This research program studies how the civil protection of the future should be governed and organized, as digitalization and generative AI change what it is possible to do. It focuses on how societies can analyze complex events and mobilize and coordinate people, resources, information and physical infrastructure during crisis and war.
2025
The program starts from the observation that civil protection cannot be built only by adding more separate resources. Shelters, ambulance services, sports facilities, schools, transport systems, volunteers and digital services already exist as parts of society. The decisive capability is to understand changing situations, and to connect and repurpose these resources when the situation demands it. Digitalization creates new possibilities here. Digital infrastructures are far easier to change, combine and scale than physical ones. The same infrastructure that serves other purposes in everyday life can therefore support warning, mobilization, coordination, resource allocation and situational awareness in wartime. Generative AI adds new ways to strengthen analytical capacity. It can help interpret complex information, surface connections and develop alternative courses of action. Civil protection therefore cannot be organized only through hierarchical relations between government agencies. Municipalities and regions need to enable collaboration between the formal preparedness organization and the informal and semi-formal resources held by property owners, associations, volunteers, businesses and citizens. The program studies civil protection as a sociotechnical infrastructure, in which physical infrastructure, digital technology, organizations and human practices together create protection.
Civil protection, civil defense, total defense, crisis preparedness, digital infrastructure, generative AI, volunteer mobilization, governance
The long-term governance challenge is to build a system that is both prepared and adaptable. It must be clear enough that actors understand their responsibilities and tasks before a crisis. At the same time, it must be flexible enough that resources, organizations and digital infrastructures can be quickly recombined when war changes the conditions. Digital solutions also create new dependencies. A system for protecting the population cannot be designed so that sheltering, evacuating or housing people depends on a particular app, database or communication channel always working. Digitalization must therefore be combined with redundancy, alternative ways of working and room for local action. Technology also does not solve the governance question on its own. It has to be tied to clear principles for who activates resources, who leads them, and what information different actors can access.
The program works across five connected areas. The first area studies shelters, protected spaces and digital warning systems. Field studies of household safe rooms and public shelters in Israel use the concept of actionable time: the time between warning and possible impact that people actually have to interpret information, coordinate and reach protection. The research examines how long-lived physical protection can be combined with digital systems that adapt quickly and work for everyone, regardless of language, age, ability or digital skill. The second area studies volunteers as a resource in emergency care during crisis and war. Field studies of Magen David Adom in Israel and of Ambulance and Prehospital Emergency Care at Sahlgrenska University Hospital explore how volunteers can be integrated into prehospital care without weakening established responsibility and safety. This work is carried out together with the Centre for Disaster Medicine at the University of Gothenburg. The third area studies the sports movement as latent capacity in total defense. A pilot study in Gothenburg maps sports clubs and facilities as resources for reception, temporary housing, information and volunteer coordination. It uses 6-, 24- and 72-hour scenarios to distinguish resources that exist from resources that can actually be mobilized. The fourth area studies sheltering in place, evacuation and temporary housing as one coherent system. It focuses on the transitions between everyday life, protection and recovery. Design studies based on a scenario of Gothenburg at war show how digital services can help people find shelter and receive information tailored to their needs. The fifth area studies generative AI for analysis and decision-making. Together with the City of Gothenburg's preparedness function, the program develops ways of using AI and protocols for validation and human control. The aim is to strengthen analytical capacity in complex situations, not to automate decisions.
The program gives Swedish municipalities, regions and agencies research-based knowledge on how to build civil protection that is both robust and adaptable. It shows how existing organizations, infrastructures and social networks can become part of preparedness without building entirely new parallel structures. By combining international field experience with close collaboration with Swedish emergency care and municipal preparedness organizations, the program links research on digitalization, governance and organizing with practical capability in total defense.
Concrete impacts to be announced.
City of Gothenburg, Centre for Disaster Medicine at the University of Gothenburg, Ambulance and Prehospital Emergency Care at Sahlgrenska University Hospital, and more.
Contact our team to learn more or explore collaboration opportunities.
