Women in Fire Safety

On 8th of March we celebrate International Women’s Day and isn’t it the best time to commemorate all the incredible women who are passionate about being Fire Safety Engineers?

Nine of the women who are currently pursuing IMFSE degree shared their experience about being females in Fire Safety Engineering field and gave their tips to encourage other women to follow their example.

Respect others but find it in yourself to respect yourself too for there is strength in you to navigate the challenging world of fire safety engineering. #wegirlsareonfire
Farah Bte Mohd Faudzi

Diversity is a value which must be embraced to achieve goals and ambitions, be a woman should never be a curb but an incentive to do more, as a spur to further efforts. It is an added value.
Open up to cultural, gender and background diversity is a fully achieved objective in IMFSE, which makes us different tiles of a single puzzle.

Ines Cilenti

During my studies of the IMFSE, I am a student, a scientist, a researcher, a colleague, a leader, a friend and I am valued as all that – not once I felt judged based on my gender. I believe here it matters what you have to say and what you do makes you who you are

Laura Schmidt

Among us, the 2017-2019 IMFSE female students, there are Architects, Mechanical Engineers, Radiophysicists, Civil Engineers. Being Fire Safety Engineers is our next achievement, and with it we will continue contributing to our societies, showing to other women that there is nothing we can’t do.

Silvia Milena Parra Diettes

Women in Fire Safety Engineering and in engineering, in general, are underrepresented. However, engineering is the future and women need to be part of this future. IMFSE has so much to offer to women who want to join the program. Of course, studies are hard. But in IMFSE, you get to know your classmates and professors. There are incredible help and compassion from them so that you could become a successful individual in the industry.

Adina Arymbayeva

Turn all the negativity around you as the fuel to fire up your dreams!! You will keep discovering the stronger and better version of you!

Ewana Yousuf

As Mea Jemison once said: “Dont let anyone rob your imagination, your creativity and your curiosity”. That’s what I am right now fulfilling with IMFSE. Being part of a great engineering program as a female I do believe that curiosity, our own strength and dedication can make a great impact in the future. I would like to encourage all young women to not shrink themselves but to get the courage to follow their dream on having a great career in engineering. We can all do it together!

Kristjana Doka

In my opinion, one of the best things of the program is that you are not treated regarding to your gender. I can not say I gained anything in particular just because I am a female. We all treated equally here.

Tanja Černoša

Don’t ever think that you are a girl who is going to be an engineer, here is where detachment begins. Think about you as a human, dream as a human, don’t matter which sex you are, be your best one.

Maryam Asadi

So, to all women, follow your dreams! Be brave! Be fire!

Even sometimes it seems hard to achieve, but all the dreams may come true if you transfer your dreams to your plans.

Happy International Women’s Day!

Social Influence

Edinburgh is a city filled with year-round festivals and celebrations that attract many people from all around the UK and the World. The biggest yet is Hogmanay – the Scottish way of celebrating the New Year. It is a three-day celebration that starts on 30th of December with Torchlight Procession and ends on 1st of January with The Loony Dook. Although I had not heard of Hogmanay before coming to Edinburgh, I am very glad that I was part of this Torchlight Procession during my stay in this beautiful city.

When Dan, Joni, and I first got our torches at the entrance, Dan and I immediately started guessing how much Heat Release Rate the torch would have and how fast would it burn. But then, after seeing thousands of people jammed on South Bridge, we started reluctantly thinking about people’s behaviour with a meter long lighted torches. According to BBC news, this year there were 20 000 participants and 20 000 spectators in the procession (1). Luckily, we witnessed no fire-related accidents during the procession.

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This semester in Lund, we are taking Human Behaviour in Fire class, where we learned about different theories related to human behaviour during a fire. One of the theories made me think about this procession. Although there was no emergency during the event, people’s behaviour, I think, is still relatable to the theory of Social Influence. According to the theory suggested by M. Deutsch and H.B. Gerard, normative social behaviour is characterized as people not wanting to stand out and making fool of themselves, hence behaving in accordance with what is expected from them (2). During the procession, torchbearers were walking cautiously and at the same pace. Nobody wanted to walk faster, bypass each other, or cause discomfort to others. Although there were some that stopped during the walk to get that “Picture perfect” photo of themselves walking with a torchlight, by which they caused disturbance to others. I must confess, I also wanted to stop and get a good photo of mine taken during the procession. However, following a classical case of normative social influence, I wanted to avoid glares and judgment of people, so I chose not to do so (although I have some good photos before and after).

Overall, being part of this procession was a memorable experience. Many thanks to Dan and Joni for quality time.

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References

1. Brown, Angie. Edinburgh torchlight procession creates giant Scotland map. BBC News. [Online] BBC, December 31, 2018. [Cited: February 27, 2019.] https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-46721188.
2. Nilsson, Daniel. Exit choice in fire emergencies – Influencing choice of exit with flashing lights. Lund : Lund University , 2009.