George Boustras
European University Cyprus
Keynote title: Critical Infrastructure Protection – on the interface of safety and security

Abstract

Having read some of the first articles of Safety Science somewhere in the early 1970s a completely different picture of science is witnessed, just 40 years ago. A heavily industrialized Europe, the Cold War-era antagonisms had an impact on occupational and organizational safety and security and most certainly on research focus. The following decades have led to the de-industrialization of some parts of Europe, a significant change in traditional forms of industry to the rest.   Focus has shifted from the worker to Critical Infrastructure  with European Union directives that in turn brought about changes in traditional schools of thought of safety and security.

Population aging, climate change, immigration, budgetary challenges are generating emerging risks - far from traditional stereotypes - with clear implications for security and safety.



Security until recently a secondary, scientific, area is increasingly being developed and is essentially a point of contact with the safety science where it is now a matter of security culture that can be defined by features of the safety culture.



The development of AI and cybersecurity are evident to the work environment, which in turn places them in the realm of security and safety science.



All of the above challenges outline a different future for safety and security.

Short Bio

George is Professor in Risk Assessment at European University Cyprus, Dean of the Ioannis Gregoriou School of Business Administration and Director of the Centre of Risk and Decision Sciences (CERIDES).

George is a PhD in Probabilistic Fire Risk Assessment from CFES at Kingston University London, he was Honorary Research Fellow at CPSE at Imperial College London (2003 - 2005), and KTP Research Fellow at FSEG at the University of Greenwich (2009).

He sits at the Management Committee of Secure Societies - Protecting Freedom and Security of Europe and its citizens of “HORIZON 2020”.  George has been invited to present his and CERIDES’ work at a number of organisations (e.g. Imperial College, JRC Ispra, University of Malaga, University of Dalian etc).

He was appointed by the Ministerial Council of the Republic of Cyprus to Head the Special Task Force that overlooked the modernization of the Fire Services. He was hired by World Bank to contribute to the modernisation of licensing services provided by the Fire Service of the Hellenic Republic.  The President of the Republic of Cyprus appointed him, as Vice President in the Energy Strategy Council. He consulted the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Cyprus in the Risk Assessment of Unexploded Ordnance as part of Gas Exploration.

George is Editor-in-Chief of Safety Science (Elsevier) and Member of the Editorial Board of Fire Technology (Springer), the International Journal of Emergency Management and International Journal οf Critical Infrastructure (both Inderscience). He (co-)supervises 7 PhD students.

Important dates

Submission of technical session proposals: November 12, 2019
Paper submission (sharp / no extension): July 3, 2020
Position paper submission: July 17, 2020
Author notification: August 1, 2020
Final paper submission, registration: August 14, 2020
Payment: August 28, 2020
Conference date: September 6-9, 2020

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