Stefan Schauer
Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT)
Keynote title: How CIs can Tackle Future Pandemics. A Multi-Domain Approach to Improve CI Resilience
Abstract
Unlike any other event, the COVID-19 pandemic has shown the complex and highly sensitive interrelations among the society, the critical infrastructures (CIs) and the decision makers on a national and supra-national scale. The pandemic not only had a huge impact on people’s health as well as on public health but also on the functioning of critical services and thus on the social well-being of a large part of the European population. Additionally, the measures taken to mitigate the pandemic, ranging from social distancing to complete lockdowns, came with huge challenges and high cost for CI operators and national governments. From pandemic plans existing before COVID-19 it becomes evident that such wide-ranging effects and large-scale impacts were not foreseen by decision makers. However, similar pandemic will become more likely in Europe in the future, particularly when considering climate change. Hence, it is of utmost importance to prepare decision makers, CI operators and the society as a whole for future pandemics to increase their individual and combined resilience.
In the course of the SUNRISE project, we have developed an integrated approach that combines data and information sources from different domains to better capture the potential effects of a pandemic and to improve preparedness of CIs and decision makers in the future. This approach not only takes epidemiological data on a pathogen into account but also includes potential changes of such data due to climate change. Further, the approach allows to simulate the cascading effects the pandemic itself as well as the mitigation measures might have on the operation of CIs from various domains and, consequently, on the well-being of the society. Additionally, these effects can influence the operational capacity and economic well-being of CIs. Hence, the approach also projects the possible economic effects, i.e., monetary costs, a future pandemic might impose on society, including wide-ranging counter measures such as school closures or lockdowns. This holistic view on the potential consequences of a pandemic will allow CI operators and decision makers on a regional and national level to improve their preparedness and, consequently, also their resilience towards future pandemics.
About the speaker
Stefan Schauer is working for the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT) since 2005 and is an experienced researcher in the fields of risk and security management in the Center for Digital Safety & Security. He studied Computer Science at the University of Klagenfurt and received his PhD in Theoretical Physics form the Technical University of Vienna, analyzing the security of quantum cryptographic protocols.
His research focus lies on risk management and risk assessment for critical infrastructures as well as the integration of security architectures for such organizations. In this context, he is working on novel risk assessment methodologies and processes to tackle future challenges of these infrastructures. Further, he is looking into mathematical concepts for the identification and handling of cascading effects within an organization and among critical infrastructures on a national scale. Stefan Schauer is also actively engaged in European research projects and is currently working in the Horizon Europe project SUNRISE and the Digital Europe project CyberSecPro.
