Deadline: 23-Nov-22
The European Commission (EC) has announced a call for proposals for its grant program to enhance preparedness and management of High-Impact Low-Probability or unexpected events.
The risk landscape has changed significantly over the last decades. With new and emerging risks and risk magnifiers such as climate change, cyber threats, infectious diseases and terrorism, countries need to anticipate and prepare for the unexpected and difficult to predict.
This topic requires the effective contribution of SSH disciplines and the involvement of SSH experts, institutions as well as the inclusion of relevant SSH expertise, in order to produce meaningful and significant effects enhancing the societal impact of the related research activities.
Funding Information
The check will normally be done for the coordinator if the requested grant amount is equal to or greater than EUR 500 000, except for:
- public bodies (entities established as a public body under national law, including local, regional or national authorities) or international organisations; and
- cases where the individual requested grant amount is not more than EUR 60 000 (lowvalue grant).
Expected Outcomes
Projects’ results are expected to contribute to some of the following outcomes:
- Increased understanding of high impact-low probability events in the short and medium term, both from natural and man-made hazards. These perspectives include cultural, societal, regional, ethical and historical contexts. This should capture new and emerging risks and develop end-user-friendly tools for risk assessors to conceptualise such risks.
- Improved methods/tools for decision-making under uncertainty to prepare for high-impact low-probability events. These methods could include the impact of past events, communication and linguistic components, and regional specificities. These should be developed in close cooperation with end users to maximise application of these tools in practice.
- Better preparedness for and management of high-impact low-probability risks that most, if not all, experts have difficulty conceptualising (the unexpected events), including by developing no-regret options that can address different kinds of impacts irrespective of the cause.
- Improved mapping of i) socioeconomic systems’ interdependencies that can be negatively affected by high-impact low-probability events, and ii) which systems contribute to the materialisation of high-impact low-probability risks by increasing societal vulnerability. This would be supported by identification of interventions where resilience-building would be most effective. This identification could be based on an in-depth understanding of past events, a mapping of the current societies’ cultural sensibilities in a geographical space / region context, and/or their ethical and legal contexts.
- Improved preparedness at an individual level, at local level and at the governmental level, including through clarifying roles and responsibilities around management of high-impact low-probability events. An improved understanding of existing risk and resilience management capacities across Europe at national and regional levels for responding to high-impact low-probability risks that Europe may face.
- Development of appropriate simulation tools to identify areas under higher risk of occurrence of HILP events and development of preparedness plans and management mechanisms, including communication, to address the effects of such occurrence.
- Combination of qualitative and quantitative approach strategies, which encompass practical and probabilistic knowledge to increase the success rate of identifying and adequately monitoring fast developing risks into potential high-impact low-probability events
- Multi-disciplinary reference library around HILP events and their impacts would allow to build up a record of observations that can help quantify the impacts and, by analogy, similar risks that might arise in the future.
- Scenario-building exercises and stress-test risk-related practices in critical infrastructure sectors (e.g., transport, communications, energy) would enhance preparedness and help identify particularly affected social groups while enabling rapid financial and practical support where national organizations are unable to cope or where the consequences are cross-border in nature. Independent, high-quality hubs (national or regional) for up-to-date risk notification and provision of scientific information and communication in a crisis – supported by governments, businesses and industry associations.
Eligibility Criteria
To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:
- the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions;
- the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States;
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eligible non-EU countries:
- countries associated to Horizon Europe;
- low- and middle-income countries.
For more information, visit European Commission.
For more information, visit https://bit.ly/3ufA8VX