Draft programme – subject to change.
Day 1 – Wednesday 4 November 2026
| 07h00 – 08h30 | Coffee & registration | |
| 08h30 – 08h40 | Tiaan Pool HOD Forestry Department – NMU | Welcome and formalities |
| 08h40 – 08h55 | Danie Pienaar Sr GM Conservation Management, Kruger Park | Official opening |
Session 1: Integrating science and practice to guide fire management in natural systems
Chairs: Izak Smith, Tercia Midzi
| 08h55 – 09h25 | Keynote Prof. Brian van Wilgen Centre for Invasion Biology, Stellenbosch University, South Africa | Integrating science and practice: What information do we have to guide fire management in African protected areas? |
| 09h25 – 09h40 | Dr Tercia Strydom Science Manager, Systems Ecology, Kruger National Park South Africa | Fire Research and Management in Kruger National Park: Exploring the Science* Management interface and co-learning |
| 09h40 – 09h55 | Ms Nothando Ngobeni University of South Africa Working on Fire South Africa | Influence of rainfall, grass biomass and fire management on fire activity in the Kruger National Park, South Africa: long term trends in burned area and burn season |
| 09h55 – 10h10 | Minenhle Ngubane Research and Development South African Weather Service | Development of a Daily Data-Driven Fire Danger Index for KwaZulu-Natal under the INSpiRe Project |
| 10h10 – 10h25 | Mrs Andoniaina Randria Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Madagascar | From fire suppression to integrated fire management at Itremo Massif Protected Area in Madagascar |
| 10h25 – 10h40 | Mr Gioele Moro Institute of Entomology Biology Centre CAS, Czechia | Mobility mediates post-fire community assembly: local filtering in plants vs mass effects in arthropods |
| 10h40 – 10h55 | Ms Veronika Grygarová Institute of Entomology Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences Czechia | Multitaxa response to wildfire: three years of post-fire succession in Central European temperate forests |
| 10h55 – 11h10 | Questions & Answers – Panel Discussion | |
| 11h10 – 11h40 | Teatime | |
Session 2: Soil degradation & wildfire
Chair: Artemi Cerda
| 11h40 – 11h55 | Keynote Prof. Ben du Toit Department of Forest and Wood Science, Stellenbosch University, South Africa | Quantification of the risk of soil physical or chemical degradation when using prescribed burning in South African plantation forests |
| 11h55 – 12h10 | Othusitse Lekoko University of Botswana, Botswana | Effect of fire on soil organic carbon and sequestration potential in deep Kalahari sands of northern Botswana's fire-prone Baikiaea Woodland |
| 12h10 – 12h25 | Prof. Artemi Cerdà Soil Erosion and Degradation Research Group, Departament de Geografia. Universitat de València. Spain | Post-Fire Soil Erosion in Spain: A Review |
| 12h25 – 12h40 | Dr Angel A. Goldsmith Fort Cox Agriculture and Forestry Training Institute | The effect of Eucalypt slash burning and repeated disc harrowing on fuel load reduction, soil properties, and stand productivity |
| 12h40 – 12h55 | Prof. Artemi Cerdà Soil Erosion and Degradation Research Group, Departament de Geografia. Universitat de València. Spain | Chipped pruning-branch mulch, instead of burning, reduces soil erosion and surface runoff in citrus orchards. |
| 12h55 – 13h10 | Questions & Answers – Panel Discussion | |
| 13h10 – 14h00 | Lunch | |
Session 3: Living with Fire: Place-Based Practices for Managing Fire-Prone Landscapes
Chair: Bryan Yockers
| 14h05 – 14h25 | Keynote Dr Rosa Maria Canals Public University of Navarre Spain | Grazing with Fire: A decade of research towards wildfire-resilient landscapes in Southern Europe |
| 14h25 – 14h40 | Jasper Makala Mpingo Conservation & Development Initiative Tanzania | Integrated Fire Management through Early Burning in Tanzania's Miombo Woodlands: A Decade of Community-Led Practice in Kilwa Village Land Forest Reserves |
| 14h40 – 14h55 | Dr Angel A. Goldsmith Fort Cox Agriculture and Forestry Training Institute, South Africa | Managing Wildfire Risk Through Spatial Planning in South Africa’s Wildland-Urban Interface in the Western Cape Province |
| 14h55 – 15h10 | Dr Humberto L. Perotto-Baldivieso Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management Texas A&M University | A remote sensing perspective on fires in rangelands |
