Simona Dossi

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A team led by a PyroLife ESR awarded the Atlas Award 2024 for pioneering research on international wildfire policies

Little victories
PyroLife Early Stage Researcher (ESR) Pooja Pandey and an international team of 21 researchers, including PyroLife ESRs Judith Kirschner, Kerryn Little, Carmen Rodríguez, Hugo Lambrechts and Simona Dossi, have been awarded the Atlas Award 2024 dedicated to Climate Action for their impactful research article, “A global outlook on increasing wildfire risk: Current policy situation and future pathways”, published in the journal Trees, Forests and People. This significant recognition highlights the urgency of addressing wildfire risks globally, particularly in the context of climate change. Organised and sponsored by the academic publishing company Elsevier, the Atlas Award honours outstanding research with the […]
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Wildfires damaged over 40 buildings in Greater London

Blog post
How WUI fire risk-reduction applies to dense urban areas Written by Simona Dossi, Shrey Bohra, and Guillermo Rein On July 19th 2022 the London Fire Brigade experienced its busiest day since World War II assisting many incidents, including several wildfires which spread to buildings. In total 41 London properties, including houses and shops, were destroyed by fires.    In July 2022, the UK reached record high temperatures. The heat wave caused a number of wildfires throughout the country: Two major incidents due to fires were declared on July 19th in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, and a third on July 22nd in Surrey due […]
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Get to know Simona Dossi

About us
I am investigating European structure vulnerabilities to wildfires under the amazing supervision of Professor Guillermo Rein. I recently joined Prof. Rein’s research team, Hazelab, in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Imperial College London in the UK. Hazelab is dedicated to innovatively studying heat transfer, condensed-phase chemistry and the thermodynamics of fires, both within buildings and in the wild. Prior to joining Pyrolife, I received a Master of Chemical Engineering from the University of Edinburgh. My bachelor’s thesis consisted of a group incinerator plant design, which introduced me to the complexities and beauty of fire chemistry and interdisciplinary teamwork. My […]
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Understanding flammability

Fire science: in language for all
By Simona Dossi Flammability is the property which describes how easily a material burns. Non-flammable materials never burn regardless of the conditions: sand, for example, doesn’t ignite but melts into glass at very high temperatures. Highly flammable materials, like gasoline, only require a spark to burst into flames. Wood’s flammability lies in between this spectrum. In addition to the material’s inherent chemical ability to ignite, flammability depends on its condition, geometry, and environment. The wood fuelling our chimneys demonstrates this clearly: Condition: Dry wood burns much more easily than damp wood Geometry: 1 kg of small thin twigs burn more […]
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