Project

General objective

The main objective of the FRISSBE project is to establish an ERA Chair for fire-safe sustainable built environments at the Slovenian National Building and Civil Engineering Institute, ZAG, where cutting-edge research infrastructure for fire testing is being established. Combining of the new research infrastructure and the ERA Chair will create the appropriate conditions for high-quality outstanding researchers and research managers to move and engage with the beneficiary, aiming to achieve excellence in the scientific field of fire-safe sustainable built environments and modify their research and innovation landscape. An outstanding researcher, the ERA Chair holder, will have a decisive and positive impact on the culture and performance of ZAG as a whole.

The FRISSBE project will implement new practices at ZAG by attracting and maintaining high-quality personnel under the direction of the ERA Chair holder. The project will lead to lasting, sustainable structural changes to achieve excellence at ZAG and spread excellence in the region. Changes will be tested in a new autonomous unit, the FRISSBE ERA Chair, and will be transferable to ZAG as a whole.

The concept will be tested on a few levels: testing the research enhancement process, building capacity in applying for competitive funds, and building sustainable relationships with the industry. FRISSBE will have regional impacts in terms of research, education, and engineering. Added-value of the project is amplifying the capacities of the Fire laboratory co-financed with ERDF funds, ensuring conditions to foster excellent research.

Specific objectives

Obj. 1. To kick off the ERA Chair and attract an outstanding researcher that is internationally recognised in the field, has an excellent teaching and mentorship track record, outstanding performance in competitive funding applications, and demonstrated management skills in the field of fire research for the ERA Chair position.

Obj. 2. To enhance existing support offices at ZAG by a long-term engagement of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), Technology transfer (TT), Human Resources Management (HRM), and Legal Experts to fully support a bilingual working environment and establish a stimulating research environment.

Obj. 3. To adequately populate the ERA Chair holder's research team (3 senior researchers, 3 PhD and 6 postdoctoral students).

Obj. 4. To define and execute the capacity building programme: improved scientific excellence with submission of scientific articles, an increased success rate of project proposals submitted by ZAG as a coordinator, gained funds allocated to the ERA Chair that originate from other sources than the FRISSBE project.

Obj. 5. To ensure that ERA Chair and the ERA Chair holder will be able to host and supervise PhD students from a number of universities in the region and wider.

Obj. 6. To ensure the high international commitment of the ERA Chair with different universities where the ERA Chair holder or ERA Chair co-workers will hold invited lectures on specific fire-related topics in frames of graduate and postgraduate study of fire engineering

Obj. 7. To strengthen the role of ZAG as an excellent research centre in the local and regional environment with the involvement of national and international industrial partners in submitting research project proposals and in organising international conferences and workshops.

Obj. 8. To sustain and maintain ERA Chair good practices and establish lasting cooperation between the ERA Chair and stakeholders as well as the ERA Chair and peers.

Obj. 9. To exploit and disseminate the FRISSBE project's results.

Obj. 10. To ensure efficient administrative, financial, and contractual management of the ERA Chair Widespread Project and to manage resources, strengthen the research management and administration skills of the institution, track project's progress, and assess and mitigate risks.

Obj. 11. To fulfil ethics and gender equality goals within the project with respect to relevant fields, e.g., humans, protection of personal data and the environment, in all activities, by developing a gender equality plan for the ERA Chair unit and ZAG as a whole.

Workplan

The FRISSBE work plan consists of 7 work packages. The work flows through these packages in an orderly and measurable way designed to reduce risk and increase efficiency.

WP 1 (Appointment of the ERA Chair team and support staff) is the fundamental WP and comprises all necessary activities to establish the ERA Chair, including the selection of the ERA Chair holder, their team and support staff. In this WP, particular care shall be given to establishing a bilingual environment at the beginning of the project for seamless communication between the ERA Chair staff (including the ERA Chair holder), the rest of ZAG, and the FRISSBE interactive ecosystem. WP 1 addresses project objective Obj 1.

WP 2 (Capacity building) and WP 3 (Plan development and testing the concept) reach inwards towards the core ZAG from the FRISSBE ERA Chair. The principle employed is PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act). WP 2 is the core WP – it is dedicated to capacity building (Plan-Do), particularly implementing the excellence component of the structural change. WP 3 complements WP 2 by testing and adjusting the activities (Check-Act) in WP 2 in the operational research, administrative, and grant writing environment. In WP 3 the concept will be tested, and the effectiveness of ERA Chair internal measures will be measured. This implementation supports an iterative approach that will ensure an optimal solution is found. WP 2 addresses project objectives Obj 2 and Obj 3 and WP 3 addresses Obj 4, Obj 5.

WP 4 (Sustaining ERA Chair) extends beyond the timeframe of the project. It is dedicated to sustaining the FRISSBE ERA Chair long after the project will end. In that respect it is essential for the long term strategy of ZAG. The impact of WP 4 is focused on supporting and sustaining change at ZAG beyond the project lifetime. WP 4 also creates a loop back to WP 2 and WP 3, but only beyond the project timeframe. WP 4 addresses project objective Obj 6, Obj 7 and Obj 8.

WP 5 (Dissemination and maximizing of impact) reaches out to different stakeholders through the deployment of the research and related processes in practice and through the dissemination of the project results. WP 5 will have an impact beyond the beneficiary, for example, an impact on the research process in similar institutions and industries as well as knowledge transfer to industry and better cooperation with different stakeholders. WP 5 addresses project objective Obj 9.

WP 6 (Management) deals with the management of the FRISSBE project, including all necessary coordination activities of the ERA Chair, the rest of ZAG, and the EC. WP 6 addresses project objective Obj 10.

WP 7 (Ethics requirements) deals with ethics requirements addressing human subjects, protection of personal data, and the environment. WP 7 addresses project objective Obj 11.