Unicops - Universal CBRNE Safety Systems for Higher Education

What is the reality of the polycrises landscape in contemporary societies?

Crises are no longer on the margins, but part of contemporary societies. This is the reality of the polycrisis landscape increasingly affecting open environments such as universities, where multiple crises emerge simultaneously, interact across domains, and reinforce one another, creating cascading security challenges that traditional protection models are often not designed to address.

Universities are inherently complex operational environments. Their open access, diverse student and staff populations, extensive research infrastructure, and high international mobility demand customized security preparedness strategies.

Addressing a polycrisis environment requires more than conventional risk management. It demands institution-specific preparedness models grounded in operational realities, vulnerability assessment, and inter-agency coordination.

That is why UNICOPS developed a campus-specific methodology to identify operational gaps and support evidence-based CBRNE protection protocols tailored to higher education institutions.

We combine operational analysis, prevention-oriented planning, and resilience-based preparedness to help universities better anticipate, prevent, and respond to evolving hybrid and CBRNE threats.

That is the work.

If these challenges resonate with your priorities, whether in security, civil protection, emergency preparedness, or higher education, let’s connect.

Upcoming EU Conference on Public Space Security and Protection 2026 - here are the reasons you should be in the room.

Live Table-Top Exercise
A simulated disruption of a public event hosted by a faith-based university using modified drones, highlighting the evolving nature of hybrid and asymmetric threats.
Focus areas: Early detection of suspicious behaviour, operational & motivational indicators, prevention and risk-mitigation

Keynote: The Geopolitical Reality
Zenonas Tziarras (Πανεπιστήμιο Κύπρου | University Of Cyprus) opens with an assessment of regional instability and what it means for Europe's security architecture.

High-Level Expert Panel
Four specialists. Four critical domains:
- Maksymilian Stela - CBRN threat detection & response
- Lara Raggi - Radicalisation & lone-actor terrorism
- Alkis Kakoulis (Αστυνομία Κύπρου) - Police operational command
- Pedro Liberado - Violent extremism & organized crime

A network of 60+ EU Partners
This is where law enforcement, government bodies, military, researchers, and security innovators align on the future of public space protection.

Organised under the EU research initiatives UNICOPS and VIRTUOUS, this conference bridges field expertise, academic research, and institutional decision-making - all in one room.

📍 Nicosia, Cyprus | 2026
🔗 Register: https://lnkd.in/dpCtF6dj

Participation is subject to prior registration and confirmation by the organisers.

At UNICOPS we are building stronger connections between academia and practice. A key step toward enhancing CBRNE preparedness and resilience across Europe’s institutions.

The UNICOPS consortium recently visited the Firefighters’ College in Regensburg, a leading institution in firefighting and emergency response education.

Such visits are a key part of our approach. They bring together diverse expertise, from safety officers and researchers to practitioners and trainers, creating space for practical exchange, shared learning, and collaboration.

Experts participating in the visit represented:
Safety Core, Uniwersytet Łódzki, RESET-Research and Education in Social Empowerment and Transformation, Platform for Homeland Security, and HföD – University of Applied Sciences for Public Service in Bavaria.

Building resilient academic environments requires practical, on-the-ground security expertise.

Safety Core Sp. z o.o., a security advisory company from Poland, has been actively involved in UNICOPS since day one. Their early and continuous participation is essential, as they play a leading role in the project’s study visits to higher education institutions across Europe.

Specializing in the protection of public and private spaces, and with extensive experience in security audits, terrorist threat assessments, crisis management, and institutional training, Safety Core supports organisations in developing tailored, risk-based protection systems.

Within UNICOPS, the Safety Core team - including Dominik Klimas and Zbigniew Gajda - plays a key operational role:
• Conducting inspection visits at higher education institutions
• Assessing vulnerabilities and identifying good practices related to CBRNE risks
• Mapping gaps in existing safety and crisis-management structures
• Developing tailored recommendations and procedures

These study visits form the foundation of the UNICOPS framework. The identification of weaknesses and operational gaps within real university environments directly informs the development of a comprehensive prevention, protection, and response programme tailored to academic settings.

