On 22nd and 23rd March, ENGAGE joined the second Secure Societies Project to Policy Kick-off Seminar (P2PKOS), organized by the Research Executive Agency (REA). The event provided an opportunity for Horizon 2020 projects to meet virtually with European Commission (EC) policy officers and discuss the EU policy landscape.
The ENGAGE project aims to provide important contributions to policymaking in fostering resilience; our findings can be used to inform decision-making to improve societal resilience on national and international levels. Engaging with governance actors is therefore key to ensuring that our results have a significant, long-term impact. Various departments of the EC were represented at the P2PKOS event, including the Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG-ECHO) and the Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs (DG-HOME).
Matthieu Branlat, Alexis Gizikis and Rose Michael represented ENGAGE at the event, using the opportunity to present and get feedback from policy officers on our plans for policy impact. A particularly important outcome of the meeting was gaining insight into the importance of exploring synergies between different Secure Societies projects. We investigated crossovers between projects and how collaborations can make results more impactful. In addition, we explored how the EU Civil Protection Knowledge Network will help to make the impacts of Secure Societies projects more sustainable.
The discussions from the Secure Societies Project P2PKOS event will feed back into developing ENGAGE’s policy impact outputs. Ultimately, our aim is to produce actionable advice that can have a positive impact on people’s safety. All the exchanges from the P2PKOS event therefore helped us to understand the best way to communicate our findings and exchange ideas, as well as the areas of EU policy which are most relevant to our work.
Author: Rose Michael (EENA)
