As part of its outreach activities, the UNESCO Chair in DRR & Societal Safety in SE Med, in collaboration with CERIDES – Excellence in Innovation and Technology at European University Cyprus, co-hosted X-Fire 2025 which took place in Nicosia, Cyprus, from 23 to 25 September 2025, hosted by CERIDES – Excellence in Innovation and Technology under the COST Action NERO (CA22164). The Workshop focused on:
A. Modeling of extreme wildfire events: Wildland fire behavior dynamics, Data Assimilation, Innovations in simulation and visualization techniques.
B. Observing extreme wildfire events: Remote sensing of extreme wildland fire behavior, Field campaigns, Innovations in sensor technology and data processing.
C. Drivers, trends, and future projections of extreme wildfire events: Environmental drivers and predictive methods, Climatologies and trends, Future projections.
UNESCO Chairholder Prof George Boustras provided the opening Keynote of the Workshop and spoke about the challenges related to disaster prevention management for Cyprus and the wider region of South Eastern Mediterranean. George presented the work of the newly established UNESCO Chair and emphasized its focus on the topic with particular interest in the effects on SE Med, especially in a year that almost all Med Countries were hit by mega-fires.