Objective
Fire has shaped ecosystems, landscapes, and human societies for millennia. Recent shifts in climate, vegetation, and land use have altered underlying fire regimes, which refer to the repeated patterns of fire frequency, size, and intensity at a given location. Nowhere is this more evident than in the European Union, where recent extreme wildfires have caused loss of life, threatened public health, and damaged economies. To respond effectively to such risks, first we must understand where and how fires should burn, and the extent to which human activities alter them. Yet knowledge on this remains fragmented, reflecting long-standing tension between ecological science, Earth System science, and human geography about the fundamental drivers of fire regimes.
This project will address these challenges by developing a simple but powerful modelling framework consisting of three global models of burnt area, fire size, and fire intensity which will be driven solely by climate, vegetation, soil, and topographic conditions. By deliberately excluding human influences, these models will act as counterfactual “world-without-humans” baselines, enabling us to ask: how would fire behave naturally, and how much do people alter it? Unlike existing models that rely heavily on short-term satellite records, this project will validate its approach using palaeo-fire charcoal data, providing rare out-of-sample tests of climate–vegetation–fire relationships.
Once validated, the models will be applied to Europe to map and quantify where and how human activity, such as land use, grazing, or deliberate fire use, amplifies or suppresses fire. They will be run under future climate and vegetation scenarios to identify regions at greatest risk of change. Working with the Pau Costa Foundation and other stakeholders, the project will co-develop adaptive, ecologically sound and future-proof fire management strategies, incorporating both global climate–vegetation drivers and local practices.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences health sciences public health
- engineering and technology mechanical engineering vehicle engineering aerospace engineering satellite technology
- natural sciences biological sciences ecology
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
13572 Marseille
France
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.