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What does the next generation of fire-vegetation models look like?
On the 16th of September the Leverhulme Centre for Wildfires, Environment and Society hosted a number of international visitors at Dartington Hall in Devon, for a brainstorming session on global fire modelling. The brainstorming session brought together a number of scientists with expertise ranging from machine learning and remote sensing to plant response to drought. […]
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Stakeholders’ Perspectives on Wildfire Management in Monreale, Sicily
Wildfires in the Mediterranean region have emerged as a pressing issue, exacerbated by climate change and evolving land use practices. Traditionally, fire management strategies have leaned heavily on suppression methods. However, this reactive approach is increasingly seen as unsustainable, often leading to catastrophic wildfires that threaten both lives and the environment. To address these challenges […]
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The global drivers of wildfire: connecting empirical evidence to modelling practices
The Leverhulme Wildfires Fire-Veg Giraffe Team has published a new paper “The Global Drivers of Wildfire” in Frontiers in Environmental Science. This paper compares how the processes embedded in the current global empirical fire models relate to findings of recent empirical analysis on the controls of burnt area globally and what the implications are for […]
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Giraffe Team Bulletin – latest from the new Leverhulme Wildfires research teams. No.1
Welcome to the first Giraffe Team Bulletin! For those new to our “Giraffe Teams”, you can find out more about each one of them, including their overall aims and objectives, here. Our giraffe teams are bit like ‘tiger teams’ (a term used in business) with specialists working together to tackle specific problems, but we are […]
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“The Encouragement I didn’t know I needed” – Reflections from Visiting Researcher, Candice Charlton
Seven months after I first encountered Professor Prentice’s Earth Systems poster at the World Climate Research Programme Open Conference in Rwanda, I was at the Leverhulme Centre for Wildfires, Environment, and Society at Imperial College London in May 2024. On my first day, I met Dr Adriana Ford, who was instrumental in hosting and organizing […]
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Making human fire use data more accessible: The Global Fire Use Survey app
In 2022 and 2023, researchers in the Leverhulme Centre for Wildfires, Environment and Society distributed the Global Fire Use Survey to academics and fire practitioners, gathering one of the first global datasets about human fire use and its governance. The survey collected over 300 responses. To make the data more accessible to fire managers, policymakers […]
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Using participatory video to explore our time in the Leverhulme Centre for Wildfires, Environment and Society
In participatory video research, researchers facilitate a process whereby research participants iteratively plan, shoot, edit and screen videos exploring issues that are important to them. Participatory video can foster dialogue and shared action within communities and open communication between communities and external actors. Yet, as with all participatory research, it must be conducted with mindfulness […]
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MasterScience: “The Battle Against Megafires” with Prof. Apostolos Voulgarakis | AXA Research Fund
From Australia and the Amazon to Siberia and Greece, every region on the globe has experienced unprecedented wildfires in the past decade. But why is this happening? With Professor Apostolos Voulgarakis (Associate and Founding Director of our Centre) discover the origins of ‘megafires’, their impacts, and the possible solutions to better manage them, through this […]
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Rupununi Fire Recommendations
The Rupununi in Guyana comprises a savanna ecosystem, which is flammable yet fire dependent. Many people use and depend on fire for their livelihoods. However, in the context of global climate change, there are new challenges with unpredictable weather, land use change, and traditional knowledge loss, which means it is increasingly becoming difficult to manage […]
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Trade-offs and synergies in multi-level fire governance: Highlights from an international workshop
Policies and perspectives influencing the governance of fire vary around the world. Over past centuries colonial and post-colonial states have suppressed burning activities to varying degrees and many continue to do so in a variety of ways. But in recent decades there has been growing recognition of the importance of Indigenous burning practices, and some […]
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