Goals

The network project ForAn (Research Network of German Practitioners) funded by the BMBF (German Federal Ministry of Education and Research) is a network of practitioners for practitioners, tasked with strengthening security research "Made in Germany". Specifically, the network project has the following goals:

• Increasing the participation of German practitioners in research projects of cluster 3 "Civil Security for Society" within the EU framework program "Horizon Europe"
• Empowering and enabling German practitioners to apply for EU research funding.
• Transfer of knowledge between actors in civil security who are experienced in research and those who are less experienced.
• Brokerage of German practitioners in nationally and internationally led research consortia.

To achieve these goals, ForAn specifically targets law enforcement agencies and non-police emergency response organisations as well critical infrastructure organisations, and select research institutions.

Implementation

To achieve the above goals, the tasks in ForAn are divided into four work packages. The work packages include membership management, consulting, public relations and technological as well as administrative implementation. Work packages include, but are not limited to, the following tasks:

• Recruiting and supporting practitioners.
• Conduct proposal workshops for the empowerment of German practitioners.
• Webinar series aimed at promoting scientific, cross-project, cross-organizational and best practice exchange.
• Close communication with the National Contact Point for Security Research (NCP).
• Access to the Topicmatcher software tool. A "Google" for research calls and research projects of Cluster 3 in Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe.
• Brokerage of research requests to ForAn members.
• Europe-wide publicity to increase the visibility of German practitioners conducting research.

A key success factor in all our activities is the active participation of ForAn members. ForAn is a network of practitioners for practitioners.

Facts

Funding program: Innovation Union Europe - German Impulses for the European Research Area (ERA). Measure: "German Applicants in Civil Security Research Fit for Europe".
Project duration: June 2021 - December 2024
Total grant € 1.2 million
Consortium management: German Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW), Bonn