IBRN 4th Forum

Dr Jack Denny holds WUN blast research workshop in Cape Town in September

Last month on September 7-8th Dr Jack Denny from the International Blast Injury Research Network (IBRN) Team and Infrastructure Group (CMEES) at the University of Southampton, ran a 2-day workshop at the University of Cape Town (UCT), 'Building resilience to urban blast threats'. This was part of Jack’s Worldwide Universities Network Research Development Fund (WUN-RDF) award. Building on the International Blast Injury Research Network, this project has developed a network specifically focussed on blast engineering research to better understand, protect, and mitigate harm from urban explosive threats.

The in-person workshop included research presentations, discussions and planning for collaborative experiments being undertaken as part of the project, which aim to examine aspects of the 2020 Beirut port explosion at reduced-scale. On day 1 of the workshop, the team also conducted two blast tests using UCT’s unique blast chamber facility. The network brings together three WUN institutions with strong blast-related research activity, including the University of Southampton, University of Sheffield, and the University of Cape Town, in addition to partners from the American University of Beirut, University of Cambridge, Action on Armed Violence and Dstl.