EU · in EnglishHORIZON-CL3-2027-01-DRS-02

Societal resilience, engagement of the younger generations and digital innovation for disaster resilience

The official English text of the call comes from the European Commission's Funding & Tenders portal.

Deadline

4 November 2027 Opens 5 May 2027

Grant per project

3 million EURTotal budget: 6 million EUR · about 2 funded projects

Region

International (EU)

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Eligibility criteria

EU direct call: eligibility depends mainly on the consortium, the participants' countries and their types of organisation. We cannot check these from your company details, so we do not tell you whether you are eligible. The criteria are in the official call.

Official call

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What is this call about?

Ez az uniós kutatási pályázat a katasztrófa-felkészültség erősítésére irányul, különös tekintettel a fiatalok bevonására. A támogatás olyan innovatív oktatási programok, digitális eszközök és gamifikációs megoldások fejlesztésére fordítható, amelyek növelik a fiatalok katasztrófa-tudatosságát és közösségi részvételét. A pályázat olyan szervezeteknek szól, amelyek civil szervezetekkel, ifjúsági szervezetekkel és helyi hatóságokkal együttműködve képesek gyakorlati pilotprojekteket és valós esettanulmányokat megvalósítani. Az olyan fejlesztésekhez illik, amelyek mesterséges intelligenciát, virtuális valóságot vagy közösségi adatokat használnak a válságkezelésben, és hosszú távú reziliencia-építést támogatnak.

Official description

Expected outcome and scope

Expected Outcome: Project results are expected to contribute to some or all of the following expected outcomes: Developed a tailored education programs for younger generations, incorporating digital tools and gamification to enhance disaster awareness and engagement; Strengthened societal resilience by actively involving younger generations, citizens, and local authorities in disaster preparedness and response initiatives; Promoted collaborative research that integrates youth perspectives and community involvement, fostering a more resilient society in the face of disasters and crises; Enhanced resilience and behaviour of children, young people, and other groups in a vulnerable situation before, during, and after climate-related disasters and health emergencies; Training and education tools to engage young people and other populations a vulnerable situation in preparedness and crisis management.

Scope: This topic focuses on enhancing societal resilience by actively engaging younger generations in disaster preparedness, response, and recovery through digital innovation, education, and community involvement. Projects should develop tailored innovative solutions that integrate digital tools, gamification, and interactive learning methods to improve disaster awareness, risk perception, and response capabilities among younger generations. These initiatives should empower younger generations [1] , to become active contributors to resilience-building efforts, equipping them with the knowledge and leadership skills. Particular attention should be given to the behaviour of children, young people, and other groups in a vulnerable situation before, during, and after climate-related disasters and health emergencies. Participatory approaches, including youth-led initiatives, citizen science, and digital engagement platforms, should be prioritized to enhance community-based resilience and ensure young people’s perspectives are integrated into decision-making processes. These approaches should follow an intersectional approach that gives credit to the (growing) heterogeneity of young people. Best practices from other programmes should be taken into account. Proposals should also focus on leveraging emerging technologies - such as artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, social media analytics, and serious games - to engage young people in disaster preparedness and crisis response. Additionally, innovative communication strategies should be explored to enhance youth participation, particularly through digital technologies and social media. Practical examples, including pilots and real-world case studies, should be developed to test and refine these approaches. Proposals should explore methods to interconnect young people’s data with crisis management teams, practitioners, and authorities, ensuring that their contributions are effectively integrated into emergency response frameworks. Training and education tools should be designed to engage young people and other vulnerable populations in preparedness and crisis management, promoting long-term resilience. Projects should conduct a stakeholder or market analysis and a roadmap or plan for uptake of the developed methodologies, findings, and technologies to the industry, the research and innovation community, and/or the relevant authorities. The support and involvement of citizens and civil society is central to achieving the targeted outcomes. By fostering collaborative research and youth-driven initiatives, projects should contribute to innovative and inclusive resilience strategies that align with EU policies on disaster risk reduction, education, digital transformation, and civil protection. Proposals should ensure synergies with existing initiatives and frameworks, such as the Preparedness Union Strategy’s chapter on population preparedness, Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps, as well as the Sendai Disaster Risk Reduction Framework. Finding synergies with projects from operational grants, such as the Knowledge for Action in Prevention & Preparedness (KAPP) [2] , is recommend. Technology Readiness Level - Technology readiness level expected from completed projects Activities are expected to achieve TRL 5 by the end of the project – see General Annex B. [1] In the context of the European Union, youth is typically defined as individuals between the ages of 13 and 30. This definition aligns with the EU's Youth Strategy, which focuses on supporting young people’s personal and professional development. However, some EU programs may adjust the age range slightly depending on the specific context (e.g., education, employment, or participation), but the 13-30 age bracket is recognized in EU policies related to youth. [2] Knowledge for Action in Prevention and Preparedness (KAPP) - European Commission - https://civil-protection-humanitarian-aid.ec.europa.eu/funding-evaluations/financing-civil-protection/cp-calls-proposals/knowledge-action-prevention-and-preparedness-kapp-0_en

