FAcing FIRE KICK OF MEETING
FACING FIRE (Service-Learning to improve training and employability in wildfire management in Southern Europe)
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AGENDA
13:00-13:15 h GMT Official welcome Antonio López, Rector, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain Tomás Fernández-Couto, Director of Wildfires, Xunta de Galicia, Spain Agustín Merino, Coordinator of the Facing FIRE project 13:15-13:30 h GMT 1. Working together: Networks on Wildfire Networks have an important role to enhance the collaborations, which are vital to implement training and educational projects Daniel Moya, FUEGORED network Artemi Cerdà, Jesús Rodrigo Comino, FIRElinks COST Action
13:30-13:45 h GMT 2. Fire and Disaster Risk Management Julia Touza, University of York
13:45-14:00 h GMT 3. Innovative strategies in Training and Education: Service-Learning
14:00-14:10 h GMT 4. FacingFIRE Project presentation FacingFIRE: Project aims, objectives and expected results (A. Merino, USC)
14:10-14:40 h GMT 5. Wildfire, education and training in Southern Europe (Project partners) Is training on wildfire (universities, practitioners, communities) properly addressed in your country? Are social awareness campaigns properly designed? (3 min/country; 3 slides) Chair: Nuria Prat (Pau Costa Foundation) • Greece: DEMETER (Gavriil Xanthopoulos) and UoA (Niki Evelpidou) • EdicItaly: Regione Toscana (Giacomo Pacini) and UNIFI (Giovanni Mastrolonardo) • Portugal: FORESTIS (Rosario Alves), UAVEIRO (Jacob Keizer) • Spain: Xunta Galicia (Javier Ruiz), IES Lucus A. (Juan C. Rodríguez), USC (Pablo Souza)
14:40-15:50 h GMT
6. Wildfire, education and training. Global Overview (Associates) Brief picture of wildfire in your country. Is training on wildfire (universities, practitioners, communities) properly addressed in your country? Are social awareness campaigns properly designed? (3 min/country; 3 slides) Chair: Cristina Santín (CSIC, Spain) • Australia: Miriam Muñoz-Rojas, University of New South Wales (UNSW) • Brazil: Edivaldo Lopes Thomaz, Universidade Estadual Centro-Oeste – UNICENTRO • Chile: Gustavo Saiz, Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción • Centroamerica: Adolfo Santos, Instituto de Investigación Agropecuaria de Panamá (INIAP) • Congo, Republic: Lydie-Stella Koutika, Centre de Recherche sur la Durabilité et la Productivité des Plantations Industrielles • Lithuania: Paulo Pereira, Mykolas Romeris University • Mexico: Felipe García-Oliva, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) • Russia: Elena Kukavskaya, V.N. Sukachev Institute of Forest • South Africa: Tercia Strydom, SANParks • Paraguay: José J. Villalba, Universidad Nacional de Caaguazú • United Kingdom: Stefan Doerr, Swansea University • USA: Sarah Lewis-Scholes, U.S. Department of Agriculture
15:50-16:00 h GMT
7. Conclusion
Context
Forest fires are a complex problem in Europe, especially in Southern countries. Fire can
seriously impact the environment, rural development and economy. Forest degradation
is considered a key to the spreading of human diseases, as COVID-19. Although
wildfire research and substantial technical advances have been made in recent years, we
have not been able to provide quality training in Forest Fire Management (FFM). This
requires inputs from related disciplines and stakeholders, continuous updating and
hands-on experience.
Introducing innovative approaches in the FFM training will contribute to overcoming
the shortage of skilled workers and will boost employment in fire-prone regions with
high unemployment rates.
Objectives
The overall aim of FacingFIRE is to encourage social engagement among students to
improve the capacities in FFM training and gender-balanced employability. FacingFIRE
introduces the Service-Learning (S-L) approach to develop training projects in areas
impacted by wildfires. The scope of which will be further enhanced by the use of
innovative online learning tools and international collaboration. Employability skills,
with special emphasis on women, will be boosted by hands-on practices and direct
contact with employers. To transfer the project benefits to society, multiple interactions
between educators, researchers, forest companies/ NGOs and decision-makers are
planned. The project will promote employment among recent graduates. Emphasizing
the role of women in forest management will also be an important statement in the
project. All this will be done in the context of the current health crisis (COVID).
Number and profile of participants
The consortium comprises 9 partners from the most fire-prone regions in Europe: Spain,
Portugal, Italy and Greece. The 5 academic partners (4 HEIs and 1 VET center) have
recognized expertise in FFM and teaching innovation. The 4 professional partners (1
Forest Association, 1 Research center and 2 Decision-makers) and associates will play a
key role in identifying the main training needs and enhancing the impact of the
outcomes. The coordinator (USC) has vast experience in managing S-L projects and
other environmentally related educational projects.
Description of activities
In order to reinforce FFM training capacities, the project will provide training activities
for staff (academic and practitioners) and students. The training will include a) S-L
management, b) innovative online learning (ePortfolio) and audio-visuals tools (SPOCs)
and c) joint events between academia and stakeholders to exchange good training
practices.
To enhance this strategy, two types of blended mobility are planned for students.
Practical experience and employment skills will be provided via international S-L
projects combined with solid online and personalised training.
Certain outputs will have strong multiplier effects on academic and professional sectors:
a) use of S-L to address specific problems and reinforce employability skills,
b)
publication of the first guide to implementing S-L in fire-prone areas and
c) launch of the first FFM training network to reinforce training capacities.
Specific actions are designed to buffer the indirect consequences of COVID-19 on
forest fires and employment.
Methods
The project will be divided into three phases:
1. Staff training and production of materials for interactive activities with learners using
innovative virtual tools.
2. Development of pilot S-L projects, in which trainees will participate in international
hands-on practices and use the online learning tools.
3. Dissemination/multiplier events aiming to a) exchange good practices in S-L
management, b) promote flexible and blended training involving both educators and
stakeholders and c) launch of the first network in FFM training network.
Results and envisaged impacts
At the individual level, the envisaged impacts include access to innovative training
strategies, improvement of language and digital skills and increased employability. At
the organizational level, the associations/policymakers/research centers will benefit
from access to state-of-the-art methods and a greater supply of skilled workers. The HEI
and VET structures (teaching innovation, employment, gender equality) will be also
reinforced by new procedures and skilled workers. The outcomes will benefit decision-
makers and practitioners facing one of the most serious cross-border environmental and
social challenges in Europe.
Sustainability
The network on FFM training network will open multiple possibilities for future
cooperation. The outcomes will be maintained after the project as a result of the
institution`s structures and procedures reinforcement (e.g., S-L recognition, gender
equality). FacingFIRE is based on different EU policies (“Green Employment
Initiative”, “EU strategy on Biodiversity “EU Youth Strategy”) and on the “Strategic
framework for European cooperation in Education and Training.