PyroLife 2023 Conference: The Four Axes of Diversity of Wildfire
Three years after the launch of the PyroLife PhD training programme, we met in Barcelona to share results and experiences on Integrated Fire Management and discuss fire education. This conference included two days of talks and sessions, a field trip and lots of networking.
We got to know the novel research conducted by the 14 PyroLife research projects and discussed the education and training of future generations of fire scientists. Barcelona set the stage for PyroLife and for researchers from other contexts to share novel research on:
- Fire Management and Understanding of Wildfires Present and Future
- Governance
- Communities and Society
- Future Education and Research
Moreover, the axes upon which PyroLife is built (interdisciplinarity, intersectorality, geography, and gender) articulated the conference discussions.
External PyroLife participants were invited to present posters.
The conference was open to participants outside Pyrolife. Presentations were only accepted in poster format. It should have covered at least one of these topics:
- Fire Management and Understanding of Wildfires Present and Future
- Governance
- Communities and Society
- Future Education and Research
PyroLife has a particular interest in Integrated Fire Management, Diversity, and PhD Education, and this is why we valued positively that posters clearly reflected at least one of these aspects.
To bear in mind:
- Character limit, including spaces: 1500 / Word limit: 250
- Deadline: February 7, 2023
There were different types of registration:
- For PyroLife PhD students.
- For non-PyroLife PhD students.
- For people attending the field trip only (14th March, Tuesday).
- For people attending day 2 only (15th March, Wednesday).
- For people attending day 3 only (16th March, Thursday).
Field trip
Please see the field trip section below.
Keynote presentations
- Day 2, 15th March – Claire Smyth and Mark Smyth: “Better together through collective leadership”
- Day 3, 16th March – Jordi Oliveres: “Introducing Sustainable Fire Regime Management; from theory to practice.”
Relation between topics and PyroLife Early Stage Researchers presenting
Fire management/Understanding of wildfires present and future (day 2)
- 9:45 h – Kerryn Little, University of Birmingham: Synoptic-scale drivers of surface fire weather offer insights for extended wildfire danger forecasting.
- 10:00 h – Tomás Quiñones, Tecnosylva: Fire drivers in NW Europe : Characterization and Fuel conditions variability.
- 10:15 h – Mariña Fernández, Universidade da Tras-os Montes e Alto Douro: Understanding (some of) the drivers and behaviour of extreme wildfires in Southern Europe
- 11:00 h – Claudio Ribotta, Institut Nacional de Recherche en Sciences et Tecnologies pour l’Environnement et l’Agriculture: Perspectives on the wildland-urban interface (WUI)
- 11:15 h – Fiona Newman Thacker, Wageningen University & Research – 11:15 h: Understanding Fire Resilient Landscapes
Communities and Society (day 2)
- 14:15 h – Sarah Meier, University of Birmingham: The regional economic impact of wildfires: Evidence from Southern Europe
- 14.30 h – Simona Dossi, Imperial College London: Computational investigation of firebrand accumulation and penetration of solid obstacles
- 14:45 h – Kathleen Uyttewaal, Pau Costa Foundation and Wageningen University: Co-creating Adaptation Pathways to Wildland Fire in Catalonia
- 15:00 h – Isabeau Ottolini, Open University of Catalonia – 15:00 h: Going beyond communicating about Wildfire Risk. A case for Community-based communication
Governance (day 3)
- 10:15 h – Carmen Rodríguez, European Forest Institute: Blazing the trail: Social innovation supporting wildfire-resilient territories
- 11:00 h – Judith Kirschner, CERIDES – European University Cyprus: Governing wildfires – insights from a systematic literature review, and lessons learned from the case of Italy
- 11:15 h – Pooja Pandey, CERIDES – European University Cyprus: Barriers in Interagency Exchange – A case study of Cyprus
- 11:30 h – Hugo Lambrechts, Wageningen University & Research: Governing wildfire in global change context: Lessons from Water Management in the Netherlands
Exhibition
Items that have been meaningful to the PyroLife PhD students during their research were on display to spark conversations and discussions.
Claire Smyth is Director of Human Resources with South Eastern Health & Social Care Trust which employs 11,500 staff, providing integrated health and social care services to a population of 440,000. Claire has 27 years’ experience working in Health and Social Care (HSC) and has held specific responsibility for senior leadership development. Claire was co-author of the HSC Collective Leadership Strategy and as Regional Lead, is instrumental in embedding collective leadership ethos across HSC Northern Ireland. She is a trained coach, a member of the Association of Coaching and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development.