Eligibility and submission conditions

Programme context

Given the increasing frequency and ever greater impacts of disasters resulting from climate extremes, natural, geohazards and human-made hazards, the EU needs to invest more in improving disaster risk management, tools for disaster management [1] and societal resilience to avoid creating new exposure; reduce existing risk by building up resilience, prevention and preparedness; manage residual risk. In this respect, along the orientations given in the Horizon Europe strategic plan 2025-2027, the main objectives of this destination supporting the reduction of losses from natural, accidental and human-made disasters will be pursued in continuity with the strategic plan 2021-2024. This destination will support the implementation of the European Commission political guidelines 2024-2029 for a ‘Safer and more secure Europe’, a ‘Preparedness Union’, with ‘Stronger Common Borders’, protecting democracy and putting research and innovation at the heart of a resilient economy. The European Preparedness Union Strategy [2] is a key document in its implementation. Overall, research under this Cluster should continue to focus on preserving and securing citizens’ basic right to feel safe. This destination will support the European Commission efforts towards: enhancing efforts to prevent and prepare for new threats, especially those linked to chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) security. continuing to address risks to security from climate change impact / step up work on climate resilience and preparedness. supporting medical countermeasures against public health threats. Moreover, this destination will support the implementation of UN Disaster Risk Reduction policies, the EU Disaster Resilience Goals [3] involving closer coordination with the Union Civil Protection Knowledge Network, the rescEU initiative and Member States’ civil protection authorities, as well as an enhanced dialogue at international level with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) on recommendations for the Sendai Framework [4] and United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Such closer coordination with other programmes will make it possible to further streamline future research programming. For example, Cluster 3 should focus on its core added value, which is a strong operational character for preparedness, crisis management, response and learning, while maintaining complementarities with broader prevention issues such as climate-related risks, covered by Cluster 5, and the Mission on Climate Change Adaptation. There are similar examples in closer coordination with Cluster 6 and the One Health approach, regarding, for instance, water and food security threats (as a result of intentional degradation or terrorist acts). From a technological perspective, the Destination will ensure greater involvement of practitioners in close cooperation with the Member States and EU agencies, not only in research development and implementation, but also the identification of gaps and needs and future research topics. Actions to develop tools and technologies to meet operational capability needs should be aimed at higher technological readiness levels (TRLs). Finally, it will be important to take into account how research results, both those still to come and those already developed in past projects under the DRS destination, can be turned into deployable solutions by being combined with capacity-building programmes (in particular the Internal Security Fund, funding under the Union Civil Protection Mechanism [5] , the European Regional Development Fund, and the Cohesion Fund), and social innovation to support the entry into the market of developed technologies. Actions will also aim to ensure that there is a link between R&I and possible procurement (e.g., in the area of medical countermeasures). Proposals for topics under this Destination should have the overarching objective of improving resilience. Actions will continue to explore initiatives and experiments involving the development of technological or methodological solutions for crisis management and support for emergency responders, getting the general public more involved in this area and improving interactions between regional and/or local authorities, public practitioners, private operators and civil society. Actions could also take into consideration human induced environmental disasters and regions vulnerable to extreme weather events in coastal areas, sea level rise and other climate change impacts, which may prone to disaster risks (e.g. the Arctic). New tools or solutions should build on what has been developed in past projects and be capable of being integrated into existing (legacy) systems. Actions will also focus on multi-service capability developments, in particular tools and technologies to support direct operational needs in case of a disaster. This will be done in a scalable way, covering areas from small rural towns to economically developed ones with a high population density, and opening research initiatives to international cooperation. Capabilities need to be upgraded to match the new resilience stakes and expectations of practitioners and of society as a whole. We should learn from past disaster events by identifying gaps in capabilities that the response to such events showed were lacking. For example, one of such gaps are the availability and distribution of medical