A warm welcome to our MOOC on International Security Management. In this MOOC, you will learn about the colorful and diverse international security landscape and get insights on challenging topics like open source intelligence, serious organized crime, and for example, the fake industry. We will reflect together with you on what kind of new leadership and management approaches are needed in the field of safety and security. In this MOOC, you'll meet stakeholders from different sectors and pick rounds. We took our videos at different places in Europe to also give you the flavor of the original environment of our contributing experts. You will realize that the style and focus of presentation will differ quite a bit. We feel that this is a big asset. Yes, we also have man in gray suits and uniforms. Let me first introduce myself. My name is Gabriele Jacobs. I'm a Professor in Organizational Behavior and Culture at the Erasmus University, and I am the Coordinator of the Erasmus+ Knowledge Alliance Project. This MOOC is one of the results of this project funded by the European Commission project, Erasmus+. I've always been interested in research in the fields of social justice and cross-cultural management. I'm very much driven by the question how research can actually contribute to concrete societal challenges. Nearly 20 years ago, I started collaborating with colleagues from the German Police University. I realize that challenges around safety and security are vital for the functioning of societies. Without safety and security, there is no freedom, there is no happiness, and there's also no prosperity. Step-by-step, I realized that police leaders run highly complex organizations was large international networks and impact. Then, I realized to my surprise that questions around policing and safety and security, that actually not belong to the core questions of management research. Also, a systematic international perspective was largely missing. How could this be? When safety and security is such an important dimension of our lives, why did it not get much more attention of scholars and social sciences and management? When I started to look into the field, I had more and more the impression that safety and security is something that is either discussed in military terms and understood as the force by states. Or safety and security seemed to be popular mainly among police scientists, at police schools or engineers and consultants who came up with smart technical solutions. Where were all the critical voices from all are highly diverse societies, for whom the safety and security solutions are designed? Why were they not part of the whole discussion? Or do they actually raised their voices but are not heard? The aspect that puzzled me most was that I felt that discussions around safety and security where typically surrounded by fear and danger, by exclusion and protection. Many solutions neither seemed to be sustainable, nor seemed to enhance the happiness and well-being of people. Together with a group of friends and colleagues from several European countries, we started to do research in the field. Over the years, we joined to develop the idea to translate our research findings into education. We want to find a way to share our insights by educating a new generation of experts and lead us in the safety and security field. The most important insight we got from our research was that actually every citizen is an expert in safety and security. We all contribute to safety and security by our actions and choices in our daily and professional lives. We are all subject to security measures that are taken by municipalities, governments, and private institutions. Safety and security matters to all of us. Therefore, this MOOC is for everyone, for citizens, for police officers, community workers, politicians, consultants, engineers, artists, teachers, and everyone who cares about safe and secure societies.
