NFPA Journal - Summer 2024 - 56

Research by Birgitte Messerschmidt
THE GLOBAL
VIEW ON FIRE
RESEARCH
Supply & Demand
ATTRACTING NEW TALENT INTO FIELDS RELATED TO FIRE PROTECTION CAN BE TOUGH.
BUT IT'S ESSENTIAL TO ADDRESS A RAFT OF EMERGING SAFETY CHALLENGES.
T
he need for competent fire
protection/safety engineers,
as well as fire scientists, is
greater than ever. Despite
fire science and fire engineering
degrees being offered at many
universities around the world, there are
not enough candidates graduating to fill
the available jobs.
" The urgency for the need of competent
fire safety engineers is crystal clear, " says
Bart Merci, a professor of fire safety engineering
at Ghent University in Belgium and
one of the people behind the international
master of fire safety engineering (IMFSE)
degree program. " The majority of IMFSE
students have multiple job offers before
graduating. This has been the situation for
many years now, so it is clear the market
is far from being saturated. In fact, I have
the impression that the market is growing
at a much faster pace than the number of
fire safety engineers graduating. "
The supply-and-demand problem has
also been recognized by the Society of Fire
Protection Engineers (SFPE), which has
observed that graduates in these fields often receive multiple
job offers. " At the same time, the employers trying to recruit
fire protection engineers consistently indicate that in today's
marketplace, it is difficult to find qualified candidates, " adds
Chris Jelenewicz, SFPE's CEO.
At the same time, the marketplace is bursting with new chalAs
employers struggle
to fill openings,
the marketplace is
bursting with new
challenges that
demand the expertise
of fire engineers and
fire researchers.
help identify innovative new safety solutions.
Wildfires increasingly threaten the
built environment. The list is long and
becomes more varied and complex every
day, illustrating why the levels of safety
we have traditionally incorporated into
our buildings and infrastructure may not
be sufficient to meet future challenges.
The list also highlights the acute need
for more fire protection/safety engineers,
and why it's essential that we help young
people see these fields as exciting career
paths. At NFPA, we support universities
around the world to help them make the
case to their students for why they should
consider careers in these fields. We need
to show them that they can be involved
early in cutting-edge science, research,
and engineering, helping to create many
of the solutions we need to address safety
challenges now and in the future.
These efforts will continue during the
upcoming NFPA Conference & Expo®
in
Orlando. NFPA Research, along with the
Fire Protection Research Foundation, will
host a poster session for students where
lenges that demand the expertise of fire engineers and fire
researchers. Consider some of the fire safety issues related to
the reduction of carbon emissions, such as the emergence of
mass timber as a low-carbon building material, the increasing
number of buildings that include photovoltaic panels, the
rapidly expanding use of energy storage technology, and the
reuse of building materials. Building designers continue to push
the boundaries of codes and standards, making compliance
a challenge for projects around the world and underscoring
the need for new fire science and engineering research to
56 | NFPA JOURNAL * SUMMER 2024
they can present their work to attendees during the opening
event of the Expo. Students from the United States, China, and
Europe are eager to share their research and project work with
conference attendees. In addition to the poster session, six of the
students will also present their work at the conference through
oral presentations on Tuesday, June 18.
Providing students with opportunities to present their work
and talk to experienced peers in their field is a great way to
attract talent to the field. Please help us make this a success that
we can build on at future conferences by joining us at both the
poster session and at the presentations and talk to the students.
It's one way you can help us grow the next generation of fire
protection/safety engineers.
For more information, visit nfpa.org/conference.
BIRGITTE MESSERSCHMIDT directs the Applied Research Group at NFPA.
MICHAEL HOEWELER
http://www.nfpa.org/conference
NFPA Journal - Summer 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - Summer 2024