countermeasures used to effectively respond to deliberate or accidental releases of CBRN-E substances. The destination will continue to follow a multi-hazard approach, addressing disasters and threats of all kinds, including their cascading issues, climate-related or natural or human-made and geological hazards, industrial accidents, pandemics, intentional hostile acts including terrorism and armed conflict. Particular attention will be paid to floods and wildfires, as well as to chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive (CBRN-E) threats. To this end, proposals should contribute to the achievement of one or more of the following impacts: Enhanced citizen and regional and/or local authorities' involvement in research actions, and in operational measures that may result from research, with focus on risk awareness and enhanced disaster prevention and preparedness, adapted to all types of disability (sensorial, physical, intellectual), including youth awareness raising and education; Improved disaster risk governance (from prevention, preparedness to mitigation, response, deployment of countermeasures and recovery, using updated risk assessment methods and decision criteria, and including knowledge transfer and awareness of innovative solutions) from international to regional and/or local levels; Strengthened capacities of disaster management systems for preventing, preparing for and responding to natural and human-made disasters in the spirit of Decision No 1313/2013/EU [6] including development of new prevention or preparedness technologies, infrastructures or assets as well as in support of field operations with validation of tools and technologies used in disaster responses including emergencies, and demonstration of their interoperability. More precisely, in the context of exacerbated impacts of various disaster threats on vulnerable societies, research and innovation actions are highly needed to face the many challenges faced by European Society. Some of them are: Challenges related to inclusion of the general public, regional and/or local communities and voluntary organisations as active partners in order to: Empower citizens to act and help them to improve their disaster risk awareness and own resilience to crises, including accountability for regional and/or local administrative decisions on residual risks, youth awareness raising and education; Provide all actors involved in the management of natural disasters, human-made emergency situations, and humanitarian crises with timely and accurate geo-spatial information derived from satellite remote sensing and completed by available in situ or open data sources in all phases of the emergency management cycle: preparedness, prevention, disaster risk reduction, emergency response and recovery, as well for early warning and in emergency situations; Provide means for regional and/or local decision-makers and operational responders, i.e., first and second responders. A “second responder” is a worker who supports "first responders" such as police, fire, and emergency medical personnel. They are involved in preparing, managing, returning services, and cleaning up sites during and after an event requiring first responders, including crime scenes and areas damaged by fire, storm, wind, floods, earthquakes, or other natural hazards. These types of services may include utility services (shutdown or reinstatement of electrical, gas, sewage, and/or water services), wireless or wireline communication services, specialty construction (i.e. shelter construction), hazardous waste clean-up, road clearing, crowd control, emergency services (i.e. Red Cross [7] , first aid, food services, security services, social services (i.e., trauma counsellors), and sanitation, infrastructure owners, regional and/or local authorities (including public services, transport and utilities) to coordinate prevention and preparedness actions, bearing in mind the socio-economic and cultural context, and for operational responders to influence regional and/or local planning decisions that affect exposures and vulnerability to risks in short and long term; Address citizens’ perception of, and involvement in, civil defence in the event of very large-scale disasters including armed conflict. Challenges regarding the reinforcement of disaster risk governance and the consideration of knowledge and innovative solutions in order to: Improve operational management of crises at different levels (prevention, preparedness, response, recovery) and scales (international to regional and/or local), Reinforce the uptake and transfer of knowledge to risk managers, first and second responders and decision-makers; Strengthen resilience and enhancing protection strategies for emergency services and healthcare workers in case of disasters; Reinforce civil defence capability, looking at all facets of crisis and disaster management, alongside community resilience building; Enhance preparedness for optimised detection, prevention, response and control measures in case of bioterrorism or emerging diseases. Challenges related to wildlife- and domestic animals protection against disasters. Challenges related to the validation and usability of tools and technologies, including the demonstration of their interoperability, in the context of strengthened cross-sectorial disaster management capacities as to: Enhance risk awareness, preparedness and communication about foreseeable impacts of