Starting date:
November 1st, 2023
Closing date:
October 31st, 2026
European funding: € 4,536,682.50 funded by Horizon Europe – Cluster 3 “Civil security for society” under the Grant Agreement num. 101121282
VANGUARD (adVANced technoloGical solutions coupled with societal-oriented Understanding and AwaReness for Disrupting trafficking in human beings) aims to strengthen the fight against trafficking in human beings (THB) at the nexus of advanced technological solutions, understanding, awareness raising, and training in order to disrupt the trafficking chain at an early stage and address the culture of impunity. In particular, VANGUARD aims to provide an improved intelligence picture of THB, with a particular focus on THB for purposes of sexual exploitation, labour exploitation, and forced criminality. This will be achieved through developing a modular and trustworthy suite of tools for detecting, identifying, investigating, and preventing online-facilitated THB activities and THB-related activities at (border) checkpoints based on the analysis of online multimedia content and multimodal streams, by leveraging the latest advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI).
It will also address the societal dimensions of THB through improved understanding and engagement with relevant actors, improved strategies of international cooperation, increased awareness, and better evidence-based policymaking. The capacity of end users (including Police and Border Guard Authorities) will be further enhanced and will enable them to tackle such criminal activities in an effective manner based on advanced tools and solutions and innovative training curricula. VANGUARD will be validated in field tests and demonstrations in three operational use cases.
Extensive training, hands-on experience, joint exercises, and training material will boost the uptake of VANGUARD tools and technologies. With a Consortium of seven Police and Border Guard Authorities (including from countries of origin and transit of THB networks and countries neighbouring Ukraine), one Police Academy, eight research/academic institutions, four industry partners (including two SMEs), two CSOs, and one International Organisation, VANGUARD delivers a strong representation of the challenges, requirements, and tools to meet its objectives.
On June 10, the 1st Iberian Congress / XV Spanish Congress of Criminology (SIEC) hosted the presentation of the research paper “Repositioning the Role of ICTs and AI in Combating…
On 22 May 2026, the Euro-Arab Foundation researcher, Karen Latricia Hough, alongside Despoina Chatzakou and Theoni Spath from CERTH, Roberto Acquaviva (ENG) and Sara Diez and Jiang Zhicheng (Bull), delivered…
On 4 March, researcher Karen Hough from the Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies delivered a specialised training session for police and border control officers in Romania, focusing on the growing…
On March 4, Karen Hough, a researcher at the Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies, delivered specialised training for police and border control officers in Romania, focusing on the growing risks…
Human trafficking involves the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons by means of threats, use of force or other forms of coercion, for the purpose of exploitation, which…
On 16the June, researchers from the Vanguard project convened a hybrid workshop at KU Leuven University presenting the latest findings from their academic research on the prestigious Horizon Europe anti-trafficking…
The Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies participated in the “Empowering Change: Technology and AI in the Fight Against Human Trafficking” Conference, held on June 11, 2025, in Malta. The event,…
Euro-Arab Researcher Karen Hough presented Vanguard project findings on Human Trafficking at CEPOL Scientific Conference in Ostia, Rome, last month of March.
The Executive Secretary of GRETA was briefed on the VANGUARD project, a EU funded Horizon Europe project involving 22 partners including FUNDEA, aimed at fighting the trafficking of human beings for the purposes of sexual and labour exploitation and forced criminality.
