Professor Weicheng Fan, Director of the State Key Laboratory of Fire Science (SKLFS), together with other six distinguished people, received honorary degrees from Loughborough University, UK, on July 16, 2013. Prof. Fan was presented the Honorary Doctor of Technology Degree of the university, in recognition of his outstanding contribution and pioneering work in the fields of fire safety science and public safety technology. The other distinguished people who received honorary degrees are Professor Neil Halliwell, Dr. Clive Hickman, Professor Shirley Pearce, Charlie Mayfield, Adrian Moorhouse MBE and Professor Michael Withers.

Prof. Fan was the founder of SKLFS. Since 1980s, he has been engaged in research on fire safety science and engineering for over 30 years, with numerous accomplishments in theoretical models of various fire phenomena and numerical simulation of smoke in compartments. By his great leadership, SKLFS has developed rapidly to be one of the world’s most eminent fire laboratories. Prof. Fan was a pioneer for the Asia-Oceania Association for Fire Safety Science and Technology (AOAFST). In 1991, Prof. Fan, Prof. Toshisuke Hirano and Prof. Victor K. Bulgakov together initiated the establishment process of AOAFST. Prof. Fan ever held the President of AOAFST for six years (1995-2000). Now AOAFST has developed rapidly to be an important part of the IAFSS. Prof. Fan won the China National Award for Science and Technology Progress twice (2001, 2006), by his great contributions to fire safety technologies. In 2004, Prof. Fan established the Center for Public Safety Research at Tsinghua University, which was later renamed to be the Institute of Safety Science and Technology. Prof. Fan has made distinguished contributions to public safety science in China. He has been one of the pioneers for the establishment of the academic discipline of Safety Science and Engineering, which has been listed as one of the First-Level Discipline in Graduate Education of China since 2011. Also by the his efforts together with other distinguished researchers, Public Safety Science and Technology has been recognized as one of the key fields in China National Guideline on Medium- and Long-Term Program for Science and Technology (2006-2020). During the past decade, Prof. Fan successfully established a China National Emergency System for fires and other disasters. In 2011, he won the First Prize of China National Award for Science and Technology Progress.