Mark Smyth, Area Commander, Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Mark Smyth is a senior officer within NIFRS serving for over 29 years with expertise in ICS and Wildfire response. A trained coach and an advocate of the Collective Leadership ethos within the Wildfire sector. He is the co-chair of the Northern Ireland Strategic Wildfire Group and is instrumental in the development of the Northern Ireland Wildfire Strategy. Mark has been involved in many wildfire projects within the UK and across Europe working alongside NFCC and PCF. Mark has implemented the use of Collective leadership in managing wildfires and the benefits in achieving high engagement and safer communities.
Jordi Oliveres, Crew Manager at GRAF Lleida Unit, Catalan Fire and Rescue Service, Spain
Senior Expert in Fire Management (21 years’ experience in Emergency Management)
Social entrepreneur:
- Co-founder of Pau Costa Foundation (2011).
- Co-founder of Piro_Negawatt (2013).
Affiliations
1.- Catalan Fire and Rescue Service.
- Tactical Analyst
- Direction of Technical Fire
- Prescribed Fire Burn Boss
- Collaborative Innovation
- Wildland Fire and Prescribed Burning Instructor (Public Safety Institute of Catalonia)
2.- SUMMLab (Sustainability Measurement and Modeling Lab) at UPC.
Disciplines
Complex Systems (Statistical Physics, Criticality, Phase Transitions, Modelling), Resilience in SES (Mitigation, Adaptability and Transformability), Fire Ecology (landscape/community/species scales), Fire Science, Climate Change, Global Change, Emergency Management Organizations, Nature-based Solutions.
Conceição Colaco, Centro de Ecologia Aplicada Prof. Baeta Neves, Portugal
Forest engineer with a PhD on Education. Last years research on the social dimension of wildfires (communities, fire prevention, environmental education) and the training and educational need of forest and fire managers.
Time: departure shortly after registration at 8.30 from the conference venue. Return will be at around 5 pm.
Alongside: FIRE-RES, fire-res@ctfc.cat
Organisers:
Catalan Fire and Rescue Service Pau Costa Foundation Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia
Goals:
- To know the role of fire in decision-making by managers within an Integrated Fire Management approach.
- To recognize the impact of fire in the territory, including both forest fire and prescribed burning.
Location:
- First stop: Pont de Vilomara’22 fire
- Second stop: Cal Riera prescribed burning site
Guided by
- Emili Dalmau, Sergeant at Barcelona Group of Forestry Actions (GRAF) Unit, Catalan Fire and Rescue Service.
- Martí Rosell, GRAF Technical Unit, Catalan Fire and Rescue Service.
- Pere Casals, Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia.
- A representation of the ownership will be expected on the second stop.
Activities:
Visit to a mountain range where the Catalan Fire and Rescue Service is implementing its IFM strategies. During the field trip, members of the Catalan Fire and Rescue Service presented these, as well as its goals, and facilitated discussions on the effects of fire on the landscapes and ecosystems.
The participants were also able to engage in discussions with different actors from the area that were involved in landscape management.
A more detailed plan of activities during the field trip was provided to the participants.
Cost: covered with the conference registration fee.
Other information: A packed lunch will be provided. Please come prepared for outdoor conditions: comfortable clothes and sport/mountain shoes. Weather is unpredictable, so water resistant clothes will be useful in case of rain. If the burn takes place, specific gear fire-proof will be recommended.
Field trip
Presentations and discussions
Open University of Catalonia
Can Jaumandreu
C/ del Perú, 52
08018 Barcelona
Lunches on days 2 and 3
L’Actiu
C/ de la Llacuna, 162
08018 Barcelona
Social dinner on day 2
The Rooftop at Sir Victor Hotel
C/ del Rosselló, 265
08008 Barcelona
Closest airport ✈️
Josep Tarradellas Barcelona–El Prat Airport, 20 km away from the venue via B-10
Closest bus stops 🚌
Line 7, stop “Diagonal – Rambla de Poblenou”, walking distance 208 m
Line H12, stop “Gran Via – Llacuna”, walking distance 495 m
Closest subway stations 🚇
Line 1 (red), stop “Glòries”, walking distance 892 m
Line 2 (purple), stop “Clot”, walking distance 978 m
Line 4 (yellow), stop “Poblenou”, walking distance 969 m
Here you have a map of Barcelona subway.
Closest train station 🚆
Line R1, stop “Barcelona-El Clot-Aragó”, walking distance 900 m
These were our hotel recommendations, with a distance from the venue between 1 and 1,5 km. There are plenty of options in Barcelona if you preferred something else.
Top recommendation
Hotel Catalonia Atenas, Av. Meridiana, 151
Other recommendations
Hotel Glòries, C/ de Padilla, 173
Hotel Salles Pere IV, C/ de Pallars, 128, 130
