The Grand Challenges Initiative Applied Research Fellowship Grant

The Grand Challenges Initiative Applied Research Fellowship Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: Society of Fire Protection Engineers Inc (SFPE)
Amount: US $30,000
Last Updated: May 13, 2025

Summary

The Grand Challenges Initiative Applied Research Fellowship, established by the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE), supports advanced doctoral students or post-docs conducting vital research in fire engineering. This fellowship offers $30,000 USD over eight months, facilitating mentorship and collaboration with industry leaders. Aimed at bridging the gap between academic research and practical engineering challenges, it focuses on high-priority topics such as Energy Storage and WUI Fires, enhancing the field's resilience and sustainability.

Overview

Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE) The Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE) established the Educational and Scientific Foundation in 1979. The SFPE Foundation's mission is to enhance the scientific understanding of fire and its interaction with the social, natural, and built environments, towards the vision of engineering a resilient, sustainable, fire-safe world for all. The SFPE Foundation, an affiliate of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers, partners with a wide range of global stakeholders to create, develop, promote, facilitate, disseminate, and support innovative research, education, and applied engineering methods that advance the science and practice of fire engineering where it’s needed most. The Grand Challenges Initiative Applied Research Fellowship This program provides $30,000 USD in fellowship support to an advanced doctoral student or post doc conducting research on an emerging topic in partnership with a host organization that provides industry mentorship and guidance throughout the eight-month fellowship period. Purpose Through the efforts of the 34+ participating organizations in the SFPE Foundation’s Grand Challenges Initiative (GCI), we’ve identified a gap between the innovative research and training taking place in university settings and the emerging challenges that engineering practitioners face in the field. This fellowship program is designed to help close that gap by connecting industry partners with advanced graduate students or post-doctoral researchers conducting applied research on emerging GCI topics relevant to practicing fire engineering professionals and their stakeholders. By matching emerging researchers focused on cutting-edge problems with industry leaders who can help translate that research into professional practice, this program aims to create a pipeline for progress on critical issues. Industry partners will be able to better communicate the challenges they are facing and where (and what kinds of) research would be useful to help address those issues to the researchers who are motivated to apply their skills to practical problems in the field. Both sides will benefit from the exchange of ideas and the experience while developing a shared language and understanding when it comes to approaching applied problems. How It Works In this first pilot year of the program, Jensen Hughes will serve as the host organization for the selected fellow, with SFPE Foundation facilitating the selection process and the administration of the program. Eligible doctoral students and post-docs are invited to apply under one of the open fellowship topics for this year (see below), each of which corresponds to a priority area identified by the GCI working groups. These topics will change each year depending on the needs of the participating industry hosts. One fellowship will be awarded to the top applicant across the two topic pools. In future years, more fellowships may be awarded depending on industry participation. The selected fellow will hold the position for eight months, from September 1 – April 30. During their fellowship period, the student or post-doc will meet weekly with an industry mentor assigned by the host organization (Jensen Hughes) and collaborate on projects relevant to their research focus (not to exceed 15 hours of work per week). At the end of their fellowship term, the fellow will present their research and experience in the program during an open-access Research in Fire Engineering webinar hosted by the SFPE Foundation. Where possible and appropriate, the fellow and their industry host will be provided opportunities to publish findings from their applied work in SFPE or SFPE Foundation affiliated outlets, conferences, and events. Findings will also be shared with the broader GCI Partners network to enable progress in research and education on the most pressing challenges facing fire engineers around the world. Fellowship Topic Areas We invite applications from advanced PhD students and post-docs conducting research germane to two high-priority areas identified in the GCI white papers: Energy Storage, and WUI Fires. One fellowship total will be awarded to the top candidate across both categories. The successful applicant will be able to demonstrate that their research interests are aligned with one of the topics below: Energy Storage – GCI Applied Research Fellow in Energy & Infrastructure For this fellowship position, we seek applicants whose work could be applied to a project developing guidance on understanding the variety of hazards posed by BESS enclosures. Some of the focus areas, while inclusive of the following, are not restricted to: Current testing methodologies to obtain the input data to define the explosion hazard and its limitations with a focus on translating test data to time dependent battery gas release rates. Applicability and limitations of existing methodologies (NFPA 68, CFD models, etc.) for protecting BESS enclosures against explosions. Understanding flame extinction and the role of ventilation in ESS enclosure fires. Status of toxic and flammable battery gas detection technologies for operational as well as research applications and their usage to define inputs for outdoor dispersion model. Interaction of explosion control systems with other fire protection mitigation measures. WUI Fires – GCI Applied Research Fellow in Climate Change Depending on the interests and background of the successful candidate, this fellowship project could focus on different research areas and questions related to community wildfire risk, such as: Engineering analysis and literature review to identify and prioritize gaps in research related to infrastructure (e.g., transportation, water, electrical, communications) for future prioritization. Development of a methodology to identify and delineate communities with limited access and egress including consideration of adapting building codes to the community scale. Assessment and gap analysis of community organizing programs to better understand efficacy of widely adopted programs and guidance. Improvements to real-time situational awareness for detection, suppression, and evacuation during wildfire events.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. Applicants must be full-time PhD students or post-docs in fire engineering or a related field who have completed all required coursework and are working on their dissertation research (if enrolled in a PhD program) and are conducting research on a project related to one of the fellowship topic areas. All applicants must be available to hold the fellowship from September 1 – April 30 (eight months). Applicants can be based at any university worldwide as long as they are enrolled in a fire engineering program or related discipline, or hold a post-doctoral appointment in a fire engineering or related department.

Ineligibility

Additionally, the applicant must not have any conflicts of interest that would prevent them from working with the host organization for the inaugural fellowship year: Jensen Hughes.