RMIT University is happy to invite you to this Public Lecture, chaired by Professor Calum Drummond, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Innovation and Vice-President at RMIT. This event is cofunded by RMIT
Information and Systems (Engineering) ECP, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the European Horizon 2020 Project GEO-SAFE. It will be followed by a networking opportunity with finger food and refreshments.

RMIT University is partner of the Project GEO-SAFE (Geospatial based Environment for Optimisation Systems Addressing Fire Emergencies). Academics and practitionners from 15 European partners visit us for a total of 200 person-months over the period 2016-2020 with the objective to collaborate with Australian experts and push forward the development of bushfire management tools for fire suppression, lives/goods protection and implementation and training.

About the public lecture:

Fire to prevent and combat wildfire in Europe

Fire has traditionally been a management tool for rural societies and is still a part of European culture in many regions. Fire use also plays an increasing role in forest and other land management practices and policies in Europe. In the form of prescribed burning, it appears to be a potential management technique to attain different objectives such as silvicultural improvement, control of insects and diseases, habitat management and management conservation. Moreover, in the field of fire management, the use of fire has demonstrated that it is an efficient tool for the reduction of hazardous fuels and during fire fighting operations (suppression fire). Also the regulation of traditional burning practices is a key aspect of wildfire social prevention programmes.

However, in most European countries there are still many constraints and negative attitudes towards the use of fire that need to be overcome. In this presentation, I will show current good practices examples of fire use for different purposes in Europe and will discuss the challenges and opportunities of this integrated fire management approach, which is actually rooted in the European culture, to face mega-fires (extreme fire events) in the context of global change.

About the speaker:

Cristina Montiel is a Full Professor of Geography and Chair of the Research Group on Forest Geography, Policy, and Socioeconomics at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), Spain. She has served as Head of the Department of Regional Geographical Analysis and Physical Geography at UCM from July 1st 2010 to November 7th 2017.

Her domains of experience and expertise are the human dimension and social aspects of wild-land fires, Environmental History, Pyrogeography, forest ownership and land tenure, cultural landscapes, land use planning and management, public policies assessment and governance mechanisms.

Prof. Montiel has received numerous national and international awards over the course of her academic career including the National Award for Publications on Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1994) and the Golden Award for Fire Research (2016). She has participated in and coordinated several national and European projects (Interreg IIIB; IP, FIRE PARADOX-7th FP, COST Actions, MedWildFire-ERANET Networking Action). She has also been very active at the science-policy interface, and promoting dialogue, participation and collaboration among public institutions and private stakeholder for rural development and for fire management good practices. She was a Member of Board of Trustees - Advisory board of the Pau Costa Foundation, a GEO-SAFE partner, and other scientific European committees, steering committees and supervisory boards.