| 15h10 – 15h25 | Ubaldus Tumaini College of Business Education, Tanzania & University of Eastern Finland | Negligent Forest Fires in the Small-scale Tree Growers in Africa: Drivers and Possible Solutions. |
| 15h25 – 15h40 | Dr G. Hough EnviroVision Solutions, South Africa | Comparing MODIS satellite burn scar areas (in hectares) for human-dominated ignition over the last 30 years [1997-2026] and lightning-dominated ignition over the last 15 years [2010 to 2024]. |
| 15h40 – 15h55 | Questions & Answers – Panel Discussion | |
Session 4: One-minute introductions to posters by authors
Chair: Saskia Keesstra
| 15h55 – 15h57 | Dr Natalia Flores-Quiroz University of Stellenbosch | Firebrand Characterisation of Protea repens |
| 15h57 – 15h59 | Matthew Danckwerts Wildfire forensic investigator, Fire ecologist | Char Height on Fence Posts as a Proxy for Flame Length and Fire Intensity in Grass Fires |
| 15h59 – 16h05 | Eric Thabo Stoch Chairman: NWUFPA, Director International Emergency Management Society (TIEMS) -Africa, South Africa | Fire management innovations and collaboration with traditional leaders in the North-West Province of South Africa – Series of 4 posters |
| 16h05 – 16h07 | Halil Selçuk Biricik Department of Laborant and Veterinary Health, Şuhut Vocational School, Afyonkarahisar, Türkiye | Climate change – First aid for animals during forset fires |
| 16h07 – 16h09 | Mr Kevin Rae Disaster Risk Reduction unit South African Weather Service (SAWS) | Intercomparison of Lowveld FDI (LFDI) predictions, against corresponding Canadian Fire Weather Index (FWI) values, with exclusive consideration of RED (extremely high fire risk) days. |
| 16h09 – 16h11 | Dr Kwanele Phinzi Geography and Environmental Studies University of Zululand | Assessing wildfire susceptibility in the uThukela Catchment using active fire data and machine learning |
| 16h11 – 16h13 | Charles Seima Madiba Disaster Risk Studies, Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management, North-West University, South Africa | Spatiotemporal Changes in Land Use and Land Cover in Drakenstein Local Municipality South Africa |
| 16h13 – 16h15 | Bryan Yockers Independent Educational Consultant, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA | Increasing Student Awareness of Fire-Related Climate-Smart Agricultural Practices Using Free-Response Questions |
| 16h09 – 16h11 | Ms Nomzamo Ndlovu Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment University of Witwatersrand South Africa | Fire frequency responses to climatic drivers in plantation forestry regions of KZN, South Africa |
| 16h20 – 16h30 | Discussion of tomorrow's programme | |
Day 2 – Thursday 5 November 2026
Session 5: Dedicated poster session
08h00 – 10h00
| 10h00 – 10h30 | Receive lunch packs and move to Expo | |
Session 6: Expo and Demonstrations
| 10h30 – 16h00 | Exhibitors displays and demonstrations. | |
| 19h00 | Gala Dinner | |
Day 3 – Friday 6 November 2026
Session 7: Global Fire Management Strategies Across Biomes: Sharing Knowledge, Shaping the Future, Reducing negative fire impacts
Chair: Navashni Govender
| 08h00 – 08h20 | Keynote Prof. Carla Staver Princeton University, USA | Fire management in savanna ecosystems in the context of climate variation: perspectives from across sites and continents |
| 08h20 – 08h35 | Dr Danie Boshoff North-West University, South Africa | Fire Management Approaches in Grassland Ecosystems |
| 08h35 – 08h50 | Dr Alessandra Fidelis Biodiversidade Universidade Estadual Paulista | Supporting fire management in South America: the sFuego collaborative network |
| 08h50 – 09h05 | Dr Adriana Ford Leverhulme Centre for Wildfires, Environment and Society, King’s College London | Towards Inclusive and Equitable Fire Governance in African Savanna Landscapes: Lessons from Ghana and Kenya |
| 09h05 – 09h20 | Dr Adam Devenish Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh, UK | Developing fire management plans through practitioner learning in Madagascar |
