Launched earlier this year, EERA’s transversal Joint Programme on Energy Security and Resilience (tJP-ESR) is now entering its operational phase. Its first governance meeting, held at the EERA Secretariat in Brussels on 2 October, marked the start of efforts to build a research community around the initiative and translate its strategic objectives into concrete activities. 

A selection process held over the summer saw Knut Samdal (SINTEF) and Helena Gerard (VITO) appointed Coordinator and Vice-Coordinator of the tJP-ESR, respectively. Jochen Linßen (Forschungszentrum Jülich) will coordinate the first of its three sub-programmes, focusing on geopolitical dependencies, vulnerabilities and risks. During this initial phase, Knut and Helena will also act as interim coordinators for the other two research strands, dedicated to cascading effects and interdependencies and physical, hybrid and cyber risks. 

At the meeting, the team agreed on the main priorities for the months ahead. These include further refining the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) and developing annual work plans around concrete milestones. 

Engaging the wider EERA community will also be central to the next phase of the initiative. To this end, the tJP-ESR will start working with existing Joint Programmes to map relevant expertise, identify areas of common interest and develop transversal research activities around challenges that cut across individual technologies and energy sectors. In parallel, the tJP-ESR will engage with relevant European and national initiatives and stakeholders to foster complementarity with related work underway across Europe. 

Through these activities, the tJP-ESR aims to connect expertise across technologies, disciplines and institutions, giving the research community represented in EERA a stronger voice in shaping European energy research and policy priorities in an area that is moving higher up Europe’s political agenda and where sound and independent scientific evidence will be essential to inform robust and lasting political choices.