HEAT-SHIELD SYMPOSIUM
Monday, December 5th, 2016 , Ljubljana, Slovenia
The aim of this symposium was a “call to arms” to scientists and stakeholders to prepare the next generations for the unavoidable detrimental consequences of climate change and to review current approaches available for mitigating the effects of heat waves.
It was a great honor for the HEAT-SHIELD project to “host” the welcome address of Violeta Bulc, the European commissionaire for Transport. With transport as one of the five strategic industries for the Heat-Shield project and the importance of maintaining concentration and cognitive performance during al kind of working conditions – including periods with heat stress the commissionaire was very interested in our work and invited for future information exchange and collaboration.
During the subsequent symposium on-going work and future projects were presented with special attention to the problems experienced by European workers, but also with results and analyzes addressing the global perspectives of climate changes and heat stress issues.
Opening and welcome speech by Igor Mekjavic (PPTR2016-organizer and Professor at Josef Stefan Institute in Ljubljana).
Lučka Kajfež Bogataj (Heat-Shield liaison to supporting stakeholders and professor at University of Ljubljana) initiated the symposia with a presentation highlighting the importance of inter-sectoral collaboration.
Following the opening symposia Igor Mekjavic (University of Ljubljana) and Heat-Shield project coordinator Lars Nybo (University of Copenhagen) had an interesting dialogue with the EU-commissionaire for transport Violeta Bulc.