Keynote Speakers ISTSS 2023
Each day is opened by invited Keynote Speakers, leaders in their field, providing an overview of their topic of expertise as an introduction to the themes of the day.
ISTSS 2023 have the following confirmed Keynote Speakers
Gunnar Jenssen, SINTEF, Norway
Title: Human behaviour during fires in tunnels
Dr Gunnar Deinboll Jenssen is a Senior Researcher and Human Factors expert at SINTEF Mobility. He has more than 25 years’ experience working as project manager for special safety measures in some of the longest road tunnels in the world and as expert advisor on self rescue, wayfinding emergency exit signs and systems for authorities in Norway, USA, China, Singapore and the European Union. His goal is to understand why and how we behave as we do in traffic under normal conditions and under stress. He combines knowledge in psychology with the knowledge of technology and how the road environment affects us. He is one of few psychologists in the world working on safety and human behaviour in tunnels and underground environments.
Vladimir Molkov, Ulster University,
Title: Hydrogen vehicles safety in underground traffic infrastructure: overview of HyTunnel-CS findings
Vladimir Molkov is a professor at Ulster University and director of Hydrogen Safety Engineering and Research Centre (HySAFER). He is one of key providers of hydrogen safety research and education globally. He is Member of: UN Global Technical Regulation for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Vehicles GTR#13; ISO/TC197 Hydrogen Technologies; CEN/CcLC/JTC6 Hydrogen in Energy Systems; BSI PVE/003/08 Gas containers - Hydrogen technologies; Hydrogen Europe Research, European Hydrogen Safety Panel, 6 journal editorial boards and 4 conference committees. He is also Fellow of the Energy Institute, Chartered Engineer (CEng) with Engineering Council, Fellow of Higher Education Academy, Chair of the Education Committee of International Association for Hydrogen Safety. He coordinated and contributed to 33 UK and European projects in hydrogen safety, over 360 publications and 15 inventions, including the book “Fundamentals of Hydrogen Safety Engineering”, and the invention of explosion free in fire self-venting (TPRD-less) high-pressure hydrogen storage tank.
Ove Njå, University of Stavanger, Norway
Title: Why is the tunnel fire safety competence situation so fragmented? The need for a tunnel safety study program.
Ove Njå is professor of Risk and Emergency Management at the University of Stavanger (UiS) (2000-), working in the Centre of Risk Management and Societal Safety (SEROS). His professional career includes five years in the civil engineering industry, ten years in the petroleum industry and 20 years in research and education. Njå has participated in and led a large number of research projects, comprising risk analysis, risk acceptance, risk management, emergency preparedness and crisis management in which fire hazards in tunnels have been included. He is currently leading a research project on competence increase related to tunnel safety. Ove Njå has played a key role in the development of the educational programmes at master and Ph.D level in societal safety at the University of Stavanger.
Ulf Lundström, Swedish Transport Administration, Sweden
Title: Overview of safety concept for Swedish road tunnels
Ulf Lundström has a Batchelor degree in Fire Safety Engineering from Lunds University. After working in Stockholms Fire and Rescue services as responding battalion chief he specialised in tunnel safety in 2008 as a consultant in SWEPRO. In 2010 he started to work for the Swedish Transport Administration in developing the safety concept for the Northern Link project. Since 2013 he has been appointed Tunnel Safety Officer according to the EU-directive for all state operated road tunnels in Sweden. During that time he has been member of PIARC´s Tunnel committee for two cycles, and contributed to the PIARC report “FFFS in road tunnels; Current practices and recommendations” from 2016. He has also been a part of the research effort that was awarded the “Impact delivered”–prize in 2019 by the European Association of Research and Technology Organisations (EARTO) for developing and implementing the concept of Fixed Firefighting Systems for Swedish road tunnels.
Mirjam Nelisse, TNO, The Netherlands
Title: Risk analysis of fire and explosions in tunnels
Mirjam Nelisse works for more than 20 years at TNO in Netherland as a research scientist on risk analysis and reliability of infrastructure such as tunnels, bridges, sluices and storm surge barriers. She is specialized in tunnel safety. More recently Nelisse also works on the safety of new fuels in ships. She holds a Master of Science in Systems Engineering and Policy Analysis from the Technical University of Delft and continues to develop herself with courses and coaching.