Marie-Curie Action, part of the European Union’s Horizion 2020 Programme, has recently selected to fund a new, global initiative in wildfire research. The initiative, PyroLife, is supporting 15 PhD students across the globe to pursue cross-disciplinary, wildfire-focused projects. The projects aim to aid in facilitating the advancement of holistic, integrated wildfire management. For its participants, PyroLife focuses on incorporating diverse backgrounds that may promote creativity for innovative wildfire strategies. A key goal of the initiative is to instil intersectional, transferable knowledge and maximise employability for its graduates. PyroLife is a novel facet in the global wildfire network and may bring innovative ideas from a wide range of fields during a critical time in wildland fire research.

PyroLife provides 15 PhD candidates. The project is the first large and integrated doctoral training programme on wildfires globally. WUR will offer four PhD positions on the effects of wildfires and ashes on soil and water quality, designing landscapes adapted to the increasing risk on wildfires, and applying Dutch knowledge in water management (prevention and the widely-known ‘polder model’) to ‘living with fire’.

The PyroLife project brings together knowledge from different countries, scientific disciplines and practices. Southern European leadership in fire expertise will be used to understand and predict wildfires in Northern Europe, whilst Northern European lessons learned in preventing floods will be applied in Southern Europe.

Fire science and management in Europe are currently rather scattered. While the above analysis illustrates how much can be gained from international, cross-risk and transdisciplinary exchange, Europe can also gain a lot from a better connection between its fire experts, like the USA has 15 active Fire Science Exchange Networks. PyroLife connects 21 academic and non-academic parties in Europe and beyond and will serve as a hub for the extended PyroLife+ network