The 2024 Annual Forum of Directors of International Fire Research Institutes was held from October 29 to 31 in Hefei, hosted by the State Key Laboratory of Fire Science (SKLFS) at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). Leaders from 16 prominent fire research institutes across 7 countries attended both in person and online.

Professor Yao FU, USTC Vice President, delivered the opening remarks, while Professor Kun QU, Director of International Cooperation, summarized USTC's achievements in global collaborations. The event was chaired by Researcher Naian LIU, Director of SKLFS.

Opening Speech. (Image from USTC)

During the forum, member institutions exchanged research updates. Key figures, including Naian LIU, Chairman of the International Association for Fire Safety Science (IAFSS), Luck Bisby, Editor-in-Chief of Fire Safety Journal, and Eric Guillaume from ISO TC 92, delivered liaison reports. The forum collectively discussed international fire safety development plans and reached several agreements on future collaborations.

Two specialized forums on new energy fire hazards and large-scale forest fires were also held. The New Energy Fire Hazards Forum featured experts such as Qingsong WANG (USTC), Sergey Dorofeev (FM Global, USA), and Eric Guillaume (Efectis, France), who presented on lithium battery fires, photovoltaic fire hazards, and hydrogen safety.The Large-Scale Forest Fire Forum brought together researchers, including Naian LIU (USTC), Xinyan HUANG (Hong Kong Polytechnic University), and Kuibin ZHOU (Nanjing Tech University), to discuss extreme fire behavior, smoldering combustion, fire whirlwinds, and satellite-based fire detection.

The forum enhanced global academic exchange, strengthened high-level collaboration in fire safety science, and contributed to advancing USTC’s international leadership in fire safety research.

Group photo. (Image from USTC)

(Written by SHEN Xinyi, Edited by WU Yuyang, USTC News Center)