BAG-INTEL project partner KEMEA attended the Community for European Research and Innovation for Security (CERIS) workshop on illicit drugs: challenges and opportunities for introducing innovative and science-based approaches, which took place on February 21, 2024, in Belgium.
The reasons behind the organization of the workshop were twofold: the first trigger being the recent EU policy developments on drugs and the second one being the upcoming change of the mandate of the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA). The main objectives of this workshop were to:
- raise awareness within the Community for European Research and Innovation for Security about the new role of the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction and bring the Agency and the CERIS closer together,
- showcase what has been going on in research in this domain, both at the EU level (either through EMCDDA or funded through the EU security research programme in the area of Fighting Crime and Terrorism, FCT, and Border Management, BM) and at the Member State level,
- discuss about possibilities of bringing different initiatives together and increasing cooperation,
- address ways through which these research activities can provide support to the EU policy and practitioners in this domain, and
- network and brainstorm together on other possible ways forward, improvements, gaps and needs.
The main aspects addressed during the workshop were: EU drugs policy, analysis of drug use and markets through data from novel information sources, as well as drugs-related forensics, organized crime, and sensors.
About CERIS
Aiming to facilitate interactions within the security research community and users of research outputs, in 2014 the Commission established the Community of Users for Safe, Secure and Resilient Societies (CoU), which gathered around 1,500 registered stakeholders (policy makers, end-users, academia, industry and civil society) and regularly held thematic events with the security research community. Now named the Community for European Research and Innovation for Security (CERIS), this platform continues and expands the work of the CoU, in light of the forthcoming Horizon Europe developments between 2021-2027.
The objectives of CERIS are to:
- analyze identified capability needs and gaps in the corresponding areas
- identify solutions available to address the gaps
- translate capability gaps and potential solutions into research needs
- identify funding opportunities and synergies between different funding instruments
- identify standardisation research-related needs
- integrate the views of citizens