Our team members Prof. Jukka Pumpanen (University of Eastern Finland) and Dr. Kajar Köster (University of Helsinki) are members of the Management Committee (country representatives) of the new COST Action CA18135, Fire in the Earth System: Science & Society (FIRElinks).

Dr Egle Köster (University of Helsinki) and Ms Christine Ribeiro-Kumara (University of Helsinki) are acting as Management Committee Substitutes.

FIRElinks will develop the EU-spanning network of scientists and practitioners involved in forest fire research and land management with backgrounds such as fire dynamics, fire risk management, fire effects on vegetation, fauna, soil and water, and socio-economic, historical, geographical, political perception and land management approaches. It will connect communities from different scientific and geographic backgrounds, allowing the discussion of different experiences and the emergence of new approaches to fire research.

The main aim of FIRElinks is to power synergistic collaborations between European research groups and stakeholders with the objective to synthesise the existing knowledge and expertise, and to define a concerted research agenda which promotes an integrated approach to create fire-resilient landscapes, taking into account biological, biochemical and-physical, but also socio-economic, historical, geographical, sociological, perception and policy constraints. This is an urgent societal need due to expected further intensification and geographical spreading of wildfire regimes under Global Change.