Starting from 2025, this traditional course taught by Milan Jirasek will be split in two parts that can be attended independently.

The first part (Sep 4-6) provides an overview of modeling approaches used in the mechanics of inelastic materials and structures, in particular in plasticity and damage mechanics, with brief comments on fracture mechanics.

The second part (Sep 8-10) focuses on the objective description of highly localized deformation modes such as cracks or shear bands, using regularized models (e.g., nonlocal, gradient-enriched, phase-field, micromorphic).

The course is intended for graduate students at the doctoral level, but it can be equally useful to motivated master students, post-doctoral researchers, or senior researchers who are not specialists in this field.

For further details see https://mech.fsv.cvut.cz/~milan/course2025.html

For further information, see the attached [PDF].

Dear all,

We are pleased to inform you that the deadline for abstract submission for the 3rd International Workshop RootS25 – Soil-Vegetation-Atmosphere Interaction has been extended to 20 July 2025.
We encourage all interested participants to take advantage of this opportunity to join us at the Politecnico di Bari from 6th to 8th November 2025.
All details regarding the workshop, including the updated deadline and submission guidelines, are available in the Bulletin (attached) and on the Call for Contribution page at www.roots-25.com.
For any questions, feel free to contact us at workshop.roots25@gmail.com, and don’t forget to follow us on Instagram @workshop.roots25 for updates.
We look forward to receiving your abstracts and to welcoming you in Bari!

On behalf of the Scientific Committee of RootS25

For further information, see the attached [PDF].

THMC behaviour of bentonite and bentonite mixture:
From the experimental investigation to the numerical modelling.

OVERVIEW

We are happy to invite you to the ANCHORS training course, which will be held in Liege between 27 August and 29 August 2025.

This school is organized within the framework of EURAD2 – European Joint programme on Radioactive waste management (grant agreement No 101166718) – whose one of its objectives is to develop, maintain and consolidate the scientific and technical basis of radioactive waste management. This doctoral school focuses on the ANCHORS Work Package of the EURAD2 Joint Programme.

The main objective of the WP ANCHORS is to increase the optimisation potential of bentonite barrier systems: buffer, backfill and seals, and the Safety Case resilience. The activities of the WP are twofold:

1) qualifying the Hydro-Mechanical (HM) behaviour of various kinds of bentonite types and mixtures through laboratory experimental programme focused on heterogeneity, chemical effects and friction at different scales

2) improving the numerical tools that are necessary to carry out performance assessment of bentonite barriers in a Thermo Hydro Mechanical Chemical (Gas) (THMC(G)) repository environment.

Geomechanics plays a significant role in the understanding of the relevant thermo-hydro²-chemio-mechanical couplings taking place around the disposal. The objectives of the school is therefore to provide the state-of-the-art on basic concepts related to the THMC(G) couplings, the experimental investigation of complex hydro-mechanical behaviour of various bentonite types and mixtures, and the numerical modelling of the multiphysical phenomena.

For further information, see attached PDF.

Dear Colleagues,

we are pleased to invite you to participate to the 3rd International Workshop RootS25 – Soil-Vegetation-Atmosphere Interaction will take place at the Politecnico di Bari, Italy, from 6th to 8th November 2025, with a pre-conference lecture on the afternoon of 5th November.

The bulletin of RootS is now available.

You can browse the digital flipbook [here], or, if you prefer, download and print the attached PDF version. The bulletin outlines the workshop objectives, the agenda, the invited keynote lecturers and details of the proposed Sessions covering the key topics of RootS25.

We are also delighted to announce that Prof. Lidija Zdravkovic from Imperial College London will deliver a special lecture entitled “Geotechnical Engineering for a Sustainable Society” on the afternoon of 5th November (in the Aula Magna “Domus Sapientiae”, Politecnico di Bari).

We invite you to participate in RootS25 and to submit a written contribution.

All relevant information is provided in the bulletin and also in the “Call for Contribution” page of roots-25.com.

Please note: the deadline for abstract submission is 30th June 2025 (see the “Important Dates” section in the bulletin). Don’t miss it!

After abstract acceptance, the authors are required to submit a 4-page paper for peer review and publication in the ISSMGE open-access proceedings. Following RootS25, a selection of high-quality papers will be invited to submit an extended version (full-size journal paper) for peer-reviewed publication in a special issue of an international scientific journal.

For any inquiries, feel free to contact us at workshop.roots25@gmail.com, visit our website (www.roots-25.com), or follow us on Instagram @workshop.roots25.

