PARTNER MEETING AND TRAINING WITHIN THE OPEN RELIEF PROJECT IN ZAGREB (CROATIA)

From 29 September to 2 October 2026, a partner meeting and training session for the partners of the international project OPEN RELIEF – Empowering Communities through Open Source Creative Solutions for Crisis Preparedness and Humanitarian Innovation (Creative Europe) took place in Zagreb (Croatia). The project leader from KNUTD is Danylo Kosenko, Head of the Department of Interior and Furniture Design. The meeting was organised by the project coordinator, IM INDUSTRIES.

KNUTD researchers Oleksandra Shmelova-Nesterenko, Associate Professor at the Department of Interior and Furniture Design, Tetiana Bulhakova, Associate Professor at the Department of Interior and Furniture Design, and Kalyna Pashkevych, Dean of the Faculty of Design at KNUTD, together with colleagues from IM INDUSTRIES (Croatia) and LATRA (Greece), tested and discussed the methodological approaches and learning modules of OPEN RELIEF, exchanging expertise in three complementary areas: community engagement strategies and participatory design methods; frugal innovation and digital fabrication; inclusive and humanitarian design.

Andrea Medvegy (IM INDUSTRIES) presented approaches to community engagement and a methodology for developing an action plan for volunteers in emergency situations.

Oleksandra Shmelova-Nesterenko (KNUTD) conducted a workshop for the meeting participants, during which the teams developed a concept for the minimally sufficient arrangement of a space for the temporary accommodation of 40 people, providing seating, storage and privacy zones using simple, adaptable and resource-efficient modular solutions. This approach corresponds to the frugal innovation methodology developed by KNUTD within the project.

Together with Nancy Trifanopoulou (LATRA), the teams worked on solutions to meet people's needs during the first 72 hours of an emergency and later, in a role-play simulation, worked through a crisis scenario in a refugee camp.

The meeting helped coordinate the next stages of OPEN RELIEF implementation, including a series of training workshops for representatives of the creative industries, humanitarian organisations, civil protection, civil society organisations and local communities in Croatia, Ukraine and Greece. The methodologies and learning modules developed will also be used in artistic and field activities, as well as peer-to-peer learning activities within the project.

The OPEN RELIEF project brings together creative approaches, humanitarian knowledge and community participation to create open-source creative solutions to strengthen community preparedness for crisis situations and advance humanitarian innovation.

We thank the OPEN RELIEF project partners and Ivan Mrđen, Head of IM INDUSTRIES, for organising the meeting and for the productive joint work!

12.10.2026