PRoSPeReS Final Conference

PRoSPeReS Final Conference 🎉

PRoSPeReS is a three-and-a-half-year project aimed at activities dedicated to developing procedures and ensuring the safety of the faithful at places of worship in the face of potential terrorist threats, including those involving CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear) agents.

The project, carried out by an international consortium of 17 partners from Poland, Slovakia, Greece, Finland and the Netherlands:

Including the police, fire departments, Faith-based organizations: the Catholic Churches, including the Archdiocese of Lodz, and the Greek Orthodox Church, as well as the Jewish Religious Community in Warsaw), Security experts, security research and academic institutions: Dynamic Safety Corporation, ISEM Institute, Center for Security Studies (KEMEA), Akademia WSB - WSB University, Dutch Institute for Safe and Secure Spaces (DISSS), Hellenberg International Ltd, CARDET, CBK.


Also researchers and organizers from our team The Biohazard Prevention Centre (Michał Bijak, Marcin Podogrocki, Karolina Tomczyk, Katarzyna Rosiak, Wiktoria Gajda) from the Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection at the University of Lodz Uniwersytet Łódzki.

The result of the consortium's work is a set of recommendations on prevention and response procedures, equipment, infrastructure improvements for religious facilities, and protocols for cooperation with public services in protecting religious sites. This is, of course, under the assumption that these are facilities and places to which access by the faithful must not be restricted. The recommendations deal with equipment and procedures, and include guidance on shaping safe spaces, ending with security management manuals, exercises and courses to improve the competence of those in charge of religious sites.

Implementation of the system developed in the project includes:

- preparation and initiation of modular training, including eLearning using VR, 
- conducting large-scale exercises, 
- initiating a Europe-wide awareness campaign targeting religious leaders, facility staff and congregation participants.

Photos taken by Bartosz Kałużny (UŁ)