Prof. Dino Bouchlaghem (Loughborough University)

(Principal Investigator) is Professor of Architectural Engineering and Director of the Centre for Innovative and Collaborative Engineering (CICE). His research interests include the design of buildings for safety and security, crowd modelling and simulation for building design, and Sustainability. He has an established track record in managing research projects funded by the EPSRC, DTI and the EU. Some of his recent and ongoing project related to IRMP include: “The Design of Buildings for the Safety of Users in Emergency Events”, and “ICT Enabled Solutions for Safety and Security in the Built Environment” funded by the EPSRC as part of the Loughborough University’s IMRC. In 2006 Prof Bouchlaghem won the “Safety in Construction Gold Medal” award from the Institution of Civil Engineers for a research paper titled: “Crowd Circulation and Stadium Design: Low Flow Rate Systems” published in the ICE proceedings, Structures and Buildings journal. His research on the crowd modelling and behaviour to improve the safety of users in public spaces during disaster situations received al lot of interest from the media in recent years. Professor Bouchlaghem is currently the Co-ordinator of the CIB Task Group in Architectural Engineering (TG49) and editor in chief for the International Journal of Architectural Engineering and Design Management.

Prof. Chris Johnson (University of Glasgow)

(Co-Investigator): is Professor of Computing Science at the University of Glasgow. His work focuses on developing new techniques to support the investigation of failure in complex systems. He has held grants from the EPSRC, ESRC, MRC and EC. His research focuses on the human, technical and managerial causes of accidents. He was a NASA Fellow and his group was named as ‘world leading’ by their Technology Assessment Branch. Johnson drafted the European guidelines for incident reporting in Air Traffic Management and is currently helping EUROCONTROL develop contingency plans for European Air Traffic Management. He has acted as consultant for several HSE research projects, including an initiative on the duty to investigate workplace accidents and was expert witness at the Ladbroke Grove litigation. More recently, he has been involved in initiatives to develop a range of simulation tools that use observations about Fire and Rescue Service response to previous incidents to model potential problems in future emergencies. Chris Johnson has published over 140 peer-reviewed papers. His ‘Handbook of Accident and Incident Reporting’ has been used at the new US National Transportation Safety Board Academy and is recommended by the International Maritime Organisation. In the last twelve months he has given invited talks at Cambridge University, Harvard University, Oxford University and MIT.

Jim Baker (Loughborough University)

Jim Baker works as Research Associate at Loughborough University involved in the Integrated Risk Management Planning project; "Evaluation of Prevention and Protection Activities on Commercial, Public and Heritage Buildings". Jim is a graduate of the University of Central Lancashire and gained his honours degree in fire safety following completion of thirty years of operational duty in the fire and rescue service. In addition to his operational duties, during his service Jim has also been involved with fire safety enforcement, health and safety management, performance management and corporate risk management as well as handling litigation claims against the fire and rescue service. He is a chartered member of the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), a graduate of the Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE) and he has also set up his own company, winning contracts with a national health and safety consultancy and an international energy company. In the course of this latter work he has carried out fire risk assessments in many commercial and publicly-frequented buildings as well as offering fire advice to the management of two 2000 megawatt coal-fired power stations. His main professional motivation is in making buildings safer for use by a largely uninformed public which was reflected in a dissertation focusing on the performance of fire exits.

Stefan Raue (University of Glasgow)

worked as a research assistant in the School of Computing Science at the University of Glasgow. His research focused on the creation and provision of novel, high-quality datasets, derived through information-fusion processes, to support Fire and Rescue Services with local risk assessment and resource allocation decisions. He further analysed the effects of prevention and protection measures in regards to heritage buildings and historic town centres. The research led to the development of simulation software prototypes to evaluate the impact of changes in standard operating procedures on costs and benefits of Fire Rescue Services.
As of November 2011, he has finished his involvement in the project. Stefan is now conducting further research in the area of emergency management. Thereby, especially focussing on social media as real-time communication and information channel to warn and inform the public, as well emergency managers in charge. To keep up with his latest research, please visit this website: www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~raues

Chris Salter (Loughborough University)

Chris Salter is an engineering graduate from Leeds University where he studied Fire and Explosion Engineering. After graduation, he joined Buro Happold were he worked in the FEDRA (Fire Engineering Design and Risk Assessment) group. He worked on varying projects, such as the London Olympic Stadium and the Battersea Power Station redevelopment. Leaving Happold he now continues his PhD study at Loughborough University. He is interested in continuing research into inherently safer buildings and he will contribute to the IRMP project especially in the investigation and improvement of passive fire protection measures for commercial, public and heritage buildings.

Selda Konukcu (Loughborough University)

Selda Konukcu worked as a Research Associate in the Department of Civil and Building Engineering, Loughborough University, UK. She is a graduate of Aerospace Engineering Department, Middle East Technical University (METU), Turkey. Following her BSc, she worked for the missile industry as systems engineer for 2 years. She studied MSc, in the department of Aerospace Engineering, METU, with a thesis on risk management. She then completed another MSc, in the department of Information and Knowledge Management, Loughborough University, with a thesis on ICT management in clinical trials. She worked as Research Associate at Loughborough University in the Integrated Risk Management Planning Project focusing on the “Evaluation of Prevention and Protection Activities on Commercial, Public and Heritage Buildings”. Currently, she is conducting further research in “knowledge management in construction and aerospace supply chains” in the context of her part time PhD studies. Her main research interests are risk management, supply chain management, knowledge management and systems engineering. She is a member of Institute of Engineering & Technology.