Consortium Meeting of Partner Organizations of the Sonar-Cities Project

The Faculty of Arts of the University of Ljubljana and the Institut Pasteur in Paris are organizing, from 21 to 23 January 2026, at the Faculty of Arts, a consortium meeting of partner organizations participating in the Sonar-Cities project (https://sonar-cities.eu/). The project is funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe programme and is led by Dr. Tamara Giles-Vernick, an anthropologist at the Institut Pasteur in Paris. The project involves 13 institutions from Slovenia, Austria, France, Italy, Croatia, the Netherlands, and Sweden. It examines the health impacts of past natural disasters and crises in six European cities (Vienna, Groningen, Ljubljana, Stockholm, Udine, and Zagreb). In Ljubljana, the research focuses on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequences of flooding. In Slovenia, the project is led by the Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology at the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, by professor Dr. Uršula Lipovec Čebron. 

Prior to the start of the consortium meeting, on Wednesday, 21 January 2026, from 8:45 to 10:20, we will organize a short internal working meeting at the Faculty of Arts (5th floor, Blue Room) with representatives of international research organizations, Slovenian ministries, and the Municipality of Ljubljana. At this meeting, we will present the project and exchange perspectives on rescue and protection in the event of natural disasters and health crises. The rest of the consortium meeting will be dedicated to reporting on the progress of the project and planning the next steps.

In the first year of research in Slovenia, we conducted extensive studies that included an analysis of existing educational programs and tools for improving public preparedness. We also carried out several interviews with representatives of various organizations (non-governmental and governmental institutions). The most demanding part of the research was ethnographic fieldwork, which included interviews with individuals who experienced flooding in the Vič and Sneberje areas. We also employed an innovative method known as body mapping, which explores the relationship between the body and crisis situations through visual materials.

Within the framework of the project, several educational materials are also being developed. A series of online seminars (webinars), available online (https://www.youtube.com/@Sonar-CitiesProject), is already underway. In addition, a self-learning e-module is being prepared, which will also include social science and humanities approaches to addressing natural disasters and health crises. Beyond the scope of the project, we have also organized a lecture series in Slovenia titled Wild Waters, aimed at connecting the international community of researchers in the social sciences and humanities (more information available at https://sonar-cities.eu/wild-waters-lecture-series-at-the-university-of-ljubljana/).