For the Centre, 2025 was an active and successful year, shaped by two main areas of work: project activities and research. Communication of the work carried out was an integral part of both. In project activities, we implemented Estonia’s largest community-based civil protection development projects through the KÜSK Innovation Fund measure, supported by the Ministry of the Interior, as well as one international project funded by the Swedish Institute. Research was mainly carried out within the international project, focusing on how lessons from the war in Ukraine can support the more systematic development of resilience hubs in Estonian and Swedish municipalities.

In 2025, the Crisis Research Centre also co-organised its first international conference, held at the end of October at Malmö University in Sweden. In addition, we organised our first larger seminar in Estonia, focusing on community crisis preparedness. We are grateful to Miltton New Nordics for supporting the event by providing the venue free of charge. We also held the Centre’s first online discussion on sheltering, which attracted strong interest. The year was also marked by the Centre’s participation in several academic conferences. The Centre was an active public voice in its field, and we also consider it an important achievement that we brought our “Kriisioskused” podcast to the Delfi Tasku platform in order to reach a wider audience. We grew our social media following: in addition to our existing Facebook and Instagram accounts, we also opened a LinkedIn account.

Overall, the Crisis Research Centre developed further in several areas in 2025. We are especially proud of implementing the country’s largest projects funded through the KÜSK Innovation Fund measure, and, from the perspective of the Centre’s research work, of the PIMA project, which enabled us to collect and analyse data on the development of civil protection for future academic publications.

The Crisis Research Centre’s training sessions are designed specifically for adult residents of the area who are interested in contributing to the crisis preparedness of their community, district and city. You are warmly invited to become a member of the network — together, we can make the capital more resilient to crises.

The training sessions will be held on Saturdays and Sundays between September and December 2026, in cooperation with experienced specialists in their fields. The programme includes the following training days, covering these topics:

• The district administration will introduce the principles of crisis preparedness at the city and district level, as well as expectations for the crisis network;
• Paramedic Andrus Lehtmets will provide training on how to give first aid effectively and safely;
• The Crisis Research Centre will discuss the importance of the community’s role in crisis preparedness.

There will also be a lunch break during the day. The detailed agenda will be sent only to registered participants, and the training sessions will be held in Estonian only. Participants will also receive a certificate of attendance.

REGISTER FOR THE TRAINING HERE

Training schedule by city district:

Nõmme, district administration building, Valdeku 13:

• September 20, 10:00-18:00
• October 18, 10:00-18:00

Mustamäe, district administration building, E. Vilde tee 118:

• October 10, 10:00-18:00
• November 8, 10:00-18:00
• November 22, 10:00-18:00

Haabersti, venues to be confirmed:

• September 12, 10:00-18:00
• November 29, 10:00-18:00
• December 6, 10:00-18:00

REGISTER FOR THE CRISIS NETWORK TRAINING HERE

We invite you to take part if you would like to contribute to your community’s crisis preparedness and better prepare yourself for unexpected situations. For further questions, please contact us by email at: info[at]kruk.ee.

🟧🟦 The activities of the KRAKO project are carried out by the Crisis Research Centre, the project is co-funded by the City of Tallinn and the Tallinn Municipal Police, together with the NGO Crisis Research Centre.

We highlighted on ERR that the situation has improved following the adoption of legislation setting requirements for shelters and public sheltering spaces in new buildings. At the same time, Estonia’s existing sheltering infrastructure remains insufficient. The issue concerns not only Tallinn, but also other Estonian cities and regions, where people’s actual access to shelter may depend heavily on the type of building, the period in which it was built, and the local spatial context.

For example, there are areas in Tallinn where the standard designs of high-rise buildings do not include basement floors. In such buildings, it is not possible to create shelters in the usual way or to adapt existing basement spaces for this purpose. This means that, due to the building type alone, part of the population may be left without a realistic nearby sheltering option in a crisis situation.

Tallinn’s initiative to establish modular shelters is an important and necessary step. However, individual pilot solutions cannot replace the systematic and broader development of sheltering infrastructure. More public sheltering spaces are needed, and their development should not remain only a question for the capital. Similar solutions are also needed in other Estonian cities and densely populated areas.

The letter highlighted the collaboration as an example of successful engagement between applied research, local crisis management, and community safety.

In recent years, the Crisis Research Centre and MUPO have worked together in several projects and discussions aimed at strengthening city-level crisis preparedness. The cooperation has focused primarily on community-based civil protection, as well as the development of resilience hubs and other initiatives that enhance local readiness for crises.

