NO-FEAR Paris consortium meeting: The importance of impact

29 Mar NO-FEAR Paris consortium meeting: The importance of impact

In March 2023, NO-FEAR partners assembled for a final consortium meeting, hosted by École du Val-de-Grâce at their historic facility in the centre of Paris. The meeting focused on maximising the impact of project innovations, as well as arranging the final conference that will convene industry, academics, practitioners and policymakers in Brussels on 4^th May to demonstrate the value of the NO-FEAR network.

The process of ‘exploitation’ is a routine part of Horizon 2020 and other research projects, with funders keen for their investments to lead to actionable results that serve the public good. Demonstrating this impact requires concerted attention as NO-FEAR nears the end of its five-year timespan. Emergency medicine has developed in unanticipated ways over this time, not least as a global pandemic rewrote the roadmap of the project overnight. Adapting effectively to these hazards required agility and imagination, and partners are keen for the network to endure.

Achieving impact has been fundamental to NO-FEAR, and partners discussed the many promising tools and resources identified for the NO-FEAR portal and the ‘quick wins’ proposed by NO-FEAR across medical and logistical fields. These innovations were proposed and validated by technical partners from our consortium of 18 international organisations, and are a valuable resource. The consortium has published more than twenty academic publications and numerous blogs, and engaged with conference presentations and networking opportunities online and around the world. The relationships and knowledge-sharing developed through the network set the stage for continued cooperation in the years ahead. Future opportunities for formal collaboration were touched on in the meeting, but discussion centred on making the most of NO-FEAR activity in these crucial closing stages.

Practical decisions were taken in Paris on the schedule and content of the final conference, with plans for an innovative series of sessions suitable for a specialist audience and showcasing the diverse outputs of the NO-FEAR workstreams. Delivering engaging and varied activities is key to the vision for this conference, with workshops, panels, and technological exhibitions amongst the options considered. As preparations ramp up, partners are looking forward to coming together once again to celebrate the achievements of NO-FEAR.

NO-FEAR is a five-year project that brings together a network of emergency medical care practitioners, suppliers, decision and policymakers to collaborate and exchange knowledge, good practices, and lessons learned in disaster and crisis management. Our networks work together to develop a common understanding and to enhance the response to security-related incidents. The NO-FEAR project seeks to harness the rich experience of our members and leverage our network to improve the exchange of good practices and information in Europe and beyond. To join one of the NO-FEAR networks and become part of our community, sign up to our portal: https://www.no-fearproject-portal.eu.