On 5 and 6 June 2019, another PSCE conference successfully took place in Lancaster, UK. Two workshops were collocated to the conference and were held simultaneously on June 4th. The first workshop took place as part of the IN-PREP&HEIMDALL projects and addressed the topic of transboundary cooperation in crisis management, while the second, allowed interested suppliers for the BroadWay project to meet potential partners and form tendering teams.
At the Lancaster conference were addressed some of the hottest topics in public safety communications including IoT for PPDR, Cybersecurity and Flash Flooding. The event offered a varied programme, with presentations from local public safety actors as well as an international perspective, with talks on the current public safety challenges in Indonesia and Australia.
Two Interactive sessions, on cybersecurity and PPDR use cases definitions, allowed delegates to fruitfully exchange ideas and brainstorm on these specific topics. For the end of this year, a policy paper on Cyber security will be developed. PSCE provided also an extensive report on its recent activities with some highlights on public warning and standardisation.
Overall, the conference provided an excellent platform to share information and to exchange points of view in the field of public safety communications. The event brought together around 50 participants including public safety practitioners, policymakers, academic researchers, industrial experts and other interested stakeholders. On the evening of the 5th, conference delegates were offered the opportunity to pursue the discussions in a relaxed atmosphere during a networking diner at Lancaster University.
Finally, the conference marked important organisational changes within the Forum. David Lund took over the presidency of PSCE and Üwe Kippnich joined the PSCE board as chair of the User Committee, replacing Manfred Blaha, who left the board after 11 years of active contribution and who will still remain as PSCE member.
All conference documents have been made available to conference participants and to PSCE Institutional Members who have opportunity to download all presentations any time from the restricted part of the PSCE website.
The conference report as well as an overview video will be made available shortly.
The next PSCE conference will be held on 3-5 December 2019 at the premises of the French Ministry of Interior in Paris, France.