Network

The Research Institute for Geo-Hydrological Protection (IRPI) is an institute of the Italian National Research Council (CNR). It designs and executes scientific research and technological development in the fields of natural hazards, environmental protection, and the sustainable use of geo-resources by operating at different geographical and temporal scales, and in different climatic, physiographic, and geological zones. The research & development activities focus on natural hazards, specifically geohydrological hazards, including floods and flash floods, debris flows, landslides, erosion, and hazards in glacial and coastal areas. The primary goal is improving current knowledge to define new criteria, methods, models, and tools for predicting and preventing geo-hydrological hazards and their consequences, for defining and mitigating geo-hydrological risks, and for the design of effective and sustainable adaptation strategies. A strong partnership is established between IRPI and the Italian National agencies managing road and train infrastructures (ANAS and RFI). The products & services offered by IRPI consist of in situ and remote geo-monitoring (from the ground, by air, by satellite), hydro-meteorological and groundwater monitoring, the recognition and mapping of landslides and flooded areas, the design of operational landslide and flood forecasting systems, flood and landslide hazards and risk assessments, the definition of mitigation and adaptation strategies, and training and dissemination services on natural hazards.

In 2021 UA educated and trained 31.650 students (only 321 internationals, due to COVID-19 pandemic -usually around 3.000). UA employs 4.125 researchers and management staff (47% women), involving an annual budget of 234 million Euros. UA is investing near to 68M Euros for boosting frontier research and technology transfer processes via spin off, licensing and international promotion mainly. In 2021, the University received 34.5 million Euros in grants at National, Regional, European level and private R&D. UA is already present in the three main university rankings in ARWU-FIELD, Quacquarelli Symonds and Times Higher Education World University. Amongst this international activity, UA´s involvement in European Programmes has been increasing since CECA Programme and improving leadership, taking part in 50 FP5 and FP6, 49 FP7 and 58 H2020 projects (4 cord by UA). UA has been recently granted with the HRS4R- HR Excellence in Research Award. Since 2009, UA evaluates and defines annually a Gender Equality Plan.

Université Gustave Eiffel (UGE) was created by French government decree, to come into existence on 1 January 2020. The University of Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée (UPEM) and the IFSTTAR national research institute are fully fused into the new university; whereas three engineering schools, ESIEE Paris, the École des ingénieurs de la Ville de Paris (EIVP), and the École nationale des sciences géographiques (ENSG Géomatique); along with the École d’architecture de la ville & des territoires Paris-Est; join the new university. These represent one-quarter of France’s research community in these fields. It will have 17,000 students, 500 doctoral students, 1,200 faculties, and 1,300 staff. UiS will be responsible for a quarter of French research on the cities of tomorrow and bring together multidisciplinary skills in order to conduct high-quality research for the good of society, provide training tailored to meet socio-economic needs and support public policies.

KTH is highly ranked worldwide in both total ranking (2023 QS 89th) and in the Engineering & Technology subject ranking (2022 QS 28th). It is one of Europe’s leading technical and engineering universities, as well as a key centre for IT, communication technology, component development, optical communication, integrated nanophotonic, and III-V semiconductor optoelectronic technologies. The optics and photonics community at KTH is the coordinator of major Swedish R&D programs in Photonics and had several ground-breaking results over the years. The division has a proven track record in the field of photonic integration (III-V and Si), Si-nanophotonic, advanced epitaxy, semiconductor nanostructures, nanostructured materials, photonic crystals, edge-emitting lasers, integrated optics, VCSELs, micro-mechanics, quantum optics and optical networks.

F&M Ingegneria is a leading company that has provided cutting-edge design solutions in civil engineering, infrastructures, project management and sustainability for almost 40 years. F&M Ingegneria operates in several different fields, such as the renewal of large areas, infrastructural works (logistic centres, airport and railway terminals, harbours, roads, bridges, and underground works) and the construction of prestigious buildings (health and sports facilities, places of worship and educational centres) and large trade centres. F&M Ingegneria has been certified UNI EN ISO 9001, UNI EN ISO 14001:2015 and UNI EN ISO 45001:2018 by ICIM for the activities of design, project management, site supervision works and safety coordination. In addition, it got a certification of BIM by ICMQ for civil, structural, and infrastructural works and multimedia, which has made it among the top 10 Italian firms since 2018.

LEVEL is a startup that provides specialised services in the geotechnical area. With the fast growth of Transport infrastructures, complex networks of walls and slopes are being created at a very fast pace. They need to be rationally managed to reduce the risk of accidents and more efficient program intervention plans. Level was born out of a strong desire to transfer and implement the knowledge generated in universities on the asset management theme, with research and development being part of our DNA. At Level, we work every day to find out, develop and improve our solutions, allowing us to be dreaming, creative, and explorers without fear of a challenging concept that is still unknown. The Level team comprises PhD participants with high qualified experience in Geotechnical and Structures Engineering, particularly geotechnical asset management.

