STARS Consortium Advances International Collaboration During Kick-Off Meeting in Lisbon

The international consortium of the Erasmus+ Capacity Building project STARS – Spatial Tools for Assessing Risks in Sudden Natural Hazards has taken a significant step forward following its first in-person coordination meeting held on 7–8 May 2026 at Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, Portugal. Led by Instituto Superior Técnico, the STARS project brings together six higher education institutions from Europe and South America with the shared goal of strengthening education and research capacities in disaster risk assessment and management. The initiative focuses on developing innovative academic modules that integrate Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Building Information Modelling (BIM), and spatial analysis technologies to address the growing challenges posed by sudden natural hazards such as earthquakes, floods, and landslides.

The Lisbon meeting gathered representatives from all partner institutions to define the structure and content of the future training programmes, discuss pedagogical approaches, and coordinate the implementation strategy for the project’s educational outputs. Participants also addressed technical requirements related to strengthening computational and laboratory resources across the partner universities. Among the institutions participating in the consortium are Lund University in Sweden, Instituto Superior Técnico – University of Lisbon in Portugal, Universidad Técnica del Norte and Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral in Ecuador, and Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia and Universidad Industrial de Santander in Colombia.

As part of the collaborative activities, academic staff from all participating universities travelled to Portugal to contribute to the project’s planning and curriculum development efforts. Their participation reflects the consortium’s commitment to fostering international cooperation and advancing knowledge exchange in the field of disaster risk management.

With a duration of three years and funding under the Erasmus+ Capacity Building in Higher Education programme, STARS will develop a set of modular courses designed for both academic institutions and professional stakeholders, including civil protection and emergency management organizations. The project seeks to equip future professionals with advanced digital tools and methodologies for assessing, modelling, and mitigating risks associated with natural disasters.

The successful launch meeting marks the beginning of a collaborative effort that will contribute to enhancing resilience, innovation, and capacity building across partner regions while promoting international excellence in disaster risk education.