EU Science for Preparedness Conference

Files

1. 4 Nov 2025, 14:00 - 17:30 (CET)

   Day 1

   • 14:00-14:30
     Opening (Room 500)
     - Tom De Groeve, European Commission's Joint Research Centre
     - Anna Samsel, Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations
     - Francesco Tresso, Comune di Torino
   • 14:30-15:30
     First plenary: Status of Science for the Preparedness Union and the user needs (Room 500)
     Taking stock of 10 years of knowledge management in the Disaster Risk Management Knowledge Centre and more than a decade of an operational Copernicus Emergency Management Service, this session explores how the risk landscape is changing and what the most urgent scientific challenges are for European civil protection.
     - Moderator: Tom De Groeve, European Commission's Joint Research Centre
     Panellists:
     - Christina Corbane, European Commission's Joint Research Centre
     - Anna Samsel, Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations
     - Cyrille Honoré, World Meteorological Organization
     - Dominique Orsini, Security and Defence Policy Directorate, European External Action Service
     - Silvia Torresan, Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change Foundation
   • 15:30-16:30
     Coffee break
   • 16:30-17:30
     Second plenary: Innovation: the last mile to operations (Room 500)
     Rapid innovation in earth observation, earth system modelling and artificial intelligence present new opportunities for emergency and risk management. This session explores the innovation drivers and how these can be harnessed to improve the trusted services of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service and the Disaster Risk Knowledge Centre. 
     - Moderator: Stéphane Ourevitch, ALSO Space
     Panellists:
     - Peter Salamon, European Commission's Joint Research Centre and Copernicus Emergency Management Service
     - Luigi D'Angelo, Italian Civil Protection Department
     - Rosa Mata Francés, Catalonia Civil Protection Directorate
     - Adrian Bucalowksi, National Headquarters of the State Fire Service of Poland
     - Grazyna Piesiewicz, Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology
   • 18:00-20:00
     Apéro
2. 5 Nov 2025, 09:00 - 17:30 (CET)

   Day 2

   • 9:00-10:30
     Session 1A: Solutions to reduce hazard impacts (Room 500)
     This session aims to showcase innovative and practical solutions to reduce the impacts of natural hazards. The focus will be on solutions that are already operational or demonstrate strong potential for operationalisation, and that contribute to improve any phase of disaster risk management (prevention, preparedness, response, or recovery).
     - Moderator: Maria Martin de Almagro, Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations
     Speakers and panellists:
     - Beulah Chelva, World Bank
     - Luke Caley, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
     - Cosmina Albulescu, Center for Risk Studies, University of Bucharest
     - Wilfried Stéfic, French National Fire Officers Academy
     Session 1B: Multi-hazard early warning systems: current status and future (Room Londra)
     This session will provide a comprehensive reflection on the key challenges of implementing end-to-end Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems (MHEWS), drawing on concrete examples and featuring forward-looking discussions on the topic.
     - Moderator: Anna Samsel, Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations
     Speakers and panellists:
     - Cyrille Honoré, World Meteorological Organization
     - Marzia Santini, European Commission's Joint Research Centre,
     - Adrian Bucalowksi, National Headquarters of the State Fire Service of Poland
     - Jürg Luterbacher, Justus Liebig University Giessen
     - Andreas Schaffhauser, GeoSphere Austria
   • 10:30-11:30
     Coffee break
   • 11:30-13:00
     Session 2A: Towards a Comprehensive EU Risk and Threat Assessment Framework (Room 500)
     This session brings together scientific and policy strategies underpinning risk assessments—including emerging critical risks, systemic risk approaches, foresight, resilience of vital societal functions, population preparedness. It integrates views from risk analysts, experts and operational actors. Discussion draws on practices and evidence from global, regional, and national risk assessments, scientific analysis and potential approaches to reconcile the sectoral risk assessments and the different scales of analysis.
     - Moderator: Bella Nestorova, Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations
     Speakers and panellists:
     - Chris Earney, United Nations
     - Kari Pelkonen, Secretariat of the Security Committee of Finland
     - Philippe Maupai, German Federal Foreign Office
     - Nestor Alfonzo Santamaria, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
     - Ajay Gambhir, Accelerator for Systemic Risk Assessment
     - Azzurra Lentini, European Commission's Joint Research Centre
     Session 2B: The international dimension of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service (Room Londra)
     In this session we will focus on the increase uptake of Copernicus Emergency Management Service (CEMS) outside the EU along with aligning funding instruments and needs to support uptake of CEMS. It will highlight the international dimension of CEMS with examples from different CEMS components.
     - Moderator: Cecilia Donati, Directorate-General for International Partnerships
     Speakers and panellists:
     - Luca Rossi, United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
     - Rui Kotani, Group on Earth Observations Secretariat
     - Andrea Toreti, European Commission's Joint Research Centre
     - Fernando Sedano, European Commission's Joint Research Centre
     - Thomas Kemper, European Commission's Joint Research Centre
     - Robert Stefanski, World Meteorological Organization 
     - Auriane Denis Loupot, Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations
     - Dyfed Aubrey, UN-Habitat
   • 13:00-14:30
     Lunch
   • 14:30-16:00
     Session 3A: Artificial Intelligence for disaster risk management (Room 500)
     Let's discover the latest news about developing, integrating, and using AI tools for Disaster Risk Management, as well as opportunities and challenges.
     - Moderator: Andrea Toreti, European Commission's Joint Research Centre
     Speakers and panellists:
     - Monique Kuglitsch, Fraunhofer HHI and Global Initiative on Resilience to Natural Hazards through AI Solutions
     - Miguel-Ángel Fernández-Torres, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
     - Luke Claley, IFRC - Red Cross
     - Claire Monteleoni, the French National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology
     - Francisco Doblas-Reyes, Barcelona Supercomputing Center
     - Arthur Hrast Essenfelder, European Commission's Joint Research Centre
     - Amanda Lee Hughes, Brigham Young University
     Session 3B: Capacity building and uptake (Room Londra)
     This session presents and discusses user uptake activities (trainings, capacity building, webinars) to ensure that innovative solutions for Disaster Risk Management are integrated into practice.
     - Moderator: Tobias Biermann, Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space
     Speakers and panellists:
     - Juha-Pekka Japola, Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations
     - Gabriel Lazazzara, SUNSHINE project
     - Antonella Morgillo, Italian National Department of Civil Protection
     - Ruben Piroska, German Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief
     - Clara Eugenia Estrela Segrelles, Jucar River Basin Authority
   • 16:00-16:30
     Coffee break
   • 16:30-17:30 (Room 500)
     Closing
3. 6 Nov 2025, 09:00 - 17:30 (CET)

   Day 3

   Parallel thematic sessions freely accessible upon registration:

   1. Meeting of the Integrated drought management programme, Drought in the Anthropocene network, and European drought observatories and drought experts
   2. The Exposure mapping component of Copernicus Emergency Management Service
      This session provides an opportunity to discuss the exposure mapping component – through the Global Human Settlement Layer (GHSL) – with the science-policy community of the different thematic domains relevant for GHSL.
      We will:
      - present the latest development of the GHSL portfolio
      - showcase different application domains, in which GHSL can provide relevant policy support
      - discuss future directions for the evolution of the GHSL and the exposure mapping component

   Copernicus Emergency Management Service user meetings:

   1. 20^th European Flood Awareness System (EFAS) annual meeting (by invitation only)
   2. On-Demand mapping users conference (by invitation only)
   3. Meeting of the Expert group on forest fires (by invitation only)

Practical information