From 23 to 26 June 2026, the SUNSHINE projectopens in new tab held its fourth and final Training Seminar in Zagreb, Croatia, bringing to a close the in-person capacity-building journey which has spanned seven months and four countries: Tallinn, Estonia (November 2025), Strasbourg, France (March 2026), Timișoara, Romania (May 2026), and now Zagreb. Across all four editions, the series has brought together almost 100 participants from national civil protection and emergency management authorities across Europe.
As with previous editions, the Zagreb Seminar gathered operational responders, emergency managers, and technical specialists for four days of deep-dive training on the full ecosystem of EU Space Programme data and services applied to disaster management, spanning Copernicus, Galileo, Space Situational Awareness (SSA), GOVSATCOM, and IRIS².
The programme combined technical lectures, hands-on exercises, product demonstrations, knowledge quizzes, and use-case studies drawn from real disaster events, with particular emphasis on operational workflows, notably the activation and interpretation of Copernicus Emergency Management Service (CEMS) products, and the Galileo Emergency Warning Satellite Service (EWSS) as a resilient channel for alerting population.
The seminar was opened by Davor Spevec, Assistant Director General of the Civil Protection Directorate of Croatia, who delivered the welcome address and stressed the importance of strengthening preparedness, coordination, and resilience through the effective integration of EU Space-based services into civil protection operations. The project team also extends its gratitude to the University of Applied Sciences of Velika Gorica and the Civil Protection Directorate of Croatia for hosting this final edition and for their continued commitment to advancing European civil protection capacities.
On 6-7 October 2026, Brussels will host the second and final SUNSHINE Simulation Exerciseopens in new tab, the culmination of the entire SUNSHINE capacity-building programme, where everything learned across four Training Seminars and technical webinar sessions will be put into practice in a realistic, scenario-driven operational environment.
Places are limited, and a selection process will apply to ensure the right balance between participants and observers: submit your Expression of Interest hereopens in new tab