International Symposium on Wettability and Porous Media & InterPore BeNeLux Meeting

The conference will take place in Amsterdam from 30Nov to 2Dec 2026.

The meeting broadly showcases advances across all engineering applications of porous materials. It will place a particular focus on wetting physics across scales, from local interfacial mechanisms to effective wettability in complex systems. The symposium will highlight recent experimental, computational, and theoretical developments, and will connect pore-scale insights to macroscopic applications ranging from CO₂/H₂ storage, groundwater and geothermal systems, to batteries, coatings, filtration, microfluidics, and bio-inspired materials.

We invite you to find more information and submit your abstract at https://www.iswpm26.org. Abstract submission closes on the 1st of August, in two weeks!

For further information, see the attached [PDF].

A new book on the Mechanics of Granular Materials – freely available

Dear colleagues,
I am pleased to share that my book, With a grain of salt – from discrete to continuum granular mechanics, is now complete and freely available online.
The book is intended for undergraduate students seeking an introduction to the mechanics of granular materials, with a perspective that extends beyond the topics typically covered in standard university curricula. It is also aimed at graduate and PhD students pursuing research in this field, as well as researchers who may wish to broaden their expertise beyond their primary area—for example, soil mechanists interested in granular flows or fluid mechanists dealing with static granular assemblies. You can access and download the complete book free of charge at:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21159463
My hope is that it will serve both as a textbook and as a reference for students, researchers, and anyone interested in the mechanics and physics of granular materials.
With best regards, Diego Berzi

ESREDA 2026 Seminar

Dear all,

Please find enclosed the following announcement:

69th ESReDA / i-RISK Seminar
« Risk mitigation of aging infrastructures and assets under NaTech events »
3-4 December 2026, Hôtel Mercure, Chambéry (France)

More information are given in attached file

Best regards
Francois

For further information, see the attached [PDF].

OASIS 2026 – 1st International Seminar on Offshore Anchorage Systems

Registration is now open for OASIS 2026 – 1st International Seminar on Offshore Anchorage Systems, which will take place in Paris, France, on the 24th of September 2026.

⏳ Early Bird deadline: 15th of July 2026

OASIS 2026 will bring together researchers, practitioners, developers, contractors, consultants, and technology providers to discuss the latest advances in anchoring systems for offshore wind turbines.

The symposium will focus on four key themes:
– Site investigation and characterisation
– Mooring lines and loading
– Innovative anchor developments
– Shared anchors

The programme will include keynote lectures from leading international experts, technical presentations, and long panel discussions to discuss emerging technologies, as well as networking opportunities with colleagues from academia and industry.

🌐 More information:
https://cg.univ-gustave-eiffel.fr/en/translate-to-english-oasis-2026

✅ Registration:
https://www.ecolloque.com/oasis/fr/new/

For further information, see the attached [PDF].

ALERT Geomaterials Website Banner Contest

Featured

You can access the contest here.

This photo contest aims to select the new banner for the ALERT Geomaterials website!

The winning photos will be announced during the next ALERT Geomaterials annual meeting.

The submission period is open until Sunday, September 6th at 12:00PM CEST.

The voting period will be open from then until Sunday, September 27th at 12:00PM CEST.

Submissions must be in JPG format and follow a banner aspect ratio of 1000 × 300 pixels Similar ratios are accepted, but images deviating significantly from this format won’t be considered. Each contestant may submit up to three pictures.

Submitting photos to the contest and voting require the use of an institutional email address. Each voter may vote only once per picture and assign up to three stars.

TC 105: Round Robins DEM+Imaging

Imaging Round Robin

TC 105 is pleased to announce an imaging round robin, championed by Ryan Hurley – rhurley6@jh.edu.

Details: https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=OPSkn-axO0eAP4b4rt8N7E8oY86T9KVGiRkS6JddD6BUOVpLTVhTRE1URjdHSEJOTlhKMk84RkZQUS4u&route=shorturl

TC105 is also running a second DEM round robin. This is led by the Secretary of JGS TC105 committee , Shuji Moriguchi shuji.moriguchi.d6@tohoku.ac.jp.

Details: https://ds.cc.yamaguchi-u.ac.jp/~geotech/tc105_2RRA/

Autumn school in soil modelling

NTNU’s Geotechnical Group together with Dr. Medicus from University of Innsbruck offers a “Autumn School” in Soil Modelling from October 12th to 16th, 2026. This school provides a background for development and application of the soil models used in continuum-based computer codes for geotechnical applications. The school focuses on soil behaviour, elastoplastic theory, hypo- and hyperplasticity, selected material models and their parameters. It also provides some insight into numerical implementation of soil models. The school aims at providing a general theoretical framework for interpretation of the mechanical behaviour of soils.

https://www.ntnu.no/nettbutikk/billett/arrangement/autumn-school-in-soil-modelling/

Registration for the ALERT Geomaterials Annual Meeting is now OPEN!

Dear ALERT Community,

We are pleased to announce that registration is now open for the ALERT Geomaterials Workshop and Doctoral School annual meeting: Click here to register!

The registration deadline is 12 September. Please note that no further extension will be granted.

Several new features have been implemented this year!

  1. The registration form has been updated to better meet current needs; payment of registration fees by card is now possible; invoices and payment receipts are sent automatically to participants; and the back-office system has been completely renewed.
    Although we have taken great care with the implementation, testing, and debugging, some issues may still occur. Should this be the case, we kindly ask for your patience and encourage you to contact us.
  2. Another important change concerns remote participation, which will no longer be possible due to the very low level of participation in previous editions.

In line with last year’s edition, the following participants are eligible for one free night of accommodation:

  • PhD students from ALERT member institutions attending the Doctoral School
  • Retired researchers from ALERT member institutions attending the Workshop

Please note that accommodation at the CNRS Centre Paul Langevin in Aussois will be allocated in order of registration. As the number of rooms is limited, we encourage you to register early.

For travel details, please refer to the instructions on how to get to Aussois here.

The tentative program is here.

Please read the instructions in the registration form carefully, as the modification and cancellation policy and other details are provided there. After completing the form and clicking the submit button, you will receive a confirmation email with your registration details, as well as the corresponding invoice or payment receipt in pdf.

We look forward to welcoming you to Aussois!

Open Geomechanics now Q1-Q2 journal for French academic career

Open Geomechanics, a diamond open access journal started in 2018, is well known in the ALERT-Geomaterials community (https://opengeomechanics.centre-mersenne.org/).
Submissions are welcome from everyone.

We are happy to announce that since January, the French CNU section 60 recognizes Open Geomechanics as a Q1-Q2 journal. In short, this means that if you are interested in a career in a French university, publishing your work in this venue counts as much as publishing in any other established top-tier journal in our field.

Read the official decision here: https://conseil-national-des-universites.fr/data/document/4256/2947/Public/Compte-rendus-2026/CR_2026-01-22-AG.pdf

Edward and Cino, for the editorial board of Open Geomechanics