Key details
Professor Steve M.V. Gwynne
Professor of Evacuation and Pedestrian Dynamics
Steve Gwynne is currently Professor of Evacuation and Pedestrian Dynamics at the University of Greenwich and Lund University.
Steve has nearly 30 years of experience in pedestrian dynamics, human behaviour in fire and evacuation modelling. He has worked in government roles (e.g. National Research Council Canada and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, US), academic roles (Lund University (Sweden), Memorial University (Canada), King’s College, London (UK), Univ. Maryland(US), Univ. Waterloo (Canada) and University of Greenwich(UK)) and in consultancy (e.g. Movement Strategies, UK; Hughes Associates, US).
Steve has been involved in data collection, model development/application, procedural design, and regulatory development. He has worked in the aviation, maritime, rail and built environments, and worked in large-scale disasters (e.g. wildfire incidents). Steve has developed and delivered numerous academic and industrial courses (e.g. SFPE and ICC) and supervised PhD students, Masters students and undergraduate projects in North America, the EU, and the UK. He has 100+ peer-reviewed publications. He co-authors several chapters in the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE) Handbook and was a co-author of the SFPE Guides to Human Behaviour in Fire and Very Tall Buildings (both 2nd Edition). He has also contributed to NFPA, ISO, IMO, ICC, NBC and SFPE regulatory and guidance documents.
Responsibilities within the university
Steve is Professor of Evacuation and Pedestrian Dynamics within CSRPS (within M34Impact).
Research / Scholarly interests
- Pedestrian Movement
- Protective Actions / Evacuation
- Simulation Modelling
- Engineering Calculations
- Safety in Built Environment / Aviation / Maritime / Rail settings
- Wildfire Urban Interface Community Evacuation
- Data Collection
- Field Observations – Exercises, Drills, Movement in Public Spaces.
Recent publications
Article
Roberts, Ben M. , Adzic, Filipa, Hamilton-Smith, Ailsa, Iddon, Christopher , Wild, Oliver , Cook, Malcolm , Gwynne, Steve , Hunt, Aoife , Malki-Epshtein, Liora (2025), Air quality at mass gatherings: assessing ventilation and occupancy in marquees to evaluate airborne infection risk during the COVID-19 pandemic. Elsevier Ltd.. In: , , , . Elsevier Ltd., Building and Environment: 113847 ISSN: 0360-1323 (Print), 1873-684X (Online) (doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2025.113847).
Spearpoint, Michael , Templeton, Anne, Gwynne, Steve, Nash, Claire , Xie, Hui , Kimball, Amanda (2025), Evaluating guidance on fire evacuation from high‑rise residential buildings using Dr Rita Fahy’s research. Springer. In: , , , . Springer, Fire Technology ISSN: 0015-2684 (Print), 1572-8099 (Online) (doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10694-025-01756-4) NB Item availability restricted.
Hunt, Aoife L. E. , Galea, Edwin R., Lawrence, Peter J., Frost, Ian R. , Gwynne, Steve M. V. (2020), Simulating movement devices used in hospital evacuation. Springer. In: , , , . Springer, Fire Technology, 56 (5) . pp. 2209-2240 ISSN: 0015-2684 (Print), 1572-8099 (Online) (doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10694-020-00971-5).
Conference proceedings
Kinateder, Max , Bénichou, Noureddine, Dugstad, Ann-Kristin, Gwynne, Steve , Berthiaume, Maxine , Ronchi, Enrico , Geoerg, Paul , Alexander, Michael , Byrne, Robert Michael , Kimball, Amanda (2025), The 2024 Roxborough Park Wildfire Evacuation Drill : lessons learned after planning, running, and studying a community evacuation exercise. Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (ISCRAM). In: , , In: ISCRAM 2025 Conference Committee (ed.), 2025: 22nd International ISCRAM Conference, Halifax, Canada: Managing and Responding to Coastal Disasters and Climate Change. Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (ISCRAM), Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada 2025: 22nd International ISCRAM Conference, Halifax, Canada: Managing and Responding to Coastal Disasters and Climate Change (doi: https://doi.org/10.59297/am3g5x02).