ARCSAR Newsletter: Volume 6
Within the last six months, two public events have been organized in the project (the 3rd ARCSAR Innovation & Knowledge exchange event and the 2nd Dissemination workshop). In addition, two deliverables have been submitted. Furthermore, the platform for the ARCSAR Innovation Arena, has been updated to respond to the needs of the users and security requirements.
3rd ARCSAR Innovation and Knowledge Exchange Event and 2nd Dissemination Workshop
ARCSAR project would like to thank all the participants for an active engagement during the events.
The 3rd Innovation and Knowledge Exchange Event was the last of its series that reached its conclusion within the this reporting period. This also fulfilled milestone 3 in ARCSAR.
The event was held in an online format (zoom) on 5th of May 2021 organized by Nord University and Lapland University of Applied Sciences. A total of 45 participants were from academia, the Search and Rescue practitioner field and industry from Norway, Finland, Canada, USA, New Zealand, the UK, Iceland, Italy and the Faroe Islands.
Although the sector has shown resilience during the pandemic and events have been held using online platforms, the social aspect of these types of events have not lost its relevance.
During the event, ARCSAR attempted to bring the more informal aspects of events to the forefront by using Padlet to gather ideas, comments and questions during the event.
Link to the Dissemination workshop Padlet board here.
Link to the Innovation and Knowledge Exchange event Padlet board here.
The overarching purpose of the event was to discuss the “uptake of innovations”, learning about status, challenges, and barriers for developing and use of innovations for training in the Arctic and North Atlantic region.
Download the summary report of the event here (pdf).
US Coast Guard Policy Memo
An ARCSAR mid-point review was conducted at the approximate half-way point of the 66-month project duration by the task lead partner, USCGA. The mid-point review involved collecting information from 20 key ARCSAR network partners from Norway, United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Faroe Islands, Germany Iceland, New Zealand and the Russian Federation, weighted towards practitioner members. Engagement levels across the network were reasonably high, particularly with respect to reading the ARCSAR newsletter (90%) and participation in ARCSAR workshops and events (75%).
A survey on membership engagement was distributed among the attendees to the 3rd ARCSAR Innovation and Knowledge Exchange event and the 2nd dissemination workshop to learn about the partners’ and associated partners’ perceptions regarding the work done by ARCSAR and suggestions for future programming as a part of T2.6. The survey results encompass all WPs. We thank all the responders to the survey. The analysis of the data done by the US Coast Guard Academy shows that in general terms, partners and associated partners are very satisfied with their participation in the network. The preliminary document (policy memo) shows that there are slight differences between sectors (academia, industry, and practitioners) in what regards interests in future programming, types of engagement in the network, and the use of the ARCSAR Innovation Arena and social media.
Downlaod the policy memo here (pdf)
ARCSAR network and continuity
The network of external partners continues expanding. By July 2021, there were 90 associated partners from academia, the SAR practitioner field, cruise-, oil-, and satellite industry, and voluntary organizations among others from 22 different countries.
Engagement with ARMNet
The ARCSAR members have actively engaged in conversations with organizations and networks that could fit the profile to join ARCSAR as associates. One of these is a network called ARMNet, that aims to enhance the safety and resilience of inhabitants across the Arctic through establishment of a network that supports the capacity practitioners and decision-makers in small and remote Arctic communities to improve responsiveness to emergencies. The ARCSAR project and ARMNet have been looking into possibilities for a joint feasibility study on local community preparedness.
Collaboration with other Horizon2020 projects
ARCSAR has been connecting with other EU Horizon2020 projects during this period as well, including the KEPLER and the JUSTNORTH projects. JRCC NN attended the KEPLER project’s workshop on Maritime and Research Sector Needs to present results from the Joint Arctic SAR TTX. JRCC NN also participated a workshop organized by the JUSTNORTH project.
Interested to get involved? Join the ever-expanding ARCSAR network.
Information about the network, newsletters, and invitations to open ARCSAR events are forwarded to all registered stakeholders. In addition, selected associated partners are invited to ARCSAR member events e.g. exercises or meetings were relevant information/results might be presented. Furthermore, all associate partners are given access to the new platform of the ARCSAR Innovation Arena. If interested, you can apply to the network in the following link. https://arcsar.eu/join-the-arcsar-network/
New ARCSAR Innovation Arena ready for use
Due to security recommendations by the platform designers and taking into consideration feedback from the project, the ARCSAR Innovation Arena has undergone a complete redesign.
We are looking for contributions from SAR & OSR practitioners, SMEs (industry), research (academia), Indigenous people, and local communities in the ANA region to the Innovation Arena (IA).
With the new Innovation Arena, the following new features have been introduced:
• Ability to export data in Excel format.
• Ability to share data across multiple social media platforms.
• Introduced expert reviews and expert discussions.
• Introduction of groups and membership options for individual ideas.
• Several social interactions such as mentions and tagging as well as embedded media possibilities.
• A re-design of the user interface.
• Filters for filtering ideas and challenges.
• Improved data displays. I.e. images, statistics, attachments and so on.
Joint Arctic SAR TTX
A full report of findings regarding the previous joint ARCSAR TTX event held on December 2020 has been produced. The report can be found here: Fifth Joint Arctic SAR TTX (pdf).
Upcoming Events
Table-top Exercise
The Icelandic Coast Guard, the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre North Norway, the Norwegian Coastal Administration, and NORDLAB have the pleasure of inviting you to the ARCSAR TTX 2021 on NOVEMBER 9-10, 2021 ê 13:00 – 17:00 CET both days.
The goal of ARCSAR TTX “Oil in ice” is to learn about, practice, and discuss oil spill preparedness and response in the High Arctic (Svalbard region) as well as identifying lessons from other locations and agencies in the Arctic and North Atlantic region.
For more information and registrations please visit the event page: https://arcsar.eu/upcoming-events/innovation-and-knowledge-exchange-2-fifth-joint-arctic-sar-ttx-and-workshop-reykjavik-iceland/
Participation is open to ARCSAR partners, associated partners, oil spill preparedness and response authorities, SAR authorities and other relevant stakeholders (within limitations). The participants will be divided into Main Training Audience, Secondary Training Audience and Observers.
We encourage authorities, industry and academia dealing with oil spill prevention, preparedness and response issues to attend.