˝Dober dan! What brings you to Slovenia ma’am?˝
By then, I was so disoriented and tired from all the traveling and lugging my luggage all over Europe that all I could muster was a polite smile to the taxi driver.
˝What are some of the must-eats here in Slovenia?˝, I said, steering the conversation to light small talk.
˝Burek!˝
And with that first taste of Burek from Olimpija Burek in the Ljubljana city center, I started what has been an amazing and life-changing summer in Slovenia.
When I first started my journey in the IMFSE, I had always been dead set on returning to the Oil and Gas industry because I always saw myself as someone who thrives in the chaos of corporate life. After all, I had already established good connections and a promising foundation as a Piping Material Engineer. It had never occurred to me to try the research field, nor consider taking up a Ph.D. in the future. However, my personal development goal for this year was to try things outside my comfort zone, maximize the master’s programme, and get as much knowledge as I can to be a competent fire safety engineer. Research seemed such a foreign concept but at the same time, I had been curious about it. It approaches fire safety as a mix between theory and application and it seemed like a good training ground to apply our learnings from the first year of the programme.
After contacting Grunde Jomaas and setting up the necessary paperwork, there I was in sunny Slovenia doing my summer internship for FRISSBE (Fire-safe Sustainable Built Environment). FRISSBE is a newly established department in the Slovenian National Building and Civil Engineering Institute (ZAG). The FRISSBE project aims to attract high-quality researchers and establish research excellence in the field of fire-safe sustainable built environments. Funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, the FRISSBE project intends to amplify the capacities of the state-of-the-art fire laboratory in Logatec, Slovenia and address challenges and discover the midpoint of Sustainability and Fire. (https://www.frissbe.eu/)
My main responsibility during the internship was to research and write an analytical paper on Sustainability and Fire. In this regard, I learned how to do Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and familiarized myself with the different life cycle stages of a product, system, or building through enrolling in a summer school for LCA. I also enhanced my LCA knowledge by talking to fire/environment experts such as Frederick Knez, Robert McNamee, and Margaret McNamee. Life Cycle Assessment has its own inherent challenges, but I saw myself being compelled to answer: how does one highlight sustainability without compromising fire safety? The challenging part of any LCA, aside from the data gathering, was defining ˝Sustainability˝. Because it entails that in carrying out an LCA, the limitations, scope, input and output flows, and system boundaries of what you want to assess are defined by the user and his/her capacity to carry out an LCA.
Aside from the research paper, I also conducted interviews for FRISSBE with local fire safety groups. This is indeed important because to establish a center of excellence for fire safety and sustainability in that part of Europe, we needed to understand fire safety culture in the country. I interviewed Mateja Gris, Project Manager from Slovensko združenje za požarno varstvo (SZPV) / Slovenian Fire Protection Association. We had an illuminating discussion about the fire safety landscape and the processes of certifying fire safety professionals and professional firefighters in Slovenia.
Prof. Dr. Tomaž Hozjan from the University of Ljubljana also provided some insights from the education standpoint regarding competence building of fire engineers within their curriculum. My major takeaway from the interviews was that Slovenia has a robust system of volunteering to be a firefighter, as it is tradition for them. The massive number of volunteer firefighters, some employees of ZAG, was especially beneficial during the wildfire between Kras region, Slovenia and Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, Italy last July.
My timing in Slovenia had been opportune too because I arrived during the laboratory set-up in Logatec and the institute was getting ready for the grand opening in September. To be part of the historic opening was a great experience. Prof. Jose Torero, as a keynote speaker, reminded the general audience that competence and resources are at Slovenia’s disposal, and it is up to them to maximize these. As such, Slovenia is well positioned to do meaningful research and create change.
During my internship, I saw myself going around Slovenia to attend two significant gatherings and visit the InnoRenew Center of Excellence. The first gathering was the Fire Takes No Vacation seminar. Organized by SZPV and ZAG, the seminar brought together legislators, engineers, firefighters and fire safety professionals. The discussion highlighted that sustainability solutions are rapidly increasing while fire safety is trying to catch up to the growth. Funding for research and stringent policies to regulate these sustainable solutions are imperative. The other important conference I attended is WoodRise 2022. Held in Portorož, Slovenia, WoodRise 2022 gathered experts from around the world in the field of engineering, architecture, and timber construction. I was there on volunteer duty, but I had the privilege to talk to many experts and attend some of the lectures. I also supported Andrea Lucherini, senior researcher in FRISSBE, as he gave a talk entitled Towards a sustainable built environment based on fire-safe design with timber and wooden products. As a fire safety engineering student, I saw the importance of the event as a good avenue for the fire safety community to start vital discussions on fire safety in timber. Although timber is indeed sustainable, there are still gaps to address in terms of designing a fire-safe system with this material.
Of course, my time in Slovenia was not just all work but also, I had time to play. By play, I got to discover the wonderful Slovenian countryside and pristine beaches, and ate mouthwatering food. With Slovenia’s strategic location, I was able to travel to Florence and Zagreb as well.
My time in FRISSBE was wonderful. This statement is in part due to the experiences but is mainly due to the people in the FRISSBE and ZAG teams. They helped me to assimilate well in the world of research. At the same time, we also connected and hung out outside of the professional setting. Every individual was a stark reminder that personal development means enhancing your technical skills as an engineer while also cultivating your personal interests and hobbies. I am grateful for the lunch recipes!
Although I didn’t get to participate in experiments, it was still a good experience because I got to refresh my knowledge of the equipment and fire experiments. The internship also helped me realize that for starters, the research field has many depths and complexities. And because of those layers, I had to hone my communication, time management, and analytical skills. In doing meaningful research, one has to ask, what new knowledge am I bringing to the table? Are the analysis and data value-adding? How can I effectively bring the message across to all stakeholders?
I will miss the carpools in the morning because they were great informal mentorship sessions. I learned a lot about what makes a good dissertation and defense presentation. I learned the art of humility, when to say I needed help. Research is about being proactive and that every day is a learning process. I learned that with the onset of the EU green deal, fire safety engineers should quickly adapt to regulation changes and innovative sustainable solutions. In terms of trying to look at sustainability from a more well-rounded perspective, we must also look at societal and economical impacts. Environmental impact, in itself, also encompasses material depletion, soil and water pollution, and particulate emissions – factors that are in fact concurrent with fire safety design. Sustainability drivers have centered the focus on global warming potential but we must strongly highlight, first and foremost, fire safety and people safety. Fire engineers should assert their seat in the table of sustainability practices.
I will end this blog by saying thank you to Grunde Jomaas, Andrea Lucherini, and the rest of the FRISSBE Team for this internship opportunity and for guiding me throughout the summer. I’m now up to 50% convinced in considering a Ph.D. after the master’s programme 😉 Hvala, and I hope to work with everyone again real soon!
IMFSE 