SIREN Stakeholder Engagement Workshop
ATOD colleagues welcomed attendees from emergency management and humanitarian organisations, the technology sector, and partner universities for a SIREN stakeholder engagement workshop.
Colleagues from the Analytics, Technology and Operations Department (ATOD) involved in the Safety & Incident Response for Building Emergency Networks (SIREN) project were pleased to host a successful stakeholder engagement workshop on the 27th February. The workshop contributed to research on disaster response and emergency management by examining how organisations coordinate, make decisions, and allocate resources under conditions of high uncertainty and time pressure.
We were delighted to be joined by practitioners from key emergency management and humanitarian organisations, including the West Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum, Médecins Sans Frontières, the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority of Türkiye, and the National Fire Chiefs Council, alongside an independent CBRN crisis-response specialist with experience advising the UK Ministry of Defence and the United Nations.
We are also pleased to welcome project partners from the technology sector, including You.Smart.Thing, Urban Hawk Ltd, and Collaboration Tools Ltd, together with academic researchers from the University of Leeds, the University of Nottingham, and Aston University.
Speakers brought extensive operational expertise from humanitarian response, civil protection, resilience planning, and crisis advisory roles, offering valuable practitioner perspectives on multi-agency coordination and crisis leadership. Their contributions provided real-world insight into how complex emergency response systems function in practice, shedding light on the challenges of inter-organisational collaboration, information sharing, and decision-making during major incidents.
This supports the development of evidence-based management approaches and digital decision-support tools within the SIREN project, while reinforcing the practical relevance of Business and Management research for improving governance, coordination, and effectiveness in large-scale emergency response contexts.
Real-World Impact
The workshop strengthened collaboration between key stakeholders working in disaster and crisis management. Participants exchanged practical knowledge and field experience that will shape the development of decision-support technologies and management approaches for real-world emergency response.
This engagement helps ensure that the operational needs of organisations responsible for disaster preparedness and crisis response directly inform research conducted within the SIREN Project. Insights from practitioners contribute to improving coordination, information sharing, and situational awareness across agencies, supporting more effective responses to major incidents and humanitarian emergencies. In this way, the workshop contributes to broader societal impact by supporting innovation, strengthening multi-agency collaboration, and enhancing resilience in emergency management systems.
