Strengthening the security and resilience of at-risk religious sites and communities (SOAR) project held its conference on Security by Design on 19 January 2023 in Brussels and online for key agreed stakeholders (e.g. EU Commission, national government representatives, private and public sector architects and planners, religious leaders, and public authorities) to identify challenges and opportunities for security by design for religious sites. At this conference, the Network presented the research report that it carried out earlier in the project that highlights the security challenges religious communities face.

The conference sought to :

1. Share good practice through security by design examples of current religious sites from the EU published in the booklet Architectural Best Practice Examples;
2. Show the corresponding exhibition of the Architectural Best Practice Examples;
3. Give architects an opportunity to speak with other experts in the field and faith leaders;
4. Summarise the series of events that took place in 2022.

The event held of the 19th of January was part of the build up to the final event for the project SOAR the Network will be hosting. To be held on 14th March in Brussels, this Policy Dialogue Event will present the key policy recommendations aimed at improving security of religious sites within the EU. Invited guests include EU policymakers, national government representatives, faith leaders and CSO´s. The policy recommendations have been developed in 7 national level consultations that the Network conducted in target countries. The inclusive rounds of dialogues brought together faith communities and other relevant stakeholders to discuss security challenges of places of worship, share good practices and build networks with each other.