PyroLife ITN Training Event 4:
Ways forward: integrated fire management
Organised by PyroLife, WIMEK and PE&RC
Ways forward: integrated fire management
September 19th-30th, 2022
Course Information:
Introduction:
Integrated landscape fire management requires an overview of several disciplines. Therefore, the PyroLife Innovative Training Network contained four PhD courses based on understanding three aspects of landscape fire: 1) climate, risks and impact, 2) human dimensions and planning aspects, 3) science-policy interaction. These three courses were followed by a fourth course 4) integrated fire management, where the way forward towards building and implementing an integrated fire management was discussed and developed. This was the final course of this four-PhD-course series, focusing on integrated fire management.
Description:
Fire behavior is becoming globally more extreme and wildfires more prevalent in previously less fire-prone regions. This challenge cannot be solved with the traditional mono-disciplinary approach of fire suppression. There is a critical need to change fire management from fire resistance to landscape resilience: Living with fire. Achieving this integrated fire management requires inter- and transdisciplinary research based on four axes of diversity: combining cross-geography, cross-risk, and cross-sector approaches while embracing social diversity.
The goal of this PhD course was to bring people with different scientific backgrounds together to discuss challenges and solutions of achieving an integrated approach. Through invited talks, interactive discussions, group work and field visits students worked on a range of topics relevant to integrated fire management, including lessons learned from other fields. In small groups coached by an international expert in the field, they developed a perspective on a subtopic of integrated fire management, illustrated with a core visual, to be submitted for publication. As such, participants worked on specific topics in pyrogeography and wildland fire science, but with the aim of an integrated vision in mind. At the end of the course, we returned to the following questions: what is integrated fire management, what is the way forward, and how will your work contribute to this way forward. Course activities and lodging were arranged in a single location, to facilitate networking and making informal connections outside of the official schedule.
Central to the group work and the course discussions was the question “to what extent lessons learned in a specific context are local or whether they are universal or global”, and the question of the diversity of knowledge and people needed for this topic.
This was a 3-ECTS (84 hours) PhD course, for which the plenary portion took place in Ede, The Netherlands (76 hours). For work-life balance considerations, the programme was scheduled so that travel to and from the venue was done during weekdays, and one day of free time was planned during the course itself. Participants were expected to dedicate 8 hours to prepare for the course in two ways: 1) to prepare insights/lessons that others can learn from your own research that are relevant for integrated fire management, and 2) to read materials relevant to the group assignment.
Course Structure:
This course covered 3 ECTS (84 hours)
More information on how to prepare was sent before the course started.
Learning goals:
- To place your research into the broader context of Integrated Fire Management
- To apply lessons from other scientific disciplines to Integrated Fire Management
- To translate integrated thinking into a scientific perspective paper on a sub-topic within Integrated Fire Management
- To make (formal and informal) connections with junior and senior people from a range of geographic, disciplinary and sectoral backgrounds
Central to the course were two recurring themes: 1) Diversity: what diversity of knowledge and people is required in integrated fire management? 2) What should be determined locally, and what knowledge and methods are universally or globally applicable
Target:
This course covered the integration of knowledge and lessons from a range of different disciplines across the social sciences, environmental sciences and engineering. We therefore targeted PhD candidates working on integrated fire management, as well as PhD candidates working on specific social, environmental or engineering aspects who were interested in placing their work in a broader inter- and transdisciplinary context. It was not required to have followed a PyroLife course before, yet it was required to work on a landscape fire related topic and be interested in contributing to integrated fire management.
Useful Information
| In-person module | ||
|---|---|---|
| Location | The Netherlands. Hotel de Bosrand, Ede |
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| Target group | PhD candidates working on integrated fire management; and PhD candidates working on specific social, environmental or engineering aspects of fire who want to put their understanding into a broader inter- and transdisciplinary context. Postdocs and early to mid-career researchers were also welcome, if they were working on similar topics. |
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| Level | PhD candidate level; or having a PhD in topic related to fire resilient landscape | |
| Prerequisites | Ongoing PhD research on a topic related to landscape fires | |
| ECTS | 3 ECTS (84 hours) | |
| Course Completition | All participants were expected to prepare to 1) prepare insights/lessons that others can learn from your own research in the context of Integrated Fire Management; 2) actively contribute to the group assignment throughout the whole course; 3) actively contribute to the final discussions on the way forward. In the case that the course coordinators considered a participant’s contribution to the course is not what can be expected from a PhD candidate, an additional assignment after the course may have had to be done to complete the course |
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| Lecturers and group coaches | Among others, Cathelijne Stoof (WUR)
Peter Moore (FAO/ consultant)
Marc Castellnou (Catalan Fire Service)
Julissa Galarza (WUR), Guillermo Rein (Imperial College)
Jasper de Vries (WUR)
Spyros Paparrizos (WUR)
Jantsje van Loon (WUR)
Rik Leemans (WUR)
Jeroen Warner (WUR) |
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| Course fee | Pyrolife PhD candidates: €1500 WIMEK and PE&RC PhD candidates not part of Pyrolife total fee= €1500. Note that WIMEK and PE&RC payed half the fee from their own budgets. Bills sent to your chair group was therefore €750 (i.e. the reduced fee). Other WUR PhD candidates: we confered with your graduate school if they were willing to contribute to a reduced fee. Others: €1540 |
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| Fee payment |
For within the WUR department of ESG, an internal calculation was done.
For other WUR participants, the course fee was paid following an intercompany sent to your chair group.For non-WUR participants, including most (non-WUR) PyroLife PhD candidates, an invoice was sent to your working address
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| Registration deadline | August 19th, 2022 | |
| Group Size | Min:15 Max:25 |
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| Registration | Opened on July 15th, 2022 | |
| Cancellation condition | Up to 1st August 2022, (first) cancellation is free of charge. • Up to twee weeks prior to the start of the course (5 September), a fee of €750 could be charged, unless you found someone to replace you in the course and supply the course coordinator with the name and contact information of your replacement. In this case you were only charged a € 50,- cancellation fee. After this date you were charged the full registration fee, unless: • You could find someone to replace you in the course and supply the course coordinator with the name and contact information of your replacement. In this case you were charged a € 50,- cancellation fee. • You had a valid reason to cancel (illness or death in the family 1st or 2nd degree; corona travel restrictions). Your supervisor/PI must have sent an email indicating the reason for cancellation. In this case you were only charged a € 50,- cancellation fee. |
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| Included in the fee | Accommodation, breakfast, lunch and dinner, bus excursion. Accommodation will be in shared rooms (2 people per room) | |
| Not included | Travel to and from the venue De Bosrand, Ede, The Netherlands | |
| More information | dr.ir. PJ Vermeulen (peter1.vermeulen@wur.nl) | |
Organisers
PyroLife ITN is a global initiative for training and research in integrated wildfire management. The vision of PyroLife is to learn across disciplines, regions, and practices, and to connect science and practitioners to move from short-term reactive suppression towards a status where society is able to live with fires. PyroLife ITN has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme MSCA-ITN-2019 – Innovative Training Networks under grant agreement No 860787.
WIMEK is the Wageningen Institute for Environment and Climate. As a graduate school, WIMEK aims at developing an integrated understanding of environmental change and its impact on people, society and nature.
PE&RC is the Dutch graduate school for Production Ecology & Resource Conservation with the mission to Understanding the functioning of natural and managed ecosystems, to improve the quality of life.
