ANITA will design and develop a novel knowledge-based user-centred investigation system for analysing heterogeneous (text, audio, video, image) online (Surface Web, Deep Web, DarkNet) and offline content for fighting illegal trafficking of drugs, counterfeit medicines, NPS and firearms. ANITA will combine a) innovative data source analysis of crypto-currency network and transactions and blockchain technologies; b) advanced Big Data analytics tools for automatic analysis of the vast amounts of multimodal content of the identified sources; c) sophisticated methodologies for capturing, modelling and inferring knowledge in human understandable forms (e.g. expressive ontologies), extracting also relevant and new knowledge from neural networks and formally storing it in the form of ontologies; d) development of an adaptive, cognitive user modelling framework that will capture, analyse, interpret, mimic and integrate key human cognitive and information processing functions for: i) incarnating the incorporation of human perception/cognition principles in the system processing pipelines (i.e. integrating the investigators ‘in-the-loop’ of the overall analysis process) and ii) facilitate the transfer of domain knowledge from the expert users to the novice ones; e) domain-related and user-oriented intelligence applications, which will enable users to identify patterns for spatial, temporal and causal correlations among illegal trafficking events, entities and activities and to support decision-making processes for countermeasures to undertake. All the above functionalities will be coupled and reinforced by an in-depth interdisciplinary analysis of the online illegal trafficking phenomenon (including the study of reaction strategies and countermeasures) and a thorough analysis of the online resources with respect to social, ethical, legal and privacy issues of concern. The proposed system capabilities will be demonstrated in multiple relevant operational environments.

The European Commission’s latest strategy for fighting child sexual abuse highlights a harsh reality that, globally, we are ‘losing the battle’ against online child sexual abuse and exploitation (OCSEA). Various projects funded through the EU are working diligently to identify the source of CSAM on both the Clearnet and Darknet and are establishing stronger awareness of the needs and requirements of LEAs to fight the overloading volume of images, text, media files, etc. However, the IOCTA 2021 report also brings a chilling honesty that the prevalence of materials shows no sign of slowing or stabilising. The adage that prevention is better than the cure never seemed more fitting. The 2PS project condemns all forms of sexual abuse and exploitation – and there are no excuses that justify behaviours and actions that harm or victimise children. However, to reduce the number of abused children and those at risk of exploitation, we need to address various challenges. Several of those relate to people with a sexual interest in children and their needs to divert them from abusing. 2PS, which stands for Prevent & Protect Through Support is a highly innovative action offering a paradigm shift in the approach to tackling child sexual abuse and exploitation (CSAE) across Europe. The highly qualified and diverse consortium – together with leading global actors – are committed to laying the foundations for new coherent modus operandi that complement the reactive approaches currently favoured. This is achieved by addressing the support needs of people with a sexual interest in children and people who feel they might offend. We will share the best practices for guidance, therapy and treatment methods – combined with new training and awareness for frontline support workers and LEAs. We aim to move preventive actions to the forefront, offering alternative courses of action to existing offenders and people who fear they might offend– including people with a sexual interest in children.

Over the past decades, Europe has experienced several terrorist attacks, proving that this threat is still real and serious, while perpetrators are finding new methods to penetrate current security measures. Although grave attacks have so far been rather infrequent, it is still a reality that EU citizens may be suddenly caught up in a terrorist incident, while at the stadium, shopping in a mall, commuting, visiting a cultural venue, or in any other public space. Besides, more terrorist attacks are associated with lower levels of life satisfaction and happiness among the EU population. One in five people in the EU are indeed very worried about a terrorist attack in the next 12 months. Terrorist attacks also lower EU citizens’ trust in fellow citizens, national political, legal and police institutions. SAFE-CITIES aims to support excellence in the protection of public spaces, by delivering and demonstrating a Security and Vulnerability Assessment framework, empowered by a decision-support platform for its implementation, in 4 use-cases across 5 EU countries. This will allow for simulation of complex scenarios, crowd behaviour and attacks in any space within a realistic virtual 3D environment, enabling end-users to perform comprehensive and dynamic risk and vulnerability assessments of the site investigated, to identify potential vulnerabilities against a wide number of threats and support the full engagement and cooperation of public and private actors, including citizens, into the elaboration of strategies, to make public spaces secure while preserving their open nature. The Consortium brings together 17 partners from 9 countries (Italy, Cyprus, Netherlands, Greece, Poland, UK, Belgium, Finland, Slovenia). To effectively carry out the 32 months project, the project team includes local and regional authorities, Police authorities, First Responders organizations, RTOs and academia, CSO, security industry cluster association, and high-tech SMEs specialised in security.

