VOST Portugal – Associação de Voluntários Digitais em Situações de Emergência
Castelo Branco, Portugal
Brief biography of partner
Founded in 2017, VOST Portugal – Associação de Voluntários Digitais em Situações de Emergência is a non-profit organisation based in Castelo Branco, Portugal, dedicated to applying digital technologies and artificial intelligence to emergency management and disaster response. Within DARE, VOST Portugal is responsible for developing the open-source DARE Dashboard, integrating citizen and volunteer engagement tools, and supporting AI-assisted communication and data management. It also contributes to dissemination, exploitation, and trial activities, and liaises with other citizen organisations involved in crisis management.
VOST Portugal received the JRC Excellence Award 2024 as part of the Social Media for Disaster Risk Management Task Force for its collaboration in developing a machine learning model to extract and geolocate help requests from social media during the Turkey–Syria earthquakes. The organisation also participates in EU-funded projects, including FIRELOGUE, VERA, SPARKLEFIRE, and REHUBS
Role in the project
VOST Portugal is responsible for leading the technical development of the DARE Dashboard under Work Package 4 – Tools for Interoperability and Citizen Engagement, ensuring the integration of citizen participation, digital volunteer coordination, and AI-assisted communication into the platform. The organisation also contributes to Work Package 7 – Dissemination, Exploitation, and Innovation Management, supporting communication activities and the uptake of project results, and to Work Package 5 – Testing and Validation, by coordinating the operational evaluation of the Dashboard during cross-border trials.