VVG participated in the conference “Civil Protection and Urban Security.”
16.04.2025
The conference “Civil Protection and Urban Security” (SIGG) was held on April 3–4, 2025, in Osijek. Representatives from the University of Applied Sciences Velika Gorica, Jelena Levak, Lecturer (title), Master of Criminology, and Igor Milić, Senior Lecturer, Master of Engineering in Crisis Management, participated in the conference.
The topics of the conference covered the civil protection system as well as current issues related to national and urban security. New technologies that can contribute to the safety of cities and communities were presented, alongside discussions on fire protection and security challenges for critical infrastructure.
On the first day of the conference, Igor Milić gave a lecture titled “Challenges for International Civil Protection Operations”, in which he presented current trends in receiving and providing international disaster relief assistance.
On the second day, Jelena Levak delivered a presentation on “Public Administration Resilience: Protection Challenges and EU Project Funding Opportunities.” As part of her presentation, she partially introduced a whitepaper prepared for the EU project EU-CIP (EU Critical Infrastructure Protection), which is currently in the process of publication. The document analyzes threats to public administration as a form of critical infrastructure, opportunities to enhance resilience, and key recommendations for improved future funding of this sector under EU project policies. Research topics from the Horizon Europe CL3 programme were also presented, ranked by priority, which the University of Applied Sciences Velika Gorica plans to focus on as a project partner or coordinator in this year’s calls.
As part of the conference programme, Jelena Levak also participated in a panel discussion titled “EU Projects for the Security System,” where she spoke about the challenges in preparing and implementing EU-funded projects, the importance of strengthening strategic planning and cross-sector cooperation, as well as the need for a systematic and improved inclusion of all emergency services—as key “first responders”—in shaping security and resilience-oriented initiatives.
Participation in the conference, which brought together more than 150 security experts, represents a continuation of the professional and scientific engagement of the University of Applied Scienc
