Discoveries in Safety Grants

The Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI) offers grants aimed at enhancing fire safety research to address critical risks and challenges. These grants, up to $200,000 annually for three years, target innovative methodologies for assessing thermal and chemical exposures faced by firefighters. Successful proposals will contribute to educational resources and practical solutions for protecting first responders and improving public safety. FSRI encourages collaboration with diverse research teams, focusing on human and environmental impacts of fire incidents.

The purpose of this funding opportunity is to enhance the mission of UL Research Institutes (ULRI), a nonprofit research organization dedicated to advancing public safety through scientific discovery. Focused on global risks from fire mitigation and air quality to safe energy storage and digital privacy, we conduct rigorous independent research, analyze safety data and partner with experts to uncover and act on existing and emerging risks to human safety.
To meet today’s urgent global safety risks, ULRI has set out to address three grand challenges: (1) Building resilience for a sustainable future, (2) Advancing individual and societal health in the 21st century, and (3) Promoting safety at the humandigital interface. ULRI aims to further the progress of safety science by providing grants, thereby continuing the quest to address global challenges and create a safer world.
Focus Areas
Successful applications will outline how the proposed project will enhance progress and maximize impact in one of the following focus areas:

• Focus Area 1: Improved respiratory protection options for first responders under toxic smoke conditions

Problem statement: When responding to fires at the wildland-urban interface (WUI), emergency personnel are typically exposed to high levels of smoke that can include toxic components generated from the burning of anthropogenic materials and biomass. Traditional respiratory protection devices do not provide sufficient filtering capabilities to gases and particulate, place a significant metabolic burden on the firefighter, and/or do not withstand the extreme environment and use of WUI firefighting responses. Evaluation of emerging respiratory protection devices is necessary to understand the impact on the firefighter and feasibility of implementation. Improved technologies may be needed to develop devices which address these challenges and adequately protect individuals under WUI fire conditions.
Areas of interest: Assessment of respirator feasibility for use in WUI fire responses: 1) characterization of the physiological, ergonomic, and metabolic impact of performing firefighting operations, 2) quantification of protection during and following exposure to combustion products (such as assessment of biomarkers or markers of effect in WUI firefighters), 3) evaluation of adoption and implementation by the fire service. Technologies that demonstrate high levels of protection against WUI smoke hazards while minimizing physical stress for individuals deploying the technology. Filters that go beyond absorption/adsorption to catalytically react and detoxify specific hazards. Integration of emerging technologies into respirators that are feasible for the fire service.
Focus Area 2: Improved recycling technologies to recover critical minerals from energy storage devices
Problem statement: Energy-storage technologies make use of a spectrum of critical minerals (elements) for various use cases, including alkali metals, transition metals, and rare earths. Current recycling technologies leave considerable room for improvement with respect to a long-term goal of strong circularity. Recycling technologies themselves must be designed to be cost-effective with minimal environmental impact.
Areas of interest: Innovations targeting any step in the recycling process for energy-storage technologies covering a spectrum of use cases.
Focus Area 3: Characterization of chemical emissions and residual ash from wildland-urban interface (WUI) fires
Problem statement: Fires at the wildland-urban interface (WUI) are becoming more frequent and severe resulting in 1) airborne emissions that can expose large segments of the population and 2) residual ash that can be subject to re-suspension or runoff prior to cleanup. The chemical composition of the airborne emissions and residual ash from WUI fires are complex with contributions from biomass, building materials, and personal property and can vary with combustion conditions. While some of the chemical components of the WUI fire emissions and runoff have been characterized using both targeted and non-targeted analytical chemistry methods, additional data are needed to identify and monitor candidate chemicals of concern following WUI fire events.
Areas of interest: 1) Non-targeted chemical analysis of residual ash and runoff samples from historical WUI fire events. 2) Non-targeted chemical analysis of WUI fire emissions and residual ash from real-world incidents and/or simulated laboratory burns of different building materials and representative personal property.
Focus Area 4: Mineral fiber emission and transport characterization from wildland-urban interface (WUI) fires
Problem statement: With the changing climate, fires at the wildland-urban interface (WUI) are becoming more frequent and severe. Legacy contaminants in building materials and biomass include mineral fibers such as asbestos. Initial studies on entrained fibers in tree bark and forest duff suggested potential exposure to communities and emergency responders, but little is known about the emissions from legacy building materials and the atmospheric transport under extreme meteorology of a large WUI fire.
Areas of interest: 1) Mineral fiber emission profiles from asbestos containing building materials. 2) Atmospheric modeling and experimental measurements of the transport of mineral fibers under WUI fire conditions of different sizes and severities. 3) Experimental measurements of mineral fibers and their characteristics in residual ash from asbestos containing building materials.
Award
FSRI will award up to two grants of $200,000 a year for a three-year period.

Eligibility

All proposals should be submitted by an accredited college, university, government, or non-government organization (including not-for-profit and for-profit institutions) with recognized legal status in their respective country.  The Principal Investigator (PI) must be an individual of the organization holding a full-time administrative or faculty role.The PI should continue in this role for the duration of the three years of the award. Multiple PIs can be added during this time.

Ineligibility

The PI must NOT be:  A current recipient of a UL Research Institutes Discoveries in Safety Grant (DSG). However, recipients of nonDSG funds and other current collaborators are eligible.A previous employee of UL Solutions, ULRI, or UL Standards & Engagement (ULSE) within 12 months prior to submitting a Letter of Intent for this program.Currently serving as a member of a UL Research Institutes advisory board, technical committee, or in a similar formal advisory role
The following direct costs are not eligible for overhead reimbursement by ULRI:Student tuition, student fees, scholarships, and fellowships.
Equipment purchases (defined as a single or composite item having a cost of $5,000 or greater and usable life greater that one year).Capital expenditures.
Fabricated or constructed equipment.
Rental costs of off-site facilities.
Participant support costs.