Best regards,
On behalf of the Scientific Committee of RootS25

Dear All,

as a Coordinator of LARAM School I am pleased to share this new announcement with ALERT Geomaterials community. Looking forward to welcoming you in Salerno, in September 2025.

Best regards,

Sabatino Cuomo

GeoProc2025 
8th International Conference on Coupled THMC Processes:
Geomechanics for Energy and Environmental Applications
20 – 23 October, 2025
Nicosia, Cyprus
https://cyprusconferences.org/geoproc2025/

The deadline for submitting abstracts for GeoProc2025 has been extended to 14 April 2025.
See the attached announcement.
Please submit your abstract at https://cyprusconferences.org/geoproc2025/submission/

The Third Workshop on the Future of Machine Learning in Geotechnics (3FOMLIG: Ethics and intelligences for a geotechnical Renaissance) will take place in Florence, Italy, on October 15-17, 2025 (https://fomlig2025.com/).

The deadline for extended abstract submissions is April 15, 2025.

The technical program of 3FOMLIG includes a wide variety of sessions and initiatives aimed at fostering collaboration and interaction between geotechnical students, researchers, and practitioners:

• Welcome lecture
• Keynote lectures
• GEOAI Distinguished Lecture
• ISSMGE Bright Spark Lectures
• Parallel technical sessions
• Hackathons
• 3FOMLIG NextGen initiatives
• 7th Machine Learning in Geotechnics Dialogue
• Free short course for students

The advanced CISM Course on “Crack Initiation and Failure in Complex Structures” will be organized in Udine, Italy, on June 9-13, 2025 

Website: https://cism.it/en/activities/courses/C2505/

Lecturers: 

       * Pedro Camanho – Universidade do Porto, Portugal 
       * Pietro Cornetti – Politecnico di Torino, Italy 
       * Aurélien Doitrand – MATEIS, INSA Lyon, Villeurbanne, France 
       * Vladislav Mantič – Universidad de Sevilla, Spain 
       * Philipp Weissgraeber – University of Rostock, Germany 
       * Zohar Yosibash – Tel-Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Israel 

Topics: 
This course offers an in-depth exploration of the novel Finite Fracture Mechanics (FFM) technique for modeling crack and failure initiation, with practical applications to real-world problems. It is designed for post-graduate students, expert researchers, and engineers who wish to understand, apply, or develop this approach. Various theories predict failure initiation in complex structures with stress concentrations or singularities, such as holes or V-notch tips. FFM allows to identify the structure-specific intrinsic length scale and extends the concepts of traditional fracture mechanics to more general configurations with stress concentrations or singularities beyond just a crack tip with a square root singularity. FFM has been validated through numerous experimental observations, successfully predicting failure initiation in complex geometries. In recent years, it has been extended to 3D domains, geometrical and material nonlinearities, and dynamic aspects, including subsonic crack propagation. It has proven effective in assessing fractures at the micro- or nano-scale, in bio-inspired and 3D-printed materials and composites. Additionally, it has provided a physical explanation for the regularization parameter in phase-field models for fracture and established a link with traction-separation profiles of cohesive zone models. These extensions, applications, and interactions with other fracture models make FFM a cutting-edge approach in failure modeling, which will be thoroughly discussed. Practical applications and hands-on exercises will enable participants to master FFM techniques. 

The proposed CISM course brings together six researchers who have extensively studied and applied FFM techniques. It will begin by addressing the framework and origin of FFM, including related experimental and theoretical aspects as well as numerical implementation. It will then focus on applications for a wide range of materials and configurations. Recent FFM extensions, including 3D applications, material nonlinearities such as plasticity or nonlinear elasticity, geometrical nonlinearities, dynamic and fatigue loadings, and FFM as an optimization problem, will be covered. The relationship of FFM to other fracture models will also be reviewed in detail. 

Venue: CISM (International Centre for Mechanical Sciences), Lectures will take place in the beautiful Palazzo del Torso in the center of Udine 
Format: The course is offered in hybrid format (presential and online). 

If you are interested in participating to the course, please contact the course coordinators to declare your interest (mantic@us.es, aurelien.doitrand@insa-lyon.fr) and register online at https://cism.it/en/activities/courses/C2505/.

Early Bird On-Site Participation deadline: April 9, 2025 
Registration deadline: May 27, 2025 (On-site places are limited and assigned on first come first served basis) 

For any questions feel free to contact us! 
Vladislav Mantič, Aurélien Doitrand (Coordinators)