Bart Merci wins ERC Synergy Grant with spacecraft fire protection project

(06-11-2025) With the FireSpace project, Prof Bart Merci (Faculty of Engineering and Architecture) and colleagues from Lille, Paris and Bremen will conduct pioneering research on the dynamics of fire in space context.

This work will be funded by an ERC Synergy Grant, the most ambitious grants within the top ERC programme.

FireSpace

The exploration of space is a strong ambition of humanity. However, fire incidents are a persistent problem in this regard, both in space shuttles and space stations. The greatly reduced gravity, combined with increased oxygen concentration, creates conditions that are very different from those on Earth. As a result, our current knowledge is insufficient to design good solutions.

In FireSpace, the consortium (Prof Serge Bourbigot - Centrale Lille Institut; Prof Guillaume Legros - Sorbonne Université; Dr Florian Meyer - ZARM, Universität Bremen; Prof Bart Merci – Ghent University) will develop an integrated fire safety strategy. This includes both passive fire protection (i.e. fire-retardant materials) and active measures (e.g. acoustic or electromagnetic waves). Experiments will be conducted with, among others, a falling tower, parabolic flights and even a rocket. Bart Merci and his team will be responsible for advanced computer simulations, ranging from a set-up at scale to a realistic configuration of part of a manned space shuttle or space station.

About the ERC

The European Research Council (ERC), founded by the European Union in 2007, is Europe's leading funding organisation for excellent frontier research. It funds creative researchers of every nationality and age to carry out projects across Europe. The ERC offers four core grant schemes: Starting Grants, Consolidator Grants, and Advanced Grants for individual researchers, and Synergy Grants for teams of 2 to 4 top talents. With a project budget of 10 million euros and a project duration of 6 years, ERC Synergy offers an excellent opportunity to tackle deep scientific questions by creatively combining research lines.

Researchers inside and outside Ghent University wishing to apply for an ERC Grant with our university as host institution can contact the EU team for advice and support.