Security and society
Security is increasingly recognised as a need, perhaps even a right. Yet, the concept of security remains poorly defined, with players disagreeing, and debate raging about the best ways to achieve security in practice. The EU-funded SOURCE (SOURCE - Virtual centre of excellence for research support and coordination of societal security) project aims to create a network of stakeholders. The network will link actors interested in all aspects of security research and implementation. The 14-member consortium plans to work on ways of integrating the various perspectives and needs via a research, training and dissemination programme. The primary outcome will be a virtual centre of excellence. SOURCE runs for five years, inclusive from the start of 2014 to the end of 2018. Work during the first reporting period mainly involved preparing a strategy for managing and expanding the network. The stage included coordinating several workshops. Next, the team surveyed all five of the project's sector stakeholders. The data and knowledge obtained established a basis for the project's subsequent statements about security and cultural values, plus political priorities. The claims were catalogued, analysed and mapped. SOURCE also organised a methodology workshop. The gathering helped address questions about assessing societal security, via review of existing knowledge reflecting social perceptions. The workshop also marked the start of a three-step research approach, yielding the first annual report on the issues. First-year work also saw development of communication and dissemination tools, primarily the project's website and paper handout materials. SOURCE will raise awareness about security issues among policymakers and end users. The work is slated to lead to improved security for EU citizens.
Keywords
Security, training network, centre of excellence, societal security, cultural values
