|
 EUROCRIT takes as
its point of departure a novel approach to the study of critical
infrastructures, by reconstructing the long-term historical emergence
and evolution of these. It looks at the
expansion of infrastructures in Europe both through the
interconnection across national borders and through interconnections
of different kinds of infrastructures with one another. Those
connections created new forms of interdependencies and shared
vulnerabilities among nations in Europe. The project inquires how
actors of different kinds have interpreted such interdependencies and
vulnerabilities, and developed institutions for handling them.
This enables us to
contribute novel ideas both to historical studies of infrastructures
(adding the notion of vulnerability as well as a pan-European
perspective) and to more policy- and practice-oriented research on
critical infrastructures (adding the historical dimension).
EUROCRIT is a
Collaborative Research Project (CRP) within the EUROCORES programme
Inventing Europe, funded
through the European Science Foundation (ESF). For more information
see here or download the  EUROCORE brochure (1.52 MB).
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
 The project consists of six Integrated Projects and two Associated Partners, from institutes and universities from eight countries.The projects primarily focus on European energy infrastructures (emphasis on gas and electricity), nuclear energy, communication systems and cybernatization.
|
|
|
 Collaboration in the project takes place through a series of workshops (two per year), which are prepared in such a way as to use them for constructive work on an edited volume. The edited volume will be the single most important result from the research carried out within this CRP, and it is also the main end product of our intra-CRP collaboration. The editor team consists of Arne Kaijser, Per Högselius, Erik van der Vleuten, and Anique Hommels.
Each IP and AP
will also produce its own products in the form of articles or books.
Furthermore we also foresee that some articles will be co-authored by
researchers from different IP/APs.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
This AP (full title: "Technologies of network interface. The international links of Greek power & communications infrastructures") is focused on the
history of the technologies employed in order to connect different national
European networks, usually versions of a technology known as ‘converter’
technology (a generic name used to describe various connecting configurations,
including power flow and communication signal ‘transformers’, ‘filters’,
‘amplifiers’, and a whole range of automation and on-line computation
apparatuses). It places the emphasis on the connections between the Greek
electrification and telecommunication networks and the networks of Greece’s
neighbouring European states.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
This Associated Project aims
at studying technological, organizational and normative issues in transnational
power supply through the lens of developments in the Bulgarian electric power
system during the period between 1945 and 1985. This was the period, which led to radical changes
in the Bulgarian electric power industry, using till then (Western) European
technology and relying predominantly on private, state and community
(municipal) capital.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
When systems fail, emergency communication
networks should keep up society’s most vital services (e.g. police, ambulance,
fire brigade). This sub-project studies the emergence and governance of
transnational emergency networks in Europe after the Second World War. It also examines how emergency communication
functioned during actual system failures and disasters.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
IP 5 analyzes the cybernetization trend in
European infrastructures from the perspective of air traffic control.
Particular focus will be put on the creation of the transnational air traffic control
system Eurocontrol, but also on the ways in which tensions between European
efforts and nation-level security considerations shaped the emergence of
interdependencies in air traffic as a transnational infrastructure.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
The
IP will study these processes with a main focus on the integration of ICT with the
high voltage systems. This “cybernetization” of the electricity network creates
possibilities for enhancing both the security and the efficiency of the electricity
networks. The Europeanization of these networks, however, creates significant
challenges of ICTstandardization, and the neoliberal shift put strong pressure
for using the ICT-solution more for efficiency than for enhanced security.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
The IP investigates the criticality of energy infrastructures and their horizontal expansion across European borders from the perspective of interconnections across the Iron Curtain, as exemplified by three cases of Finnish-Soviet infrastructural integration. It focuses, first, on the integration of Finland into the Soviet nuclear power complex, and secondly, it compares this nuclear interconnection with Finnish-Soviet interconnections in crude oil and natural gas.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
|
Projects 
EUROCRIT is a research project in Inventing Europe , a EUROCORES programme coordinated by the European Science Foundation. It
seeks to gain a better understanding of risks in the construction and
governance of European infrastructures.