SBSS – Safe Battery Summer School
The Combustion Institute and IAFSS Summer School on Battery Safety will bring together doctoral students, post-doctoral fellows and a limited number of Master students as well as distinguished lecturers from around the world. The summer school will be held near Lund University in Sweden between August 24th and 28th, 2026.
The summer school will cover topics from an introduction to cell design, fire and explosion risks to mitigation and research methods that can be used to investigate the risks associated. The objective is also to build a strong network among the participants and with the lecturers. The course will be awarded 3 ECTS.
We provide free accommodation and registration so the only cost that needs to be covered by the participant is travel to the venue.
We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the sponsors that make this event possible:
The endorsement by the International Fire Safety Consortium is also acknowledged.
Open for applications
The requirements for being eligible for application is that you are currently enrolled as a PhD-student, M.Sc.-student or Postdoc with a focus on battery safety.
The number of seats is limited to 40.
Expectations are that you
- Send in the application below no later than April 26th (decision is expected by April 30th)
- Submit a poster about your battery related research at least one week before the event.
- Submit a small writing assignment (~2 pages) within two weeks after the event (if you want to receive the credits, 3 ECTS).
Programme
The programme is still under development, but will cover the following themes:
- Battery basics – Cell design, introduction to electrochemistry, Pack Design
- Thermal runaway – Initiation, propagation, gas production, statistics
- Fire dynamics of batteries at different scales
- Modeling of battery fires
- Explosion risks
- Battery fire suppression and detection
- Fire Service response
- Research methods – Trigger methods, Gas composition measurements, Calorific methods
- Important standards for EV and BESS
Confirmed speakers (will be expanded)
- Dr. Francesco Restuccia (King’s College London, UK)
- Dr. Lorenz Boeck (Rembe, US)
- Dr. Ola Willstrand (RISE, SE)
- Mr. Adam Barowy (UL, US)
- Dr. Annika Ahlberg Tidblad (Volvo Cars, SE)
- Dr. Jonathan Hodges (UL, US)
- Prof. Reza Younesi, Uppsala University, SE
- Dr. Jens Groot, Polestar, SE
- Dr. Jonna Hynynen, Chalmers University, SE
- Prof. Ofodike (DK) Ezekoye, Univeristy of Texas, US
Additionally, we will organize a poster session, social activities and off-site lab demonstration. More information will come later.
The venue
The summer school will be organized at Flädie Vineyard just outside Lund where will have both lectures, meals and accommodation. During the week we will also visit a lab for battery fire demonstration.
Transfer to and from Copenhagen airport is easy, with only approximately 30 minutes train ride to Lund C, where shuttle buses will be arranged for the last 10-15 min journey to the site.
Organisers
The event is organized by Lund University with strong support from a scientific advisory group which supports the event with both relevant topics topics and suggestions for lecturers.
Organizing committee
- Ass. Prof. Marcus Runefors, Division of Fire Safety Engineering (Chair)
- Prof. Patrick van Hees, Division of Fire Safety Engineering
- Dr. Konrad Wilkens, Division of Fire Safety Engineering
- Prof. Elna Heimdal-Nilsson, Department of Aviation and Aeronautical Sciences
Scientific advisory group
- Prof. Guillermo Rein, Imperial College London, UK
- Dr. Francesco Restuccia, Kings College London, UK
- Prof. Bart Merci, Ghent University, Belgium
- Prof. Stanislav Stoliarov, University of Maryland, USA
- Mr. Adam Barowy, Underwriters Laboratories, USA
- Dr. Ola Willstrand, Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE), Sweden
Contact and questions
Marcus Runefors
The Division of Fire Safety Engineering, Lund University
marcus [dot] runefors [at] brand [dot] lth [dot] se (marcus[dot]runefors[at]brand[dot]lth[dot]se)