8th European Conference on Protective Clothing Upcoming Generation

Protective clothing provides a vital role in workers safety, ergonomics and comfort and with the evolution of the smart textiles (e.g the integration of wearable electronics), beyond physically protected, the workers could be monitored and alerted to various hazards, avoiding possible injuries. As a result of this evolution, the arrival of smarter protective equipment and new wearable gadgets is making life safer and more productive for workers from several industries.

This 8th European Conference on Protective Clothing is organized by CITEVE - Technological Centre for the Textile and Clothing Industries of Portugal in association with the European Society of Protective Clothing (ESPC), the Federation of the European Union Fire Officer Associations (FEU), the Institute for Safety (IFV) and the European Safety Federation (ESF).

A 3-day conference, in the unique setting of Porto historic city, will bring together industry innovators, technology providers, researchers, clusters and other actors from the Protective Clothing industry sector from across Europe.

An event full of opportunities to explore, learn, share and of course do networking, through an attractive well-balanced programme of presentations, posters and discussion sessions is awaiting you! The conference will embrace domains like integrated electronics/smart textiles, product safety, ergonomics, comfort, sustainability, regulatory aspects and, in addition to the regular ECPC/NOKOBETEF, a supplementary and important theme day dedicated to the needs of Firefighters will contribute to the conference success.

SCOPE

The conference intends to be a platform to disseminate, to exchange and to discuss the results of research, project developments and implementation programmes related to protective clothing, with a strong focus on user protection and well-being, installing a dialogue between industries and academic organizations. In addition, the purpose of the "Firefighters Theme Day" is to initiate interaction between end-users and scientists to create a better understanding of their worlds. Industrial partners can benefit from this to develop more task-specific products based on the functional needs of the end-users.

TARGET GROUPS

This conference is intended for researchers, designers, manufacturers, purchasers, experts in health and safety and human factors, public authorities (procurement), and end-users.

GENERAL TOPICS

- New methods and standards

- Thermoregulatory systems for protective clothing

- Smart systems and wearables for protective clothing

- New materials, functionalizations and technologies

- Multi-risk protection

- Sports and Medical Protection

- Sustainability and circular economy

- Ergonomics and Comfort

- Digitisation/Industry 4.0 and PPE performance modelling

- Selection, safe use, maintenance and lifecycle

SPECIAL FIREFIGHTERS' PROTECTIVE CLOTHING

- Task-specific clothing

- System approach

- Textile layering as adaptive protection

- Cooling and (forced) ventilation

- Integrated sensor techniques

- Protective layers against hazardous materials in smoke

- Care and maintenance

IMPORTANT DATES: Abstracts Submission 30th November 2017 | Acceptance Announcement 31st January 2018 | Early registration prior 01st March 2018 | Conference dates from 7th to 9th May 2018

LANGUAGE: The official language of the conference is English. All submissions (including oral and poster presentations) shall be written and presented in English.