IABSE National Groups
A National Group (NG) of IABSE, according to the By-laws, consists of all members of the Association within one country. IABSE is present in 93 countries and is represented by 57 National Groups—which is growing every year. Please keep sending your NG news and updates to Brindarica Bose at [email protected]. Below is a comprehensive report of National Groups (NG) onsite and online activities, which took place within the last few months. For future events organised by the NGs, please refer to: https://iabse.org/Events/Calendar-of-Events
Chile
IABSE promotes the collaboration and interaction between IABSE National Groups and their members to exchange knowledge and experiences. Try to contact the IABSE National Group Chair to get in touch with local professionals during your next technical visit abroad. Earlier this year, Swiss NG member, Kristian Schellenberg visited the Puente de Chacao bridge with the Chilean IABSE NG team members. The Puente de Chacao is currently the largest bridge construction site in South America. The multiple-span suspension bridge with main spans of 1’055 and 1’155 m is progressing in the construction of all three towers and the anchor blocks. Those who were present at the site visit included: Matias Valenzuela (IABSE Chile chair); Jairo Quinteros (IABSE Chile member); Carlo Castilla (Fiscal Inspector Chacao Bridge); Kattya Adasme (Responsible for the south area Chacao Bridge); and Felipe Romero (Construction Inspector Chacao Bridge).
Matias Valenzuela with Kris Schellenberg and the team Puente de Chacao site
North Macedonian Group
We are happy to announce a new National Group for the North Macedonian with six members who were present at the founding meeting at Skopje, North Macedonia. The official election led to the following Committee: Darko Nakov (Chair); Denis Popovski (Vice-Chair); Marija Docevska (Secretary). This new NG is also organising the 20th International Symposium of MASE on 28-29 September, along with the Macedonian Association of Structural Engineers (MASE), Faculty of Civil Engineering-Skopje, Institute of Earthquake engineering and engineering seismology (IZIIS), Macedonian Association of Earthquake Engineering (MAEE), Chamber of certified architects and engineers of North Macedonia; and will be supported by the Ministry of transport and communications of North Macedonia. Further information can be found here: mase.gf.ukim.edu.mk
North Macedonian first NG meeting
Austria
The Chair of NG Austria (Alfred Strauss) and Secretaries (Alois Vorwagner, Roman Geier) met in January to discuss their online and onsite activites for 2023. Like every year this year too they are planning to organise online webinars, and site visits / group events.
Austrian Chair and Secretaries discussing 2023 plan
Italy
The first annual meeting of the year took place online with many members participating and discussing programmes and activities for 2023. The meeting was chaired by Maria Pina Limongelli and Vice-Chaired by Fabrizio Palmisano. Another meeting for the Task Groups and their contributions, also took place in February. The first DUO webinar for 2023 was conducted in association with the US Group in February too, and you shall find the video recording under IABSE’s eLearning, webinar page.
Italian NG conducted its first annual meeting this year
United States
The US Group had their first annual meeting, and the first webinar was organised on the 6 February (recording under IABSE website, webinars) on the topic of ‘Sustainable Bridge Design’ as part of the DUO webinar series organized by IABSE Commission 1 in collaboration with the Italian and US National Groups of IABSE. Juan Sobrino and Stephanie Lamerichs discussed the topic “Less and Better: The way forward for sustainable bridges”. The US National Group has also entered an agreement with the Registered Continuing Education Program (RCEP), a nationwide portal for professional development education and record-keeping to provide continuing education credit hours valid throughout the United States for attendance to technical meeting, presentations, and live webinars organized by the US National Group. They are finalizing the details and plan on offering PDH for their webinars starting in the Spring.
Belgium
IABSE Vice President, José C Matos visited the Belgium NG Secretary Bart de Pauw in Brussels on 15 April 2023. This meeting provided an opportunity to learn about how the Belgian NG is structured and to discuss the main NG activities and how IABSE could organise more activities for young engineers. Additionally, there were some propositions and discussions about the development of joint European activities, with other European NGs. It is important to discuss at European level, topics that are relevant for Europe, and activities that can be held in Brussels, Belgium.
