The first physical Steering Committee meeting was held in Madrid 19 – 20^th of January 2023. The purpose of the meeting was to gather all work package (WP) leaders and co-leaders to discuss the next steps for Joint Action TERROR.

The physical meeting provided an excellent opportunity for WP-leaders to discuss challenges, to share lessons learned and to consider planning and increased efforts in 2023.

This meeting was important to support better development on Joint Action TERROR’s objective to address gaps in health preparedness and to strengthen cross-sectoral work with security, civil protection and health sectors response to biological and chemical terror attacks.

Key issues and next steps for Joint Action TERROR in 2023

The meeting included presentations, issues for group discussions and breakout sessions. This created interesting debates throughout the meeting, especially on some key areas:

–              Sustainability and implementation of future outcomes

–              Stakeholder engagement with project partners, national counterparts and at EU level

–              Planning and budget adjustments

–              WP-project management

There were several action points identified in the meeting. For instance, the debates on lessons learned provided advice that all WPs can make use of to increase efforts and efficiency in development of tasks in the Joint Action.

The Steering Committee also discussed the importance of all partners in Joint Action TERROR consider how to take a role in development of national networks to support future handover of outcomes from the project. Stakeholder engagement and development of national meetings are key issue for Joint Action TERROR.

Plan and possible budget adjustments were discussed in the meeting. To follow up on this coordinator will arrange meetings with all WP-leaders in February and March to agree on update on plan and adjustment of budgets.

Partnership Forum in Umeå

The outcomes of WP meetings on plan and budget will feed into the Interim Reporting Process and help prepare the upcoming Joint Action TERROR meetings in Umeå at the end of May.

Especially for the Joint Action TERROR Partnership Forum in Umeå 25 – 26 May, but also for the joint workshop that will be held in cooperation with the European Conference on Law Enforcement og Public Health 24 May.

More information on the upcoming meetings will be shared as soon!