Work Package Leaders Interview Questions

Question 1:

Can you briefly describe your role and explain the main objectives of your Work Package within TESSERA?

The objective of WP2 is to explore the landscape of datasets in the field of security to support the European Security Data Space for Innovation (EU SDSI). WP2 focuses on identifying operational use cases and thus types of security applications that can substantially benefit from data-driven innovation, mapping families of security-oriented datasets across relevant modalities, formats, standards, and data models, analysing privacy-preserving technologies that can facilitate data sharing in EU SDSI, and defining requirements for data annotation and classification tools.

CERTH leads WP2 and is responsible for the systematic mapping and characterisation of security-oriented datasets, and the analysis and definition of requirements for data classification and annotation. 

Question 2:

What key milestones have you achieved during the first half of the project, and what will you focus on for the months ahead?

WP2 has defined six operational use cases in the Fighting Crime and Terrorism (FCT) domain and identified data-driven applications addressing the corresponding security practitioner needs. This enabled an initial mapping of security-related datasets in FCT, from field-level and open-source data to national and transnational registries, with diverse modalities, structures, privacy levels, licensing, and purposes.

These outcomes informed the first version of the TESSERA vocabulary, based on DCAT and DCAT-AP, supporting data harmonisation and standardisation across the EU SDSI. WP2 also conducted a review of data classification and annotation techniques, which are essential for the preparation of high-quality datasets for training, testing, validating, and evaluating data-driven applications in the security domain.

Looking ahead, WP2 will define additional use cases across Civil Security for Society, including Border Management, Resilient Infrastructure, and Disaster-Resilient Societies, while extending the mapping of security-related dataset families.  In parallel, it will expand the analysis of requirements for data standardisation, privacy preservation and secure data sharing, and it will define additional requirements for security-oriented data classification and annotation.

Question 3:

What has been the biggest challenge of your work and which are the lessons learnt from it?

A significant challenge in our work has been the design of a robust methodology to systematically identify data-driven security applications, enabling the structured mapping of the relevant datasets and data types.  An equally important challenge has been the definition of a comprehensive vocabulary for security-oriented data representation within the EU SDSI, capable of capturing multiple relevant dimensions, including legal, ethical and privacy considerations, as well as bias and data quality requirements.

Key lessons learnt include the importance of investing early effort in methodological design to ensure consistency, as well as the value of developing a common vocabulary providing a standardised foundation enabling long-term dataset interoperability and reuse.

Question 4:

From your personal opinion, which do you believe is the most impactful result of the TESSERA project? How might this contribute to the stakeholders and society in the long-term ?

The most impactful results of TESSERA include the systematic mapping of families of security-oriented datasets in relation to security operational use cases, serving as a foundational element of the project guiding the work conducted in key WPs (i.e., WP3 and WP4).  Equally significant is the definition of requirements for common standards and standardisation approaches, enabling the establishment of a common language within the EU SDSI. TESSERA also defines requirements for quality indicators and safety checks ensuring that the datasets shared through the EU SDSI will be trusted, interoperable, and reusable, an essential precondition for the development of high-quality trustworthy and transparent data-driven solutions in the security domain.

By conducting the preparatory work for high-quality large-scale trusted and shareabe datasets in the EU SDSI, TESSERA contributes in the long term to improved data availability in the security domain. This, in turn, will enable researchers and technology providers to develop data-driven tools that strengthen the operational capabilities of security practitioners and support more informed decision-making, ultimately contributing to the protection of lives, enhanced well-being, and strengthened societal resilience.