KPEOPLE RESEARCH FOUNDATION

Their core work

KPeople Research Foundation is a Malta-based research centre that applies social and behavioural research methods to public sector challenges — particularly where technology, citizen participation, and policy meet. In the FASTER project they contributed to the human and organisational dimensions of first responder emergency response, helping develop tools and methods that make emergency operations safer and more effective. In DECIDO they shifted toward evidence-based policymaking, working with open science cloud infrastructure (EOSC) and co-creation methodologies to help public bodies make better-informed decisions. Their throughline is translating complex socio-technical problems into actionable knowledge for governments and public safety organisations.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

With only two projects, the evolution is visible but must be read cautiously. Their first project (FASTER, 2019) sat squarely in the Security pillar — emergency response technology — with no keywords recorded, suggesting a broad supporting role rather than a specialised technical one. By their second project (DECIDO, 2021), the focus had shifted toward the Society pillar: evidence-based policymaking, open science, and co-creation processes. The direction of travel is from operational public safety toward governance, data-informed policy, and participatory civic processes.

KPeople appears to be moving toward the intersection of open science infrastructure and public governance — a growing priority in EU research funding — making them a plausible partner for projects involving EOSC-linked policy tools or citizen-facing digital services.

How they like to work

KPeople has participated in both projects as a partner, never as coordinator, which is consistent with a small, specialised foundation that joins consortia to contribute a defined capability rather than to lead. Their two projects involved a combined 39 unique partners across 11 countries, suggesting they are comfortable operating inside large, multi-stakeholder European consortia. No repeated partner patterns are detectable from two projects alone, so loyalty versus diversity of partnership cannot be assessed.

KPeople has built a network of 39 unique consortium partners across 11 countries from just two projects, pointing to involvement in sizeable, internationally distributed consortia. No specific geographic concentration is apparent beyond their Maltese base.

What sets them apart

KPeople is one of very few Maltese research foundations active in both the Security and Society pillars of H2020, giving them a rare dual footing in operational public safety and civic governance research. Their combination of emergency response experience and evidence-based policymaking with EOSC is uncommon and positions them well for projects that need to bridge field operations with policy impact. For consortium builders, a Maltese partner also satisfies geographic diversity requirements for projects seeking Southern European or island-nation representation.

Highlights from their portfolio

• DECIDO
  Combines EOSC cloud infrastructure with co-creation and evidence-based policymaking — a technically and civically ambitious scope that reflects KPeople's most clearly articulated expertise.
• FASTER
  Largest single funding award (€423,000) and entry point into the Security pillar, demonstrating KPeople's ability to contribute to high-stakes, technology-intensive emergency response consortia.