Background
Wildfires are a problem in the Netherlands and increasingly will become more problematic in the future. Understanding how to prevent wildfires, how to act in case a person witnesses a fire starting and how to communicate as well as teach this knowledge is crucial. Thus, in this internship, in collaboration with the Netherlands Institute for Public Safety (NIPV) and the Fire Services, we will assess what the most crucial aspect of fire prevention and reacting to dangers are. Specifically, you will conduct a needs assessment. Thus, you will survey existing materials and data from the fire services and NIPV to understand what these professionals consider the most important aspects. This information will then be contrasted with the existing research on fire prevention, human behaviour and fire fighting.
Type of research
Qualitative research, literature work and interviews. You will analyse existing public communications by the fire departments, interview people working at the fire department and NIPV as well as analyse existing literature. Depending on the study outcome and set-up, there is an opportunity to publish this research in an international peer-reviewed journal.
Literature
- Karemaker, M. ten Hoor, G. A., Hagen, R. R., van Schie, C. H., & Ruiter, R. A. (2025). The effects of the Fire Safety at Home programme on four fire safety behaviours among older adults. Fire Safety Journal, 104337
- Karemaker, M., ten Hoor, G. A., Hagen, R. R., van Schie, C. H., Boersma, K., & Ruiter, R. A. (2021). Elderly about home fire safety: A qualitative study into home fire safety knowledge and behaviour. Fire Safety Journal, 124, 103391.
- de Hoop, E., Brouwers, H. J., Buijs, S. L., Egberts, L., van Gerrevink, M. J., de Ruiter, M. C., & Veraverbeke, S> (2022). Multi-stakeholder analysis of fire risk reduction in a densely populated area in the Netherlands: a case-study in the Veluwe area. Environmental Research Letters, 17(9), 095011.
- https://nipv.nl/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/20230123-NIPV-Wildfire-Signal-23.pdf
- https://nipv.nl/onderzoek/natuurbranden
Background information organisation
The NIPV is the Dutch public research and knowledge institute that links and strengthens ties between the country's 25 safety regions, central government and partner organisations in the crisis management domain through its four service pillars - scientific research, education, support and information. During this internship, you wil work together with researchers from the department Fire Safety. In this department, (applied) scientific knowledge in the field of fire services is developed, interpreted and shared. In addition, the department contributes to the substantive development of fire service education based on its expertise.
requirements
Because you will be interacting with professionals across the Netherlands, speaking Dutch fluently is required. Note that during this internship, we aim for the student to be partially at the NIPV and partially at the UT.
availability
Flexible. This internship is highly recommended (!) precursor for the master thesis project on the same topic. This project for 1 student.
Interested?
Please contact the PCRS internship coordinator Miriam Oostinga (m.s.d.oostinga@utwente.nl).