Thermal Protective Clothing for Firefighters

Dr Guowen Song lectures in human ecology at the University of Alberta, Canada. His research concentrates on the protection and comfort of textile materials and garments with particular emphasis on the understanding and modelling of heat and moisture transfer in clothing. Sumit Mandal is a Postdoctoral Scientist in the Laboratory for Protection and Physiology at Empa- Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Switzerland. He did his PhD in Textile and Apparel Science from the Department of Human Ecology, University of Alberta, Canada. He received his Bachelor and Master Degrees in Textile Technology from Calcutta University, India and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong. He also received a Post Graduate Certificate in Higher Education from Nottingham Trent University, United Kingdom. His current research focuses on protection and comfort of textiles. He has published numerous research papers and book chapters related to textiles and clothing. Before his PhD, he served as an Assistant Professor (Textile and Apparel Technology) in India. In his academic career, he has received prestigious scholarships and awards including the FS Chia Doctoral Scholarship, Alberta Innovates Graduate Scholarship, Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Scholarship, and Betty Crown Graduate Scholarship in Textile and Apparel Science. Dr. René Rossi is Head of the Laboratory for Protection and Physiology at EMPA in Switzerland which focusses on interactions between materials and human skin, as well as to optimize the protection and ergonomics of systems. The products developed in collaboration with industry are used in the fields of occupational safety (accident prevention), sport and medical applications.