English
SlovenčinaScientific fields: Security Sciences
Faculty of Wood Sciences and Technology, Department of Fire Protection; Department of Physics, Electrical Engineering and Applied Mechanics; Department of Chemistry and Chemical Technologies
Main research focus
Comprehensive and systematic study of fire parameters and its consequences through material research and socio-economic assessment. Progressive analytical and forensic methods, application of thermal imaging and electrical measurements, mathematical calculations, mathematical and computer-aided modelling as part of fire dynamics are used to research the composition, structure and properties of structural materials in terms of their contribution to the occurrence and development of fire and the formation of toxic combustion products threatening the health and life of building users as well as firefighters and rescuers. Fire-technical properties of materials and toxicity of the environment affected by fire are subsequently used as key information for fire prevention, fire safety of buildings, identification of causes of fires and for the safety and health protection of responding rescue units and evacuated or rescued persons. A prescriptive approach is applied as well as the use of a combination of results of traditional and progressive fire testing methods to assess the safe application of materials and products. The results of the modified methods are used as input parameters for fire risk models applicable in practice.
Reasons why the team can be considered top, research-based, or excellent:
Team members have more than 170 publications in the Web of Science Core Collection database with over 2200 citations and an H-index of 24 (2025). Team members publish in renowned journals of the CCC and WOS Core coll. databases with a high impact factor and their works are highly cited - Kačíková: 59 WOS, 675 WOS citations, H-index 15, first author of an article in Bioresource Technology IF=5.039; which has 134 WOS citations; Majlingová: 27 WOS, 200 WOS citations, H-index 7; Zachar: 23 WOS, 133 WOS citations, H-index 7; Kubovský: 30 WOS, 386 WOS citations, H-index 13; Kačík: 117 WOS, 1364 WOS citations, H-index-23; The team's H-index is 24 (updated on 19.05.2023).
The team members, as internationally accepted personalities, are members of international scientific committees of conferences on the topic of safety research, fire protection and rescue services in the Slovak Republic, the Czech Republic, Serbia and Hungary. They jointly solve domestic and international projects in which they act in the positions of project leaders and responsible researchers. Within the framework of the solved research projects, they develop and modify methodologies of basic and applied research. They are also reviewers of projects and contributions to important domestic and foreign scientific and scientific-professional journals. A scientific school has been created, doctoral students have graduated, who have held important positions in the academic sphere (2 are already professors at Slovak universities, 1 is an associate professor) and in “Fire and Rescue Department” is focused on the characterization of materials and the determination of fire-technical parameters, the application of progressive methods in characterizing the contribution of materials to the development of a fire, but also on the issue of applications of mathematical modelling of internal fire parameters in response to current safety practice requirements.