Hello There !!!
Pursuing a master’s degree, I was in a bit of a dilemma: should I join TAMU for process safety? NTNU for RAMS? or IMFSE for fire engineering?. Even though I was working in operational safety and fire protection in the oil industry, my knowledge about fire science was very rudimentary, due to the fact that the fire engineering subjects in my undergrad degree were basically a cookbook curriculum focused on the job market. I already had mixed feelings when I decided to go ahead with IMFSE, as I felt that I was straying away from an industry that i enjoyed working in.
There was a significant shift at some point. In March 2022, I was notified by IMFSE via email about a modification in the mobility arrangement. It was conveyed that UoE will no longer provide any courses during the third semester and that UPC has become a full-time partner university in the IMFSE consortium. Upon reviewing the curriculum, I was delighted to discover the inclusion of a course specifically focused on risk and safety within the chemical industry, known as RSCI. While one subject alone cannot replace a comprehensive master’s programme in process safety, I am pleased that I will not be abandoning my previous industry. Instead, it will be incorporated as a subject within the IMFSE programme.
“Barcelona is a vibrant and culturally rich city in Spain, renowned for its unique architecture, Mediterranean beaches, and a lively arts and culinary scene.”
This is a typical textbook description of this happening city. You also realise that things are a bit different from the previous cities that you lived in when orientation week activities get kicked off by an anti-pickpocket lecture or demo, so guys, be wary about your surroundings.
Sometimes you may be unlucky, but for me, it has been more than 5 months since I started living in Barcelona, and except for my heart, nothing of value has been stolen from me yet. (although the clumsy me lost three water bottles; ignore that for now.)
I am not planning to write another IMFSE Practical Guide, but to share some experiences that I thought might be useful for you all. Since we were the first bunch to start semester 3 at UPC and there were no seniors to use as crutches, I believe this would be a good place to share the experience and address your questions.
Sooooo, why did I choose UPC?
It was not just RSCI but the other core subjects that UPC offered. These were pretty hot topics, which instilled interest in a budding fire engineer, but you are struck with the realisation that there are a handful of institutions that will teach these courses, and we all grabbed the opportunity to jump on the bandwagon ‘to hear something straight from the horse’s mouth’.
In the first week, we were introduced to the subjects and why UPC being part of IMFSE is a game changer. It’s been more than 10 years since the inception of IMFSE, and for the first time, we have dedicated courses in wildfires!!
It’s not surprising that this is the need of the hour, as you tend to notice how frequent the outbreak of wildfires is. A combination of climate change, changes in rainfall and wind patterns, extended periods of drought, the ever-growing WUI, disruptions in the natural fire cycle, and improper forest management have paved the way to the current crisis. As a fire engineer, it’s an amazing opportunity to learn about and understand this problem and apply engineering practices to mitigate it.
In addition to the core subjects related to wildland fire i.e Wildland fire behavior and modeling, Risk and vulnerability at WUI. You have the option to pick an elective out of these three (1-3) and the other courses are (4-5)
- Data analysis and pattern recognition
- Computer vision
- Technology innovation
- Risk and safety in the chemical industry.
- Advanced fire safety engineering
UPC has some moderate contact hours; you will spend an average of 20 hours a week on campus (still less than Ghent). The semester has a midterm exam around the end of October. Initially, we felt that this was going to be trouble, but I guess this favoured us all because we are able to know where we stand in following the course, and the final grades are dependent on the midterms, final exam, and coursework (assignments and projects). So if we play our cards right, we will have a certain degree of relief while appearing for the final exam. Most of the midterm exams here are MCQs, except for the electives (some electives don’t have an exam), whereas the final exams were a mix of MCQs as well as a written part.