| 09h20 – 09h35 | Effie Papadimitropoulou Success Engineer OroraTech GmbH Germany, the United States, Greece, & Canada | OroraTech Wildfire Solution: Real-Time Satellite Fire Intelligence in Operational Use at Kruger National Park |
| 09h35 – 09h50 | Questions & Answers – Panel Discussion | |
| 09h50 – 10h05 | Teatime | |
Session 8: Adapting fire management to a hotter and drier planet
Chair: Pete Fule
| 10h05 – 10h25 | Keynote Prof. Andi Thode Northern Arizona University Flagstaff USA | Unwanted Fire in the Sonoran Desert, USA: Invasives, People and Climate make a wicked trifecta. |
| 10h25 – 10h40 | Ms Marie Norwood Princeton University New Jersey USA | Simulating lightning-fire regimes in unfragmented grassy ecosystems |
| 10h40 – 10h55 | Dr Christo Marais TEFLA Group South Africa | Quantifying the demand for integrated wildland fire management in South Africa and its ecological and economic implications |
| 10h55 – 11h10 | Amos Muthiuru PhD student, Geography Department, King's College London, United Kingdom | Integrating Indigenous Peoples, Local Communities and Traditional Knowledge into Fire Management Frameworks: Assessing Practices, Barriers, and Policy Pathways. |
| 11h10 – 11h25 | Prof. Andrea Chanove Catholic University of Santa Maria (UCSM) Arequipa, Peru | A Fire Risk Perspective on High-Andean Polylepis Forests in Peru under Climate Change |
| 11h25 – 11h40 | Prof. Peter Fulé IMBE Aix-Marseille University | Technology helping fire management adapt in a warming world |
| 11h40 – 11h55 | Questions & Answers – Panel Discussion | |
Session 9: Proactive vs Reaction fire management
Chairs: Hannes van Zyl, Sam Msweli
| 11h55 – 12h15 | Keynote Prof. Ben Wu Ecology and Conservation Biology Texas A&M University USA | Education as proactive fire management – Promoting student understanding of fire in Great Plains rangelands through web‑based authentic inquiries and citizen science engagement |
| 12h15 – 12h30 | Dr Natalia Flores-Quiroz University of Stellenbosch | “Fire Characterisation of South African Vegetation Using Cone Calorimetry” |
| 12h30 – 12h45 | Dr Eric Kennedy York University Toronto, Canada | What's the problem with wildfire? Facilitating deliberation on the goals of fire management |
| 12h45 – 13h00 | Dr Elisabetta Emo Mediterranean University of Reggio Calabria, Italy | Fire-Smart Urban Forestry as a Nature-Based Solution for Risk Mitigation in Mediterranean Wildland–Urban Interfaces |
| 13h00 – 14h00 | Lunch | |
| 14h00 – 14h15 | Dr Gaby Ayres Northern Arizona University Flagstaff USA | Today’s Opportunity, Tomorrow’s Risk: Decision Support for Proactive Fire Management |
| 14h15 – 14h30 | Dr Pieter Olivier M.A.P Scientific Services South Africa | Where Fire Recurs: Mapping Burn Frequency Concentration Across South Africa |
| 14h30 – 14h45 | Questions & Answers – Panel Discussion | |
Session 10: Miscellaneous
Chairs: Trevor Abrahams, Linton Rensburg
| 14h45 – 15h00 | Dr Sergey Venevsky Southern Scientific Centre of Russian Academy of Sciences | What features of the cities are affecting wildfires globally? |
| 15h00 – 15h15 | Riley Wadehra Yale University, Connecticut, USA | The effects of “inside” and “outside” fuel moisture on fire spread in a South African savanna |
| 15h15 – 15h30 | Matthew Danckwerts Wildfire forensic investigator, Fire ecologist, South Africa | How do Various Fire Behaviour Prediction Models Compare with Actual Fire Conditions in Montane Grasslands of the Eastern Cape, South Africa? |
| 15h30 – 15h45 | Dr Adel Sahila Universidad de Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain | The statistical signature of simulated fire growth: Beta-distributed burned areas in Mediterranean wildfires |
| 15h45 – 16h00 | Ms Sara Alves Research Centre for Active Living and Wellbeing (LiveWell), Universitat Jaume I, Portugal | Occupational exposure among wildfire fighters in Portugal: Combining air quality monitoring and biomarker to assess health risks |
| 16h00 – 16h15 | Ms D. Moela Deputy Director: WoF – (Environmental Programmes) Dept. of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment | Science–policy interfaces and collaborative governance in integrated fire management in South Africa |
| 16h15 – 16h30 | Questions & Answers – Panel Discussion | |
| 16h30 – 16h40 | Close of conference | |