Aiming to gather international Bamboo researchers under the same roof and promote discussions on the future potential of Bamboo as widespread building construction material, the 2017 International Symposium on Bamboo in the Urban Environment was held in Bogor, Indonesia.

Hosted by the Institute Pertanian Bogor (IPB Bogor Agricultural University) in collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh, USA, International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR), Coventry University, British Council, Institute of International Education this symposium brought together many of the world’s leading experts in Bamboo. Attendees included experts from USA, UK, China, Australia, Colombia, Ghana, India, Philippines, The Netherlands, among others. Representing Australia, a group of researchers from the UQ Fire presented their ongoing work.

Ms Angela Solarte, Mr Mateo Gutiérrez, Mr Ian Pope, took part of the symposium and discussed the outcomes of their fire research on Bamboo. They were also able to liaise with Bamboo experts and share their experience related to the importance of understanding the fire behaviour of this material. Mateo presented on current research outcomes and future UQ Fire studies on round Bamboo and engineering Bamboo products.

The conference focused primarily on the structural behaviour of Bamboo systems that have been developed in the last years. However, the UQ delegation took the lead addressing key fire issues; consequently being asked to continue participating as collaborators in order to enhance further knowledge in this area of study.

As part of the conference, the UQ bamboo team was able to visit some of the Bamboo buildings that are popular in Indonesia. UQ Fire would like to thank the organisers for the invitation to participate in this conference and are keen to collaborate to bring knowledge to this materia