Conference Agenda

Crisis training exercises often assume prior inter-organizational integration, while in practice many actors operate with limited shared understanding, coordination routines, and communication structures. This gap reduces the effectiveness of large-scale exercises and highlights the need for preparatory onboarding mechanisms. This paper presents Crisis Lenses, a VR-based onboarding approach designed to support early-stage inter-organizational collaboration in cross-border crisis management. The design is grounded in a maturity model of collaborative capability and implemented using a multi-perspective VR environment combining tactical (first-person) and strategic (bird’s-eye) views. The study draws on a series of co-design workshops involving technical participants to explore scenario design, command-level interactions, and information flows in a simulated cross-border wildfire context. The results show how VR-based scenario prototyping can be used to structure discussions around roles, communication, and coordination across levels. By focusing on onboarding and initial role familiarization, the work emphasizes how immersive VR environments can support early-stage learning and preparedness for more complex, large-scale crisis exercises. The findings suggest that such environments can support iterative exploration of collaboration challenges and provide a low-threshold entry point for preparing participants for more complex, large-scale crisis exercises.

Agile approaches were originally developed in software engineering to manage projects under conditions of uncertainty, rapid change, and evolving requirements. In recent years, however, similar conditions have increasingly characterized large-scale societal systems. This paper argues that Agile thinking provides a useful conceptual framework for understanding and managing complex societal challenges. Drawing on four recent cases from Israel – the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2023 civic protest movement, educational continuity during wartime, and the role of State Commissions of Inquiry – the paper explores how principles originating in Agile software development can illuminate responses to national crises. Across these domains, several recurring characteristics emerge: incomplete information, rapidly changing environments, distributed actors, and the need for continuous adaptation. The analysis highlights the relevance of core Agile principles, including iterative decision-making, rapid feedback loops, decentralized action, and data-driven adaptation. At the same time, the cases reveal the institutional constraints that limit the direct application of Agile methods within public governance systems. Rather than advocating the simple transfer of Agile practices from software engineering to policy-making, the paper proposes viewing Agile thinking as a conceptual lens for analyzing and improving societal resilience in times of uncertainty. Based on this analysis, a training program is proposed for decision-makers and practitioners who must operate under conditions of high uncertainty. The study contributes to the growing discussion on adaptive governance, the management of complex socio-technical systems, and training for crisis management and preparedness.

Crises in engineering are increasingly frequent, complex, and multidimensional, requiring engineers to move beyond technical problem-solving to exercise adaptive decision-making, and strategic leadership under conditions of time pressure, incomplete information, and competing stakeholder demands. Crisis management training is therefore emerging as a vital component of engineering leadership curricula, as it fosters the development of these essential competencies. This paper examines the integration of crisis management training within engineering leadership education using the case study of the ‘Leadership in Engineering Businesses’ module from the School of Physics, Engineering and Technology, University of York (UK). The analysis shows how sequential simulation-based activities can support experiential learning, enabling students to engage with uncertainty, interpret evolving information, and adapt decisions in real time. The study analyses how staged, time-pressured simulations enable students to engage with uncertainty, integrate technical and behavioral responses, and adapt decisions as new information emerges. Findings show that students progress from reactive actions to more strategic, systems-oriented thinking, while developing communication, collaboration, and stakeholder awareness. The structured combination of crisis literacy, simulation, and reflection fosters adaptive expertise and confidence. The study highlights the value of experiential learning in preparing engineering students for leadership roles in high-stakes, dynamic professional contexts.

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