INDEED aims to strengthen the knowledge, capabilities and skills of PVE/CVE and De-radicalisation first-line practitioners and policy makers in designing, planning, implementation and in evaluating initiatives in the field, based on evidence-based approach. INDEED builds from the state-of-the-art, utilising the scientific and practical strengths of recent activities - enhancing them with complementary features to drive advancements and curb a growing rise of radical views and violent behaviour threatening security. The INDEED methodological framework is based on the '5I' approach i.e 5 project phases: Identify; Involve; Innovate; Implement; Impact. At the core of INDEED's work methodology is an interdisciplinary and participatory approach, which includes the co-creation of individual project phases and implementing them with the close engagement of multi-sectoral stakeholders. The creation of SMART Hubs (Stakeholder Multisectoral Anti-Radicalisation Teams) as part of INDEED is intended to facilitate this process. The selected results of the project are: 1) The Universal Evidence-Based Model (EBEM) for evaluation of radicalisation prevention and mitigation; 2) A practical EBEM-based Evaluation Tool; 3) A collection of user-friendly repositories (repositories of radicalisation factors and pathways into radicalisation; factors strengthening resilience to radicalisation; repositories of evidence-based practices) for practical use by practitioners and policy makers; 4) Targeted curricula and trainings (offline/online); 5) Lessons Learnt and Policy recommendations. All results will be integrated and openly accessible in the INDEED multilingual Toolkit for practitioners and policy makers in the field for the entire lifecycle of PVE/CVE and De-radicalisation initiatives, from design to evaluation. INDEED promotes the EU’s values and principles; heeding multi-agency and cross-sectoral methods, including gender mainstreaming, societal dimensions and fundamental rights.

The underlyingassumption of the project proposal, in line with the UN Security Council recommendations (Resolution n. 2178, September 2014) and the Commission “European Agenda on Security”2015-2020(28.4.2015, COM(2015) 185 final), is that in order to contrast successfully violent extremism,what is neededis a more balanced response to terrorism,combining repressive (protective) measures with preventive measures, in a comprehensive approach in collaboration withactors of civil society and the communitiesof reference, based on a firm commitment to respecting fundamental rights, promoting integration, cultural dialogue and fighting discrimination. To this end, a better understanding of factors constituting violent radicalisation in Europe is needed, which aims,through a multidisciplinary analysis,to a comprehensive view of the phenomenon, investigatingits root causes, in order to develop appropriate countermeasures, ranging from early detection methodologies to strategies, ways and techniques of counter-narrative, involving LEAs together with experts and civil society actors at local, national and European level. In addition, it is necessary to acknowledge that violent radicalization,especially in the case of jihadist extremism,goesmainly through narratives that: have specific characteristics and contents; use specific communication codes;are addressed to specific audiences; and spread in a multitude of ways, over the Internet, as well as by means of in-person communication exchanges that take place in families, schools, places of worship, local communities, etc. These narratives havebeen proven effective towards vulnerable groups such as young people, detainees, and people craving for revenge after having experienced what they perceive as injustices, either at personal or group level. Furthermore, due to this multifarious background, such extremism is characterised by single or group terrorist acts also reflecting a variety of influences and motivational dr