Classes are quite fun in UPC; as far as IMFSE is concerned, I thoroughly enjoyed the FSFD lectures in Edinburgh, and this place also had the same vibe. Classes from Professor Elsa are particularly engaging and interactive; I would say classes are bit gamified where we have mini puzzle/card games that she brings to the class, and some of these games are integral to our assignments related to risk and vulnerability at the WUI. I am going to pause here and not spoil too much about it. The risk and safety in the chemical industry have some tasks where we work together with the local students, which promotes integration and improves your team-building skills. UPC has a wonderful team with Dr. Eulalia, Dr. Elsa, Dr. Alba, Dr. Ronan, Dr. Pascale, and Dr. Simona. Pascale is an IMFSE alumni and a former IMFSE blogger. They have expertise in Wildland fire behaviour and modelling , Risk and vulnerability in the WUI, Risk Analysis, consequence modelling , Fire brand transportation and modelling , GIS , Smoke control and many more (just briefly mentioning the parts that are relevant to us)
Field visits: L – WUI in Barcelona , R – River park community (Pont de Vilomara)
All the classes are complimented by field visits, where we had a total of 3 field parts of the curriculum during the semester. The first visit was to the WUIs in Barcelona to understand the intricacies of this subject. Then we had a visit to one of the communities ravaged by a recent wildland fire (Pont de Vilomara) and a visit to Applus laboratories (picture it as DBI here in Barcelona—it’s a fire testing and research laboratory). We also had a tour of the campus firefighting facilities and the hydrogen lab at UPC.
We also had a fun leisure trip to Costa Brava near the end of the semester, which was a fun day trip complete with a scrumptious lunch.
Trip to Costa Brava
My elective here was Data Analysis and Pattern Recognition (DAPR), which was a thoroughly enjoyable course because we got exposed to the trending subject of AI/ML, and by the end of the course, we were able to build and train our own neural network and become familiar with multiple ML algorithms. I am a bit biassed in saying this, but this is a very good elective, and I recommend everyone pick it because you learn some skills that are invaluable to an engineer who is going to save your skin somewhere in the future.
More reasons to choose it may be found in my previous post:
Computer vision is also recommended if you are already familiar with DAPR, but definitely read about the course contents before picking it. I had taken the opinion of many professors before choosing the elective and essentially weighted the pros and cons.
Should I go to UPC?
While I was writing this blog, I received a bunch of questions about UPC. A popular question was, “Should I go to UPC if I am not interested in Wildfires ? “ In the beginning of the post, I stated my motivation to choose UPC. In the end, it all boils down to individual preference. For me, I saw this as an opportunity to learn about something that I was equally interested in yet clueless about. So laying everything out objectively, I would say if you are interested in wildland fires and their interaction at the urban interface, just pack your stuff and head to Barcelona and don’t look back.
But you wouldn’t miss out on a lot when you compare it with Ghent. This may or may not be a pro because here at UPC we have the subject of Advanced Safety and Fire Engineering. But Ghent has three dedicated courses on the same subject, whereas here at UPC its toned down to one course. We would be touching on key aspects of fire safety engineering when compared to Ghent, but we may lack the depth of coverage. The course still has a PBD project that carries a significant weight to the total marks. Traditionally, this has been the case in the third semester; before UPC, it was UoE, where the course work was predominantly focused on structural fire engineering (FEA, etc.) and fire science. So I believe a lot of thought must be put into making a choice about choosing a college for the third semester. My goal was to diversify my programme and knowledge so that I could fit into a system if the need arose, plus wildland fires is definitely a pressing issue in our field and hearing it from the pioneers in the field is a bonus (I mean, this is generally case in any partner university of IMFSE)
The RSCI course offers a thorough and extensive exploration of consequence modelling and analysis. It would greatly enhance your understanding of risk, particularly in conjunction with the risk course you will be taking in Lund during semester 3.
Furthermore, you will never be deprived of any opportunities or experiences in the IMFSE programme. As an example, I have close acquaintances in both the IMFSE programme and the MFSE programme. During my Christmas break, we used to discuss what we all learned by sharing references and key concepts and the understanding that we gained in our respective semesters. If this is a concern, I guess your friends have your back!!
The only worthwhile minute of the abomination called: The Rise of Skywalker
See you all at Lund during the IMFSE day!!!
Regards,
Obi-Wan-Kenobi
IMFSE 
Nice Blog Anis! It will be really helpful for first years to pick there next destination. 🙂
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