Cranfield University

The centre has been founded on the extensive defence and security management and technology expertise available at both Cranfield University at Shrivenham and the Defence Academy.

Ivar Hellberg, Executive Director of the Resilience Centre, said: 'We're interested in the capacity of governments and businesses to respond to disruptive challenges - whether natural, accidental or deliberate - through the provision of relevant education, training and research into the theory of risk, management and relevant technology.'

The Resilience Centre, which has close links with the Disaster Management and Mine Action Centre, is based within the Department of Defence Management and Security Analysis and is able to call on all the technical expertise available to both the university and the Royal Military College of Science, including weapon, explosive, forensic, ballistic, CBRN, avionics, IT and communication technology.

In addition, Cranfield is in the process of developing a common methodology for dealing with disaster recovery throughout the European Union (EU), which includes work on a software platform that refines this methodology and improves contingency and continuity planning both in the public and private sectors.

This expertise and experience has been recognised by the European Commission, which recently awarded research funding for two major crisis and disaster management projects - OASIS and DEMOCRITUS - which involves creating a shared communication and response platform across all 25 EU member states.

Guy Weets, Director General at the European Commission and who has special responsibility for risk management, said: 'Natural disasters and industrial accidents don't respect borders. We therefore have to share the same procedures across the EU in order to respond effectively to any disaster. And this applies to new candidate states and all future neighbours.'

OASIS

A key objective of the OASIS project is the creation of a civil crisis management methodology and a command and control infrastructure that is interoperable with NATO command, control and communication systems.

The OASIS project will examine the viability of an EU network of effective transnational headquarters with the capability of dealing with more than one transregional crisis at any one time.

It will also examine the task of bringing together local, regional responders to work within common operational procedures and decision-making processes in order to meet complex emergencies.

DEMOCRITUS Project

A key objective of the DEMOCRITUS project is the ability to integrate teams to respond to any emergency or crisis that may occur within or outside the EU and how military, blue light emergency services, public and private sector responders can integrate to form a cohesive crisis response team.

It will also examine the overall risk methodology and technical architecture, as well as establish an EU-wide user group.