Ashwant Singh, Farith Hinojosa, Maria Binte Mannan, and Matheus Pontes Lima

fire engineer

Ashwant Singh (Australia), Farith Hinojosa (Bolivia), Maria Binte Mannan (Bangladesh), and Matheus Pontes Lima (Brazil) are four promising future fire engineers undertaking the prestigious International Master in Fire Safety Engineering (IMFSE). Together, they delved into the complexities of ventilated façades and cavity barriers in an internship research project with the EU-funded Fire-Safe Sustainable Built Environment project (FRISSBE) and KNAUF Insulation. The project took place in the Slovenian National Building and Civil Engineering Institute (ZAG Slovenia) facilities where the interns blended their diverse backgrounds and abilities and worked together with several stakeholders and experts in the fire field.

During the project, the interns were able to visit the R&D facilities of KNAUF insulation in Slovenia, learn about standard fire testing procedures, and perform an experimental campaign to study identified influencing parameters on cavity barriers and ventilated façades. Through their study, the interns expect to contribute to the evolving research field on ventilated façades and to the understanding of how cavity barriers perform and interact when installed in a façade set up during a fire event. Moreover, the overall exposure to the fire research and fire testing fields along with the networking opportunities and the possibility to work with fire experts have been proven very beneficial to the interns who are eager to take on future research challenges.