Grand Challenges Initiative Community Blog

Latest News & Updates

Click on an entry's title to read the entire update with formatting.

Timeline of GCI Activities

Year Four 2025 - 2026

• SFPE Foundation announce the 2026 Emerging Energy Technologies Summit to be held at the National Research Council Canada in Ontario, December 3-5, 2026, co-hosted with NRCC.
• SFPE Foundation announces the 2026 WUI Fire Engineering Summit to be held at University of Maryland, College Park, August 10-12, 2026, co-hosted with UMD Fire Protection Engineering and UL Research Institutes.
• SFPE Foundation publishes Fire Testing of Resilient and Sustainable Building Materials, the result of a grant project focused on GCI research priorities.

Year Three 2024 - 2025

• SFPE Foundation funds research into fire and explosion hazards for Energy Storage Systems.
  
• SFPE Foundation partners with NFPA's Fire Protection Research Foundation, Berkeley Engineering, and PEER to host the first AI in Fire Engineering Summit to be held May 2025 in Berkeley, CA.
• GCI Partner The Hong Kong Polytechnic University to host the 4th International Symposium on Lithium Battery Fire Safety (ISLBFS 2025) October 30th to November 2nd, 2025.
• SFPE Foundation publishes Environmental and Health Impacts of Thermal Runaway Events in Outdoor Lithium-Ion Battery Energy Storage System Installations, the result of a grant project focused on GCI research priorities.

Year Two 2023 - 2024

• SFPE Foundation funds three research projects aligning with GCI research priorities:
  • Environmental and Health Impacts of Thermal Runaway Events in Outdoor Lithium-Ion Battery Energy Storage System Installations
  • Fire Testing of Resilient and Sustainable Building Materials
  • The Interface Between Digital Buildings and Fire Service Operations
• The Fire Protection Research Foundation (USA) requests proposals for The Review of Smart Features of Buildings & Systems Impacting Fire, Electrical & Life Safety.
• Stellenbosch University (South Africa) launches new hybrid online MEng in Fire Safety Engineering.
• SFPE hosts Engineering Solutions Symposium on Li-Ion battery safety.
  

Year One 2022 - 2023

• GCI convened and SFPE community selected four most pressing issues where fire engineers and scientists can have the greatest impact: (1) Climate Change, (2) Energy & Infrastructure, (3) Resilience & Sustainability, (4) and Digitalization, Artificial Intelligence, & Cybersecurity.
• GCI formed Working Groups for each topic. WGs developed white papers, including a 10-year strategic timeline of proposed research, education, and outreach goals.
• SFPE Foundation published the white papers in July 2023.