The WoSCR OpenVCE team are engaged in trials of scenario based virtual exercises in Second Life and other virtual worlds such as Forterra OLIVE. They are participants and observers in the "1st International Virtual Emergency Exercise" taking place on 5th May 2009 at the Disaster and Emergency Management (DEM) facility created in Second Life by Ali Asgary and his team at York University, Toronto, Canada. The exercise is organized by the Emergency Management Program at York University and supported by the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) in Canada.

The exercise involves role play in a simulation of the handling of a Swine Flu (Influenza A H1N1) outbreak in a region. It makes use of a tabletop simulation exercise for pandemic influenza preparedness in local health agencies (RAND Technical Report 319 - http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/TR319/) created by RAND Corporation in 2006. More details in the Exercise Flyer [PDF Format]. Screen videos of the exercise are at: http://www.yorku.ca/cst/zDEMmovies-temp/