Global interest in Aberdeen wildfire event

As the UK Government announces its intention to appoint a National Resilience Wildfire Adviser - it is of significance that leading lights from the world of wildfire have been announced as speakers at this year’s UK Wildfire Conference to be held in Aberdeen. 

Keynote addresses will be given by Marc Castellnou, Commander in the Catalan Fire Service; Prof Tiago Oliveira, Agency for Integrated Rural Fire Management; Anton Beneslavskiy, Pyrocene Alliance; Val Charlton, Landworks South Africa; Robbie Kernahan, NatureScot; and Jim Savege, Aberdeenshire Council.

Alongside the keynote speakers, the event will feature presentations from sector experts from Norway, Switzerland, The Netherlands and France as well as ‘home-grown’ specialists such as Douglas Kelley of the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Robin Pakeman of the James Hutton Institute, Cathy Smith of the University of London, Andreas Heinemeyer from the University of York and Tia Crouch of The National Trust.

To be held at P&J Live on 12 and 13 November, the event is being hosted by The Scottish Wildfire Forum, together with event facilitators The Heather Trust and is promising to be the event in the land management calendar this year.

Day one will focus on the global perspective regarding wildfire and its mitigation, while day two will centre around tackling these issues in the UK. Break-out sessions will be held over the course of the two-day event allowing delegates to benefit from a wealth of interesting talks and interactive discussion. Exhibitors, poster submissions, a dinner and pre-conference site visit will add to the highly anticipated event which is already attracting delegates from around the globe.

Still to be announced is the Scottish Government minister who will officially open the conference which will explore the theme of “Resilience in a Changing World”. The conference will acknowledge the challenges (and opportunities) that the climate emergency, land use change, emerging science and the behaviours, expectations and attitudes of the public bring to an already complex situation.

The event is expected to draw in 300 delegates who will come from a diversity of backgrounds and interest groups and will appeal not just to firefighters, but also land managers, regulatory and enforcement agencies, academics, environmental groups, community leaders, planners and more.

Tickets for the conference and the site visit to The James Hutton Institute at Glensaugh can be booked here: Wildfire 2024