“Cooperation between researchers, practitioners, and communities is a cornerstone of crisis preparedness – knowledge and experience must complement one another. MUPO has been a very open and dedicated partner in this regard,” noted Anne-May Nagel.

The recognition also underlines a broader principle that the Crisis Research Centre considers central to its mission – crisis preparedness is not solely the task of the state or public agencies, but relies on collaboration, trust, and knowledge-sharing among people and organisations. It is often at the local and community level, supported by scientific insight, where the foundation for effective crisis preparedness is truly built.

The cooperation between the Centre and MUPO demonstrates how research can inform practice and improve decision-making processes, bringing academic knowledge into urban space and everyday security governance.

The Centre for Crisis Studies extends its gratitude to the Tallinn Municipal Police Department for its trust and cooperation and wishes continued success in strengthening urban safety and crisis preparedness in Tallinn.

Photo: presentation of a letter of appreciation (Tallinn Strategy Center/Ellen Rudi, 2025).

The Crisis Research Center’s first aid training as part of its community crisis skills program is not your typical “bandage rolling” or “theoretical lecture.” It’s a practical and honest look at first aid that doesn’t focus on what to do in ideal conditions. Unfortunately, crises and perfect scenarios do not go together. That is why we concentrate on what to do when time is short, resources are scarce, and stress is high. The trainer is paramedic Andrus Lehtmets, who has a clear and straightforward teaching style that leaves no one unimpressed.

“A person does not need a perfect bandage; they need someone who is willing to act. During the training, participants learn how to think and act in situations where there is no time to Google instructions,” said Hannes Nagel, head of the Crisis Research Centre.

In a crisis, there’s no time to hesitate—you need to act

The training focuses on practical techniques, such as how to assist a traffic accident victim, what to do if someone’s heart stops, or what to do if all communication fails and help does not arrive. Every participant is expected to have hands-on experience by the end of the day, as we practice resuscitation, assisted breathing, stopping heavy bleeding, dealing with trauma, and other skills. The examples and simulations are both realistic and challenging. And, of course, myths are debunked. For example, did you know that a heart cannot be “restarted” with a punch, as depicted in American movies?

This year’s IRSPM (International Research Society for Public Management) annual conference took place in Italy, hosted by the University of Bologna, the oldest university in Europe, founded in 1088. The main theme of the conference was “Civic engagement and social capital in contemporary public administration: facing the challenges of social equity and environmental sustainability”

“We presented in a session dedicated to crisis management, chaired by experts from the University of Tampere in Finland, the University of Agder in Norway, and the Brazilian Army Command and General Staff College,” said Nagel.

The presentation explored crisis resolution as a co-creative process and examined what conditions enable successful citizen-inclusive crisis response. “This presentation focused on the pollution crisis that hit Western Estonia three years ago, where large amounts of oil of unknown origin washed up on the shores of Vormsi, Hiiumaa, and later Haapsalu. Through cooperation with the local community, the crisis was resolved so effectively that the Western Estonia Rescue Center later awarded it the ‘Act of the Year,’” she added.

The data behind the presentation will also form the basis of a scientific article highlighting the prerequisites for successful co-creative crisis management. Nagel emphasized that the nature of the crisis must allow for community involvement, which is not always the case. “Not every coastal pollution event enables citizen participation—for example, some chemicals washed ashore can be so toxic that involving the public in cleanup efforts would endanger their safety. Additionally, our research findings showed that successful community involvement requires the crisis to be perceived as serious enough—people must feel that their help is truly needed.”

Nagel’s presentation was part of panel P22 – Security, Defence and Crisis Management: assessing governance, policy, and resilience in an Era of Polycrisis. More information on the panel can be found here.

Photo: IRSPM conference presentation in Italy (Kriisiuuringute Keskus, 2025)

We are delighted to continue working with paramedic Andrus Lehtmetsa for the second year in a row. More than 40,000 Estonians have learned first aid under his supervision, and now these valuable skills will be taught in Haaberst to the people of Väike-Õismäe in a crisis context. The training focuses on the question of what is most important in first aid, particularly during a crisis.

The training program provided participants in the five training groups with comprehensive knowledge and skills on how to provide initial support to people with emotional and mental difficulties in a crisis situation, with a particular emphasis on how to respond to acute (e.g., war-time) crisis situations in shelters.

Participants learned how to recognise mental health concerns, share relevant information, and use self-help techniques to protect their own and others’ well-being, which is becoming increasingly important in terms of community resilience in the context of Ukraine’s ongoing conflict. The training sessions included a variety of practical exercises to help them improve their listening-marking-assisting abilities.