The lab is focusing on safety research and education and the project has been funded by Lund University as a new strategic initiative with a total of SEK 3 million. The project group consists of CASE researcher Enrico Ronchi, Division of Fire Safety Engineering at Faculty of Engineering and his faculty colleagues Carmelo D'Agostino and Carl Johnsson (Transport and Roads), CASE researcher Giedre Gefenaite (Department of Health Sciences) and Kristoffer Mattisson (Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine) at the Faculty of Medicine.
– We have a longstanding cooperation with Waseda University on the use of novel technology to study and improve safety. We both believe that by combining various cutting-edge technologies and methods, such as virtual reality, driving simulation and geographical information systems, research can address important safety challenges, says Enrico Ronchi.
The bilateral workshop will be on the most recent research activities conducted by the two universities in the area of pedestrian dynamics, evacuation and ageing. Ronchi presents current projects on evacuation at Lund University and CASE coordinator Steven Schmidt the projects on ageing.
What can we learn from Japan?
– Safety research at Waseda University considers scenarios that are not as usual in Sweden but that may be more and more relevant in the future. We have a lot to learn from Japan related to how to handle densely populated areas with older adults and large crowds. Just as an example, we learned how they deal with large crowds visiting Disneyland in Tokyo, Enrico Ronchi continues.
And what can Japan learn from us?
– Our research at Lund University puts a great emphasis on the use of novel methods using cutting-edge simulation technology to study safety. The colleagues in Japan have shown great interest in our research methods , says Enrico Ronchi.
