From October 12 to 26, 2025, the 2025 Scientific and Technological Training Course “Design and Evaluation Methods of Fire Safety Engineering Materials” for Developing Countries in “the Belt and Road”, funded by the Bureau of International Cooperation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and hosted by the State Key Laboratory of Fire Safety (SKLFS) of the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), was successfully held and closed in Hefei city, Anhui Province. 25 outstanding researchers in fire safety engineering materials from 14 countries along “the Belt and Road”, including China, Russia, Iran, Pakistan, India, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Poland, Slovenia, Egypt, Thailand, Vietnam, and Ghana, participated in the two-week training course.
Group photo of the opening ceremony of the training course
The opening ceremony of the training course was held on October 13, 2025. Wang Chen, Deputy Director of the Office of International Cooperation of the USTC, and Liu Nai’an, Director of the SKLFS, delivered welcome speeches on behalf of the university and the laboratory, respectively. Prof. Hu Yuan from the SKLFS, who is in charge of the training course, presided over the opening ceremony. The training courses are composed of four parts: (1) the theoretical foundation of technical methods, including the basic principles of fire safety engineering material design and its application in lithium batteries, fiber-reinforced composites, and benzoxazine resins; (2) the evaluation methods of fire safety engineering materials, which involve on-site understanding of commonly used instruments and their operating procedures; (3) visiting scientific research institutions and enterprises in the field of fire safety engineering materials, including the SKLFS, the Advanced Technology Research Institute of the USTC, the Hefei Public Safety Research Institute of Tsinghua University, and Orinko Advanced Plastics Co., Ltd.; and (4) brainstorming, where each trainee combines their own actual situation to explore collaborative research and future prospects in the field of fire safety engineering materials.
Visiting research institutions and enterprises in the field of fire safety engineering materials
Brainstorming of trainees
This training course invited several renowned international experts to give wonderful academic lectures, including Prof. Manfred Döring from the Fraunhofer Institute for Structural Durability and System Reliability (Germany), Dr. Tim-Patrick Fellinger from the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing, BAM (Germany), Prof. Baljinder Kandola from the University of Greater Manchester (UK), Prof. Marisa Sponton from the National University of the Litoral (Argentina), and Prof. Fei Bin from Hong Kong Polytechnic University (China). In addition, Prof. Zhu Ji-Xin, Prof. Yu Bin, Prof. Hou Yan-Bei, Assoc. Prof. Xing Wei-Yi, Assoc. Prof. Wang Bi-Bo, Assoc. Prof. Wang Xin, Assoc. Prof. Hu Wei-Zhao, and Assoc. Prof. Kan Yong-Chun from the SKLFS of the USTC also gave professional lectures to trainees.
On site lectures and communication discussions
On October 25, 2025, the closing ceremony of the training course was held. Prof. Hu Yuan summarized the two-week training courses and issued certificates of completion to the trainees. He congratulated on the successful holding and completion of the training course “Design and Evaluation Methods of Fire Safety Engineering Materials” and looked forward to carrying out more cooperative research, academic exchanges, and talent training with countries alongside “the Belt and Road” in the future.
Group photo of the closing ceremony of the training course
After the first training course “Fire Safety Engineering Materials Design and Evaluation Methods” was successfully held in 2023, this second training course was continuously funded by the Bureau of International Cooperation of the CAS and hosted by the SKLFS of the USTC. Through the successful completion of this training course, young researchers from countries alongside “the Belt and Road” learned the design and preparation methods of fire safety engineering materials, mastered the operation methods of instruments related to fire safety engineering materials, and discussed the cooperation prospects in the field of fire safety engineering materials. The significance of this training course is to cultivate scientific and technological teams in the field of fire safety engineering materials for developing countries along “the Belt and Road”, which have long-term cooperation with China; to introduce research achievements in fire safety engineering materials in China to developing countries alongside “the Belt and Road”; and to expand and strengthen cooperation and exchanges with developing countries alongside “the Belt and Road” and achieve common scientific and technological progress with developing countries alongside “the Belt and Road”.
(Provided by State Key Laboratory of Fire Science, Office of International Cooperation)
