IAP Webinar to Explore International Collaboration on Wildland-Urban Interface Fire Risk

The InterAcademy Partnership (IAP) invites to an international webinar on 12 May from 12:00 - 13:00 UTC titled 'International Collaboration for Advancing Modelling and Risk Assessment of Wildland-Urban Interface Fires'. The event will bring together experts working at the intersection of wildfire science, modelling and risk analysis to discuss current approaches and opportunities for strengthening global cooperation.

The webinar builds on an international workshop convened by IAP in collaboration with the Royal Spanish Academy of Sciences and supported by the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. That workshop brought together researchers from multiple countries to review advances in wildfire modelling and examine how these tools can better support understanding and mitigation of risks, particularly in the wildland-urban interface.

Wildland-urban interface fires present growing challenges as climate conditions evolve and human settlements expand into fire-prone areas. The webinar will highlight how modelling approaches and emerging analytical tools can contribute to improved risk assessment, planning and preparedness. It will also emphasise the importance of international collaboration in addressing shared challenges and strengthening the science-policy interface.

Participants will have the opportunity to engage with leading experts and explore how coordinated efforts across countries and disciplines can support more effective responses to wildfire risk in the future. 

Meet the Speakers

Hussam Mahmoud, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Vanderbilt University and Director of the Vanderbilt Center for Sustainability, Energy and Climate, focuses on resilient infrastructure and community recovery following natural hazards. He advises international organisations on infrastructure resilience and sustainable risk management.

Elsa Pastor, Full Professor at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, specialises in safety and risk analysis with a focus on wildland-urban interface fire risk. She has led major European projects on wildfire prevention and preparedness and has published extensively on fire risk assessment and management.

Jason Sharples, Professor of Bushfire Dynamics at the University of New South Wales, is an internationally recognised expert in extreme wildfire behaviour. His research uses mathematical and computational models to better understand wildfire propagation and inform policy and operational response.

Savvas Gkantonas is a researcher and entrepreneur working at the intersection of climate science, wildfire risk assessment and advanced modelling technologies. He is the Co-founder and CEO of Pinepeak, where he focuses on developing innovative tools to improve wildfire prediction, preparedness and resilience. His work brings together science, technology and policy to support more effective responses to climate-related risks.

Webinar Registration

Register to the webinar here

Webinar Recording

available here

Publication

Wildfire Modelling and Artificial Intelligence: here