On Wednesday and Thursday, 9 and 10 April, the European Conference and Exhibition on Fire Safety Engineering took place in Edinburgh (UK). Organised by the umbrella organisation SFPE (Society of Fire Protection Engineers) and its European chapter SFPE Europe, the event gathered around 300 participants - fire safety professionals, speakers and researchers. Some side activities occurred the day before, but the main programme focused on Wednesday and Thursday.

Three Fire and Sustainable Built Environment Department members of the Building Research Institute of Slovenia also attended the event. The head of the department, Prof. Dr Grunde Jomaas, was joined by two researchers, Dr Ulises Rojas Alva and Nik Rus, who also had the opportunity to present their research work:

- Dr Ulises Rojas Alva presented "A Comprehensive Evaluation of Fire Incident Scenarios in Secondary Schools in England to Develop a Framework for the Environmental Analysis of Fire Safety Solutions in the Built Environment".

- Nik Rus presented the results of his research in a presentation entitled "Improving Fire Safety on Roofs through PV System Experiments", which he is carrying out as part of his PhD thesis. His presented work was partly funded by two research grants from the SFPE Foundation (SFPE Student Grand and SFPE Travel Grant).

After the presentations, lively discussions developed, and the presenters received much constructive feedback from the participants.

SFPE events traditionally bring together experts from different sectors - consultancies, fire safety equipment manufacturers, insurance companies and research institutions- allowing for rich and in-depth discussions.

Among the awards presented and highlighted were:

• Last year's award for promising personalities in the field of fire safety (under 35) went to Dr Andrea Lucherini, a researcher at ZAG (Building Research Institute of Slovenia).
• SFPE European Fire Safety Engineering Award: Awarded to Prof. Dr Wojciech Węgrzyński for his contribution to raising the profile of the field over the last five years, including research, community involvement and popularisation of science through his Fire Science Show podcast.
• SFPE Lifetime Achievement Award: Awarded to Prof. Dr Dougal Drysdale, author of the seminal work "An Introduction to Fire Dynamics", one of the key works in the literature for understanding fire dynamics. Despite health problems, he honoured the participants with his presence.

The event reaffirmed that SFPE events offer an excellent platform for sharing the latest developments and knowledge and networking among fire safety professionals.

See you at the next SFPE Europe in Switzerland!