Learn more: www.unicops.eu

Professor Michał Bijak - Head of The Biohazard Prevention Centre of Uniwersytet Łódzki and leading UNICOPS partner, will speak at the European Conference on Public Space Security and Protection on March 18.

His speech will focus on Protecting Universities and Public Spaces and why cooperation between experts is no longer optional.

With decades of experience in biological threat detection, CBRN preparedness, and operational training across Europe, Professor Bijak will address the emerging risks facing higher education institutions and the role of cross-sector collaboration.

As Europe faces increasingly complex CBRNE and hybrid threats, strengthening resilience in public environments, especially universities, is critical.

We look forward to contributing to this important dialogue alongside policymakers, law enforcement authorities, researchers, and security experts.

More information about the conference here:
🔗 https://lnkd.in/dpCtF6dj

UNICOPS is a European initiative strengthening campus safety against CBRNE threats (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive).

☢️ CBRNE threats are low-probability, high-impact.

What we do:

We unite CBRNE experts, university security teams, law enforcement, innovators, researchers and policymakers
⬇️
We observe, access, and stress-test security measures inside European universities
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We develop layered protection models tailored specifically to higher education
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We validate them through large-scale field exercises

The objective?
Stronger resilience, without compromising academic openness.

🔗 Partners across Poland, Greece, Germany, Slovakia, Cyprus, Spain and the Czech Republic are already engaged.

Uniwersytet Łódzki, ISEM Institute – International Security and Emergency Management Institute, Dynamic Safety Corporation Sp. z o.o., Safety Core, Žilinská univerzita v Žiline, Polish Military Institute of Chemistry and Radiometry, Center for Security Studies (KEMEA), Sigoria Sp. z o.o., Policja Województwa Łódzkiego, Polish Platform for Homeland Security, Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών - University of Athens, Εθνικό Μετσόβιο Πολυτεχνείο - National Technical University of Athens, Uniwersytet Medyczny w Łodzi, Police Academy of the Czech Republic in Prague, SERIS Group, RESET-Research and Education in Social Empowerment and Transformation, Center for Social Innovation - CSI, University of Limassol, Hochschule für den öffentlichen Dienst in Bayern, Nuevos Horizontes De Soluciones Informáticas SRL, Akademia WSB - WSB University

Study visit at 📍Akademia WSB - WSB University, Poland

UNICOPS continues its fieldwork in Poland with another on-site assessment aimed at strengthening CBRNE preparedness across Europe’s higher education sector.

As universities face faster and more complex security challenges, our study visits reveal how campus systems perform under real conditions - from crisis decision-making and inter-agency coordination to safety culture and operational readiness.

Insights from these visits feed directly into the tailored protection framework UNICOPS is developing, including updated risk-mitigation protocols, practical security best practices, and a dedicated emergency-response platform.

Fieldwork is underway across Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Finland, Croatia, Estonia, Greece, and Cyprus to ensure the framework reflects diverse environments and real operational needs.

Awareness and preparedness are the first layer of protection on any campus.

At the American College of Thesaloniki, we met with students to discuss the risks open campuses face today and what effective preparedness looks like.

We also shared how UNICOPS is approaching these challenges with a layered framework, combining physical measures, technology, clear procedures, and human awareness into a single, coordinated approach.

📍 Second study visit at University of Zilina in Slovakia. ☣️ ☢️

The visit to the Žilinská univerzita v Žiline was carried out by Seris Konsalnet and ISEM Institute, together with Akademia WSB - WSB University and Uniwersytet Łódzki. The assessment focused on compliance with national and international safety standards, as well as the effectiveness of existing crisis-management procedures. The structured visit involved document review, on-site evaluations, and assessment of training and emergency readiness.

These findings play a key role in the development of a tailored protection framework we are currently designing, which will include enhanced risk-mitigation protocols, security best practices, and a dedicated emergency-response platform.