VANGUARD participated in the CEPOL Research and Science Conference held on March 25-27, 2025, in Ostia, Rome, Italy, organised by the EU Agency for Law Enforcement Training (CEPOL) in cooperation with the Economic and Financial Police School of the Italian Guardia di Finanza.
The Conference brought together more than 300 academics, researchers, experts, and practitioners, aiming to explore trends, challenges, and opportunities to disrupt High-Risk Criminal Networks (HRCNs) and strengthen CEPOL’s training offerings by incorporating insights from the discussions, being in line with EMPACT priorities.
The topics of the CEPOL conference were of high relevance to the VANGUARD project and ranged from emerging trends and challenges in combatting HRCNs, along with the potential societal impact of HRCNs on governance, economic development, and public safety, to mitigation measures, strategies, and collaboration opportunities among law enforcement, civil society, and private-sector stakeholders to fight this type of criminal behaviours, raising in parallel awareness on technologies to fight HRCNs.
VANGUARD, represented by its Coordinator, the M4D group of the MKLab of the Information Technologies Institute (ITI) at the Centre for Research & Technology Hellas (CERTH), presented the project main objectives, key planned outcomes, and main achievements thus far, with particular focus on its main goals towards the provision of improved intelligence picture, delivery of advanced and trustworthy suite of tools, realisation of innovative training activities, and raising awareness.
Moreover, Dr. Karen Hough (representing VANGUARD partner FUNDEA) participated in a panel discussion on “Witnesses and Victims of HRCNs” where she gave an invited talk on “Empowering Voices: Integrating Survivor Perspectives in Combatting Human Trafficking” that included insights on VANGUARD results.