Project description
Research excellence in fire safety and management
No longer a rare occurrence, extreme fires during summer months are not only frequent but also more intense and longer lasting. In Europe, most fires occur in southern countries characterised by a Mediterranean climate. What’s more, the combination of droughts and heatwaves has made prevention and firefighting difficult. This makes research concerning fire safety and management essential for the Southern and Eastern (SE) Mediterranean region. The EU-funded SEMEDFIRE project will increase the capacities of the European University – Cyprus (EUC) in R&I and research-management-administration in fire science. The project will promote networking activities with top-class counterparts at the EU level and will generate knowledge and capacities for the SE Mediterranean including the Middle East.
Objective
In full alignment with the WIDERA-Twinning-topic’s requirements, SEMEDFIRE aims to enhance the capacities and knowledge-acquisition of the Widening institution; EUC, in Research-&-Innovation (R&I) and Research-Management-Administration (RMA) relating to Fire Safety and Fire Management. This is aimed through networking activities with five top-class leading counterparts at EU level; IMPERIAL COLLEGE, WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY, PAU COSTA FOUNDATION, FRENCH GENERAL DIRECTORATE OF CIVIL SECURITY AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT and NIMES-Metropole, which represent a multifaceted, but complementary and synergistic, ‘geography’ of R&I-philosophies and approaches, comprising: •two leading Academic institutes in the area of fire safety and integrated fire management; •a leading Foundation in investigating fires and communities-engagement; •a Governmental Agency leading the EU-effort in operationally combating Forest Fires; •an Agglomeration of Municipalities providing the tangible example of local governance in Forest Fires; •a representation of both Member States and an Associated Country; •a linking of the European Research Area (ERA) in a “compass” fashion: from north (UK) to central Europe (FR, NL), to the west (ES), and to the Mediterranean biogeographical region (ES, FR, CY) and its South-Eastern area (CY). The networking-for-excellence and twinning-contributions of the internationally-leading Advanced Partners in knowledge-transfer and capacity-building, focus on both EUC and within and for its surrounding targeted stakeholders from public governance, industry/ entrepreneurship and civic society, at local and regional levels. It is hence scoped to raise the profile and reputation of EUC to such a level of ERA-excellence that it will be able to become a lighthouse of spreading fire-science excellence in Cyprus and the SE Mediterranean, as well as to nurture a culture of societal fire-safety.
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-CSA - HORIZON Coordination and Support ActionsCoordinator
22006 Nicosia
Cyprus