The current project proposal addresses two horizontal priorities: Innovative practices in a digital era and Supporting individuals in acquiring and developing basic skills and key competences. The project develops strategic partnerships between two universities and a research center. All the spheres of public life need security to exist and implement its processes threats and hazards for the individual, society and countries are becoming more diverse in nature, complexity and power of influence; the relations between the various spheres of public life are quite complicated so each one affects the security of the others and vice versa. Natural hazards affect large territories beyond the borders of the country and even continents as is the example with COVID19, which requires joint action involving people from several countries. The project will integrate the knowledge of three organizations from Greece, Bulgaria and England in order to build an online platform for education in Disaster Risk Management. The platform will include the best practices of the three countries and a collective research in European best practices in disaster risk reduction. In that context the main objective of our project is to develop a Disaster Risk Reduction intelligence gathering, prediction, detection and reaction platform for different hazards. The high level project objectives, which summarize the specific challenges of the work programme and corresponding directly to the Key Action priorities are: 1. To develop e-learning platform for disaster risk reduction – Disaster Risk Management Curriculum for Students and educational and research e-resources. To develop and implement open education and innovative practices through online education in disaster risk reduction. 2. To provide the communities with an open access resources for disaster risk reaction. It will integrate all the measures and procedures which should be undertaken by people when a specific hazard occurs. The AI will be used to develop Chabot to provide assistance for the citizens as well as general guidance for the measures which should be taken. 3. Developing a game-based approach for acquiring and developing basic skills and key competences in disaster risk reduction by expanding the knowledge, skills and competencies in disaster risk management and disaster risk reduction of the citizens. DRR game will provide people all over Europe with the unique opportunity to obtain knowledge and practical experience related to the disaster risk reduction measures in a different, dynamic format. The creation of a simulation game, which aims to immerse the citizens in realistic situations and point them to the correct solutions, is a precedent for this kind of training in disaster risk reduction. Main target groups are: • Students – they will be provided with the opportunity to study in the Online Joint Master Degree: they will receive an up-to-date e-resources in the field of Disaster Risk Management; they will gain skills in DRM measures and procedures development and implementation; they will have access to the practical tools and the findings of academics from different countries. The quality of education will enhance their competitiveness at the labor market. The online education will ease the access to the Master Degree as it overcome the restrictions related to the geographic boundaries, cultural differences, disabilities, economic obstacles, health problems, etc. • Government authorities – will be provided with the best practices in the EU in their respective area of disaster risk management. Because of the language barriers and the lack of scientific knowledge and developed networking the employees in the respective agencies have no access to trainings into the disaster risk management. The project results will ensure them with adequate training in their language, good practices exchange and professional consultations. The gained knowledge will help them to implement their functions more effectively and efficiently. • Civil population – will gain knowledge how to react to the disasters, which measures and procedures to follow in a comprehensible manner or based on the game approach. That will result in their better reaction which could reduce the damages and help for the recovery. People will know how to react, who to contact, how to help which could save lives. • The game will address the need of disaster risk education of the age groups 14-30. As the younger generation could expand their skills for disaster risk reaction through the game approach. The project will provide possibilities for online learning. It will develop a one stop online and instant access to a wide variety of information and a library of resources about the disaster risk reduction in EU, which will enhance the knowledge and the ability of the citizens in EU to react effectively and efficiently to the different hazards.
We aimed at developing innovative pedagogic methods for teaching, learning and assessment of the Disaster Risk Reduction training through interactive education. The project activities aimed at increasing the uptake of disaster management and disaster risk reduction where skills shortages existed because the topic was not developed as a training and education program in either of the project participants, although they had had the knowledge gained and the necessary experience to develop such innovative training solutions and to improve the career guidance of students in the field of disaster risk reduction. One of the project objectives was to integrate the knowledge of the organizations from Greece, Bulgaria and UK in order to build an online platform for education. The platform had been planned to gather partner organisations` knowledge and to include the best practices of the three countries as well as collective research of the European best practices in disaster risk reduction. We intended to integrate the problems definitions, the best practices studies, management approaches development and the assessment methods, such as risk, threat and consequence assessment and costs evaluation into educational program.
As the project partners had realized the increasing need for creative and innovative training solutions in disaster risk reduction for overcoming the negative effects of the natural hazards. The COVID-19 pandemic gave as the main motive for applying this project. Unfortunately, during its implementation more evidences for the project significance and relevance can be found – the war in Ukraine and its consequences, the earthquake in Turkey and Syria in 2023, the fires and the floods in Greece and Bulgaria during the last three years and many more. The main needs that we have addresses are as follows: 1. The need for open education and innovative practices in disaster risk reduction. 2. The communities` needs for open access resources. 3. The need of the citizens for acquiring and developing basic skills and key competences in disaster risk reduction. 4. The need of the higher education organizations to create learning unions and partnerships among scientists and practitioners for mutual knowledge sharing. 5. The main needs for providing one stop online and instant access to a wide variety of information and a library of resources about the disaster risk reduction in EU.