focus on the analysis in Research and Innovation projects. On many occasions this approach is not so clear how to be integrated, especially in technological projects, where, a priori, it may be thought that gender differences may not be relevant in the research results. However, hence the importance of building multidisciplinary teams that bring together researchers and developers from the technology sector with specialists in the human and social sciences to contribute to the gender impact of the results obtained.

Taking into account the updated guidelines for the Integration of Gender Analysis on Research from the Spanish Agency for Research, several dimensions can be considered in order to integrate a gender approach in research and innovation projects. For instance;

  • The research approach: Establishing how the findings of the project will be applied to the specific needs of men and/or women.
  • The research methods. Presenting sex-disaggregated samples, and, where relevant, proportional representation of females and males in order to ensure that the information collected will allow for a sex/gender analysis.
  • Relevant ethical issues that may have particular implications for men and/or women (similarly or differently).
  • The dissemination/transfer of knowledge defining a strategy that will facilitate the application of the research results to the needs of women and/or men.

Considering these dimensions, the gender perspective cuts across different tasks and activities in R&I projects. This inclusion must be present from the design of the research, to the development of tests with end-users, ensuring gender representativeness in the samples. Subsequently, it is important to show the results disaggregating the data obtained by gender, as well as to carry out a study of the ethical implication for men and women and a communication strategy underlining the applicability of the results with gender differences and similarities.

Underlining these aspects, one of the added value of Search and Rescue project is the interdisciplinary composition of the consortium, where professionals from the social science sector work together with technology professionals, integrating the gender perspective and including it in the methodological framework of the evaluation of the project's results.

 

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This Project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 882897