Skein is an independent research and development SME. Founded in 2009, it creates innovative digital technology solutions and develops machine learning tools, analytics systems and distributed data technologies following such innovation approaches as Product Thinking, collaborative User Experience (UX) design and agile development. Skein delivers AI and software for commercial and research applications based on the main pillars: Solution Design and Engineering encompassing mHealth, Bioinformatics, Digital Health, Distributed Ledger Tech in Health, Electronic Health Record Systems; and Data and AI covering Predictive Modelling, Patient Data Insights, Data Storage, Security and Privacy. Obtained the Top Employer status by the leading recruitment portal in Ukraine. The client and partner list includes world-leading industry and academic organisations, including TP-Link, King’s College London, Sky, University of Pisa and others.

Geoapp s.r.l. was incorporated in 2015 as a spin off company of the University of Florence, from the Engineering Geology Research Group, official Center of Competence for Geo-hazards of the Italian National Civil Protection Department. In 2019 Geoapp became an independent private company. Through the years Geoapp has gained strong expertise on geological risk assessment and developed and expanded an extensive experience in the mining industry by commitments for several large mining companies and linear infrastructures operators (pipelines, railways, highways) around the world. Geoapp offers innovative products, services and consultancy aimed at rapidly assessing geological and geotechnical risk. Focused on the integration on cloud-based IT platforms of data analytics tools able to assess risk by combining data acquired by different technologies, such as satellite InSAR, ground-based radar, laser scanners, drones, etc. Geoapp takes advantage of innovative methodologies aimed at defining the risk scenarios and supporting the final users in their decision-making process.

NHAZCA (Natural HAZards Control and Assessment), Startup Company of “Sapienza” University, provides efficient, reliable, and innovative consulting and services for the analysis and monitoring of natural hazards and large infrastructures. NHAZCA offers cutting-edge solutions in the fields of geology, civil engineering and infrastructure projects, asset management and urban and territorial planning, global insurance market and cultural heritage for the protection of goods and people. This through innovative remote sensing and monitoring techniques from satellite, aerial and terrestrial platforms, and with different sensors (optical, radar, thermic). The work, often developed with academic collaborations, is based on the constant research of excellence and the continuous improvement of the quality of services through an accurate identification of our customers’ needs and expectations. To enforce the connection with the academic world, three industrial PhD and an internship are currently involved in NHAZCA’s projects.

The Community CPR Trust is a non-profit organisation which provides emergency response and training services. Its key projects include the provision of emergency response training for professionals, resuscitation research and the provision of community access defibrillators. The organisation is currently the only one in the UK that provides defibrillators free of charge to community and charitable organisations.

The main function of National Geological Survey is Provide the necessary knowledge to the State so that it can fulfil its responsibility to manage the geological resources of the country, ensuring the protection and sustainable exploitation of the geological heritage of the Dominican Republic.

Advanced laboratory testing and numerical analyses incorporating advanced constitutive models for modelling localized deformation bands formation in soils under the effect of climatic conditions, such as: rainfall, snows. The unsaturated soil mechanics principles will be incorporated in the analyses to generate the variations in pore-water pressures and water content during dry and wet periods through unsteady state transient seepage analyses.

The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. The university ranked 1st in Australia and 10th in the world by the 2019 QS World University Rankings. UTS is a member of the Australian Technology Network, the Association of Southeast Asian Institutions of Higher Learning and the Association of Commonwealth Universities.

The University of Tsukuba is a national research university located in Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan (2023 QS 312th). With its well-equipped laboratory, experienced faculty, and industry partnerships, the university provides students with a comprehensive and practical education in this discipline.

Tianjin University (TJU) is the first modern university as well as one of the top universities in China. It has 4 National Key Laboratories and 4 National Engineering Laboratories. The UPGRADE project will be hosted by Department of Optical Engineering (DoE) in School of Precision Instruments & Optoelectronics Engineering (SPIOE) at TJU.

Nanjing University is a highly ranked research-intensive university (2023 THE 95th) and in the world (2023 QS 133rd) in China. It is a member of the C9 League, a group of leading higher education institutions which are often likened to the US Ivy League or the UK’s Russell Group.

UoW is a highly ranked research-intensive university in the UK (2022 THE 9th) and in the world (2023 QS 64th). Warwick has an acknowledged reputation for world-class research at home and abroad. In the most recent UK-wide assessment of the quality of research in universities 37% of the university’s research was rated as world-leading and a further 50% rated internationally excellent. Annually the University of Warwick has a research income of over £100 million, including participating in over 150 framework programme proposals including more than 55 Cooperation projects, 35 ERC awards and 75 people awards. UoW is also one of the five partners to have founded The Alan Turing Institute for data science, which provides strong support to transfer statistical analysis and data science knowledge to engineering aspects.