disasters; Deploy innovative solutions in emergency situations including trusted communication channels (considering the upcoming proposal for a European Critical Communication System), emergency medical response, including triage of victims, pre-hospital and clinical services, medical countermeasures, support equipment (e.g. detectors), as well as protection of first responders; Coordinate and further develop awareness and early systems for floods, wildfires, droughts, etc., considering Earth observation and modelling (Including the Copernicus Emergency Management Service), space communication (IRIS 2 ), space navigation (Galileo and the Galileo EWSS Early Warning Satellite System), while ensuring alignment with the technical and scientific requirements to guarantee interoperability; Enhance validation of tools, technologies and processes for cross-border prevention, decision-support and responses to climate-related and geological disasters and emergency crises by different practitioner sectors (firefighters, medical emergency services, civil protection, police, NGOs); Enhance interoperability of tools and technologies used in international emergency (real-case) situations related to natural hazards, CBRN-E threats and hybrid threats via inputs such as standard operating procedures for foresight, risk analysis or guidance with the aim to improve market uptake. This Destination will also support, whenever appropriate and applicable, the proposals with some or all of the following goals: a clear strategy from international to regional and/or local on how the overall society will adapt to the evolving disaster risks based on the subsidiarity principle (from the citizen level to international decision-making); the involvement of different disaster risk management stakeholders and regional and/or local authorities in research, development and validation of methods and tools; the active role for Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs); the active involvement of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs); a robust plan on how they will build on the relevant predecessor projects, and clustering with existing research (EU and national) actions to maximise complementarities and synergies and avoid duplication of efforts; education and training aspects for first and second responders for different types of threats (climate-related, geohazards, accidental, intentional), and adapted to all types of disability (sensorial, physical, intellectual, as well as information sharing and awareness raising of the citizens; a clear strategy on the uptake of the outcomes, defined in consultation with the involved stakeholders, taking into consideration the final users and the usability of the outcomes after the end of the project; a well-developed plan both on how research data for training and testing will be obtained, in order to reach the requested Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs), and on how the specific TRL will be measured. Where possible and relevant, synergy-building and clustering initiatives with successful proposals in the same area should be considered, including the organisation of international conferences in close coordination with the Community for European Research and Innovation for Security (CERIS) [8] activities and/or other international events. Legal entities established in China are not eligible to participate in both Research and Innovation Actions (RIAs) and Innovation Actions (IAs) falling under this destination. For additional information please see “Restrictions on the participation of legal entities established in China” found in General Annex B of the General Annexes. [1] Disaster management refers here to systems for preventing, preparing for and responding to natural and man-made disasters in the spirit of Decision No 1313/2013/EU . The protection they provide shall cover primarily people, but also the environment and property, including cultural heritage, against all kinds of natural and man-made disasters, including the consequences of acts of terrorism, technological, radiological or environmental disasters, marine pollution, hydrogeological instability and acute health emergencies, occurring inside or outside the Union. In the case of the consequences of acts of terrorism or radiological disasters, it should cover only preparedness and response actions. [2] JOIN(2025) 130 final. [3] COM/2023/61 final. [4] UNDRR, Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030. [5] See the UCPM scientific needs assessment on disaster risk management: https://civil-protection-knowledge-network.europa.eu/media/outcome-report-scientific-research-needs-exercise [6] Under the Decision, the protection they provide shall cover primarily people, but also the environment and property, including cultural heritage, against all kinds of natural and human-made disasters, including the consequences of acts of terrorism, technological, radiological or environmental disasters, marine pollution, hydrogeological instability and acute health emergencies, occurring inside or outside the Union. In the case of the consequences of acts of terrorism or radiological disasters, it should cover only preparedness and response actions. [7] https://redcross.eu [8] https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/networks/ceris-community-european-research-and-innovation-security_en

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Deadline

4 November 2027