The SPARROW Project actively contributed to the design and delivery of Class 3—Cybersecurity incidents, blackouts, and energy disruptions as emerging disasters requiring public–private cooperation—at the Evidence for Policy in Disaster Risk Management Summer School 2025, held in Barcelona. The programme was organized on behalf of the European Commission Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations under the EU in Emergencies framework.
As part of the session, Mathaios Panteli delivered a targeted presentation examining the increasing interdependencies between cybersecurity, energy systems, and critical infrastructure resilience. The session established the analytical and operational context for a high-intensity Tabletop Exercise (TTX), designed to translate theory into decision-making practice.
Participants were immersed in a complex, cascading crisis scenario combining multiple hazard layers, including large-scale flooding, nationwide power outages, and severe cyber disruptions. The exercise environment required participants to operate under constrained conditions—limited situational awareness, degraded communications, and acute time pressure—mirroring the dynamics of real-world crisis environments.
The TTX challenged decision-makers to coordinate across institutional boundaries, prioritise competing response actions, and manage uncertainty in rapidly evolving conditions. Particular emphasis was placed on understanding systemic interdependencies and the implications of failure propagation across critical sectors.
Through its contribution, SPARROW demonstrated how evidence-based research, advanced tools, and operational methodologies can be integrated to support more effective crisis management. The activity also reinforced the importance of bridging policy and practice—ensuring that strategic frameworks are validated through realistic, decision-centric simulations.
Initiatives of this nature highlight SPARROW’s role in strengthening resilience capabilities across Europe, promoting informed decision-making, and advancing public–private cooperation in the context of increasingly complex disaster risk landscapes.
