From 12^th 26^th October 2025, Jonay Brito and Elijah Igweh, Laboratory Assistant and PhD Student from the FRISSBE department at the Slovenian National Building and Civil Engineering Institute (ZAG), participated in the Science and Technology Training Course on Design and Evaluation Methods of Fire Safety Engineering Materials.

The course was hosted by the State Key Laboratory of Fire Science (SKLFS) at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), and funded by the Bureau of International Cooperation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It brought together 24 participants from across the Belt and Road Initiative countries, including Slovenia, Poland, Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Egypt, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Ghana and Nigeria.

Over the two-week programme, participants attended nine lectures, four laboratory sessions, four technical visits, and a brainstorming workshop. The sessions covered a wide range of topics, from the chemistry and mechanisms of flame retardants to fire testing methods and safety technologies for lithium-ion batteries.

Renowned lecturers such as Prof Manfred Döring, Prof Tim-Patrick Fellinger, Prof Baljinder Kandola, and Prof. Marisa Sponton led the training. The participants also had hands-on experience in standard fire testing methods, including UL94 vertical burning tests and Limiting Oxygen Index (LOI) tests, conducted at SKLFS.

For Jonay Brito and Elijah Igweh, the experience was not only an opportunity to enhance their technical expertise but also to strengthen FRISSBE’s collaboration with USTC, a partner institution with which ZAG has already developed strong research ties.

The training concluded with a ceremony recognising the participants’ achievements and reinforcing the shared commitment to advancing fire safety engineering through international collaboration and knowledge exchange.