EU project to train international military
International military and police are to be taught peacekeeping skills by a new virtual reality game under development by an EU-wide consortium.
‘Gaming for Peace’ will train all military, police and civilian personnel being deployed on EU conflict prevention and peacebuilding missions.
Entering the game as avatars, users will role-play as members of another organisation, a different gender or a different nationality, and face simulations of different conflict zone scenarios in order to develop their communication and co-operation, gender awareness and cultural competency skills.
“Current training for personnel involved in conflict prevention and peacebuilding missions does not prioritise the critical softer skills of communication and gender and cultural awareness,” explained project co-ordinator Assistant Professor Anne Holohan, of Trinity College Dublin (TCD), Ireland.
“Most missions require a variety of organisations to co-ordinate and co-operate together – militaries from different nations in Europe, police from all over Europe, civilian actors from different countries. Success in preventing conflict is to a considerable extent dependent on their ability to work together well in the mission.
“The ‘Gaming for Peace’ tool will allow personnel to role-play someone of a different gender or ethnicity or who is part of a different type of organisation, leading to greater understanding, better communication and co-operation, and a more optimal performance as peacebuilders will result.”
The game has been funded by a €2m grant from the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme and is being supported by the European Security and Defence College, which oversees the training of all EU personnel deployed on peacekeeping missions, NATO and a number of UN bodies.
Led by TCD, the project brings 14 collaborative partners together from academia, military, police, civil actors and business, including the Police Service of Northern Ireland, the Finnish and Polish militaries, Laurea University in Kerava, Finland, the Ted Kennedy Institute at NUI Maynooth, Ireland, and Irish computer games company Haunted Planet.
“Training a large number of personnel before deployment on a mission is expensive and logistically difficult, with most training involving travel and fixed times and, consequently, many personnel get little or sporadic training, particularly in the area of soft skills such as communication and gender and cultural awareness,” added Holohan.
“‘Gaming for Peace’ will produce a game that is accessible to all personnel before deployment at minimal cost. The only thing that is required is an internet connection.”
The game is due for completion by 2018.
