With the presence of over 300 participants from 19 countries, the International Symposium of the Association of Structural Engineers of Serbia 2024 was successfully held. Representatives from the academic community, the construction industry, companies supporting the ASES, scientists, researchers, and engineers – with a diversity of participant profiles and content, the ASES Symposium lived up to the (high) expectations.
There were five keynote presentations on topics such as bridges, vibrations, FRP structures, rehabilitation, and the impact of steel and concrete structures on the environment, all of which garnered great attention from the professional audience. The keynote speakers were Kilian Karius, Vitomir Racić, Marko Pavlović, Snežana Marinković, and Radenko Pejović.
Traditional awards and recognitions were presented:
The Award for Best Professional Achievement was given to Dimitrije Aleksić, Milan Pandrc, Šerif Dunica, and Saša Stošić for the Project: "STATION BUILDING WITHIN THE 'BELGRADE CENTER' RAILWAY STATION COMPLEX." The Award for Best Scientific Achievement was given to Isidora Jakovljević, Andrija Zorić, and Nikola Rajić. Special recognitions were also awarded to Distinguished Members, Boško Stevanović and Dragoslav Stojić.
The proceedings contain a total of 89 papers – 5 keynote presentations, 4 awarded papers, and 80 scheduled to be presented in the working sessions. Special attention was given to young authors, whose presentations were evaluated by a four-member jury based on the following criteria: 1) presentation (clarity, structure, consistency between oral and visual presentation), 2) technical competencies (objectives, methods, results), 3) motivation, and 4) relevance, i.e., the significance of the topic. The awarded colleagues are: Nadica Angova Kolevska, Maja Ranisavljević, and Milica Petrović, who will have the opportunity to present their extended and revised papers in the "Building Materials and Structures" journal, co-published by ASES.
Out of 26 papers planned for presentation in the poster session, 23 were exhibited, with special recognition at the symposium's closing ceremony for awardees Ivan Nackov and Stefan Mitrović.
The roundtable discussion on the topic: "Towards the Mandatory Use of BIM in Structural Engineering" attracted a large number of participants and sparked a lively discussion. It is evident that there is a need for more discussions on this topic, with the organization of panels and consultations suggested for that purpose.
The final session of the Symposium was a panel discussion titled: "Current Scientific Projects from Serbia and the Region – Opportunities for Application and Exploitation of Results." The main speakers were the vice-deans for science of the faculties of civil engineering in Zagreb and Belgrade, Ana Baričević and Miroslav Marjanović, as well as representatives of companies from Serbia: STRABAG – Marko Radulović, PENTA GE CO – Mihajlo Ristić, and PUT INŽENJERING – Denis Milenović.
At the ceremony held on October 8, 2024, the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia announced the opening of two new project calls (IDEAS 2024 and the Program for Cooperation between Serbian Science and the Diaspora: Support for Research Visits of Diaspora Scientists) and promoted 11 projects selected for funding within the Program of Cooperation with the Serbian Scientific Diaspora – Joint Research Projects – DIASPORA 2023. One of the projects approved for funding is "DIGIDRAIN: City-scale digital twins for urban drainage systems – bringing 'smart' to water infrastructure," led by asst. prof. dr Miloš Milašinović. The project team consists of researchers from the Digital Water Engineering Lab of the Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Belgrade, in collaboration with partners from the Institute for Artificial Intelligence Research and Development of Serbia and the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture GAF Niš.
The project will be carried out with significant support from prominent members of the Serbian scientific diaspora from the Netherlands (KWR Water Research Institute and TU Delft), the United Kingdom (Imperial College London), Australia (Queensland University of Technology), and Canada (Toronto Metropolitan University).
The objective of the project is to develop a methodology for creating digital twins for stormwater drainage systems and to implement this innovative approach in the management of urban utility infrastructure.
We wish the team success in implementing the project!
At the beginning of September, our colleague, Assistant Professor Marko Marinković, presented the Faculty of Civil Engineering in a great way at the International Scientific and Professional Earthquake Engineering Conference held in Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan), organized by the International Association of Earthquake Engineering Experts.
Assistant Professor Marko Marinković was held a guest lecture "An innovative solution for seismic decoupling of infill walls that is both cost-efficient and easy to install", and was also honored with an award for outstanding contribution to the development of earthquake engineering.
Congratulation!
Assistant professor dr Aleksandar Sekulić and teaching assistant Ognjen Antonijević represent the Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Belgrade, in a consortium with Agri Marketplace (Portugal), The Association Of Balkan Eco Innovations (Serbia), and GILAB d.o.o. (Serbia), which recently received funding for the project titled „Developing Carbon Offset Certification and Trading Platform for Mediterranean Carbon Farming“ under the EIT Food call.
The project addresses the following challenges: De-risk transition to Regenerative Agriculture (Reg Agri) for farmers, Reduce the cost of Reg Agri transition to business and consumers, and Demonstrate improvement in Soil Health & Biodiversity, by establishing a high-quality Carbon offsets certification and trading platform for the Mediterranean with focus on olives and almonds. These crops have a high potential to capture carbon in biomass and soil and reduce GHG emissions from production when regenerative practices are applied.
We wish the team success in implementing the project!