J.Matos and B.de Pauw meeting in Brussels
Denmark
The Danish NG organised a book launch party for IABSE’s recent publication, the Case Studies 3: Investigation of the Chirajara Bridge Collapse. This event was attended by two of the authors Klaus Ostenfeld and Christos T. Georgakis, both based in Denmark. Publication of Case Study 3 followed the very successful IABSE webinar held on 27 May 2021 where the findings of the investigations into the tragic collapse of the Chirajara Bridge were shared with the engineering community. You can also find this book in IABSE’s Online shop for purchase. IABSE members can view the book for free under their Members Area.
Danish NG Chair, B. MacAulay with the authors K. Ostenfeld and C.T. Georgakis
Brazil
The Brazilian NG are co-organising on the 10 and 11 of May, 2023, the XIV Brazilian Conference on Bridges and Structures (XIV CBPE), promoted by ABPE (Brazilian Association of Bridges and Structures – Brazilian Group of IABSE) and ABECE (Brazilian Association of Consulting Engineers). In the three days of the Conference, 20 main lectures will be given by major Brazilian and foreign specialists in the construction and design of bridges and other structures. The main objective of the event is to present to the Brazilian engineers the more recent progresses in Civil Engineering technology, as well as the great civil works being executed in Brazil.
India
The Indian NG, including the SC and OC of the IABSE New Delhi Congress 2023 (20-22 September 2023) arranged a meeting with Tina Vejrum (IABSE President) during her visit to India, at the congress venue in late February. During this meeting, preparations for the Congress was discussed. The SC informed that if requested, they are happy to organise special sessions, panel discussions, or any other activity related to the theme and topics of the Congress. For further details about please visit our website at: https://www.iabse.org/NewDelhi2023
T. Vejrum’s meeting with the Indian National Group and Congress organisers
Ecuador
On 1 - 3 March Jose Matos, IABSE Vice President from Portugal, visited Eva Lantsoght at Universidad San Francisco de Quito, in Ecuador. On 1 March, he visited the labs of USFQ, such as the materials lab (as directed by Francisco Jativa) and the structures lab (as directed by Adrian Tola). Jose informed all about IABSE and gave a presentation on postgraduate programs at UMinho (Portugal) and on the research group ISISE to students and staff of civil engineering from USFQ.
On 2 March, Jose presented about bridge management in Portugal and internationally during the workshop on existing bridges, Matias Valenzuela, IABSE Chile NG Chair, presented virtually about seismic details of existing bridges in Chile. On 3 March, Jose presented about bridge management in Portugal, with recommendations for Ecuador, during the YouTube and Facebook live program of the chamber of construction. Eva Lantsoght, who is the Vice-Chair of the SEI Editorial Board, took this opportunity to discuss about the upcoming Latin American SEI issue with all present, which helped initiate papers for this special issue, which will be published in May 2024. Next year, IABSE Congress will be held at San Jose, Costa Rica, from 25-27 September; and preparations for this event was also discussed.
Ecuadorian NG event
Presentations at Viernes de la academia radio
Eva Lantsoght with Jose Matos and Francisco Jativa at the materials lab
Jose Matos visits the structures lab with Adrian Tola
Workshop on existing bridges by Jose Matos
Germany and Czech Rep.
The German Group of IABSE is organising the 7th 'The Young Engineers Colloquium 2023 (YEC)' as an annual event for young engineers and pratictioners at the Technische Universität Dresden from 30-31 May, 2023, in association with the Czech Group of IABSE. This colloquium offers the opportunity to young engineers to present their interesting project from university, research or construction practice to an audience of fellow engineers from the civil engineering sector. It provides attendees with an overview of current research topics as well as challenging construction projects, and is an excellent platform to exchange ideas among experienced and young engineers. You shall find more details here: www.iabse.de/en/yec-2023/introduction/
Colombia and Chile
Both NGs collaborated in order to improve the knowledge of ‘Bridge Engineering', and set up an online event on 24 March 2023, which focused on three topics: design, construction and maintenance. Such events bridge the knowledge gap, and also help in promoting IABSE's activities to all. The Speakers of this event were Dr. Matias Valenzuela S., Mg Marcelo Marquez, and Mg Mary Gonzalez.