On 5^th and 6^th November, the 8^th Annual InnoRenew CoE International Conference 2026 (IRIC2026) took place in Izola, Slovenia. The conference was organised by InnoRenew CoE and the University of Primorska Andrej Marušič Institute (UP IAM) at InnoRenew’s building, and co-organised by the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation as part of Science Month 2026. ZAG is one of the founding institutions of InnoRenew CoE.

The conference focused on renewable materials and their use in healthy, sustainable buildings, with particular support for PhD students and early career researchers. Sessions covered materials, buildings, health, and creativity and society, and the keynote was given by Gijs Bruggink on the health benefits of timber architecture.

Dr Laetitia Marrot, from the FRISSBE department at ZAG, took part on the second day. She presented “Fire Performance of Scots Pine Wood Modified with a Bio-Based Fire Retardant” in the Materials 3 session, which she also chaired. The presentation falls within FRISSBE’s work on bio-based fire retardant systems to protect wood for interior and exterior use, and on widening the application of bio-based materials in the built environment.

As the use of timber and other renewable materials grows in construction, their fire performance is a key question for safe use. The conference gave Laetitia the opportunity to share this work with researchers from across the renewable materials community, including many early career colleagues.

FRISSBE thanks InnoRenew CoE and the organising committee for the invitation and for a well-organised conference.