The next gathering of the European Geoscience Union – EGU 2025 (Vienna, April 27 to May 2, 2025) – will host for the fifth year the session on Nature-based and bio-based or inspired solutions for geohazard mitigation on slopes and streambanks

The objective of the session is to stimulate the interdisciplinary exchange of knowledge on nature-based (such as use of vegetation,  capillary barriers, …), bio-based (such as MICP calcite induced by microbial activities, biopolymers, …) or bio-inspired (root-shaped anchors for soil reinforcement, …)  solutions for the mitigation of risks related to hydro-geological disasters, with particular attention to landslides and erosion on slopes and streambanks.

Contributions will range from:
– experimental studies (lab and field testing or monitoring)
– numerical analyses and upscaling of results
– tools, design approaches, best practices, manuals, and guidelines
– National and European policies
– case studies and soil bioengineering applications

The session has been organized by
Vittoria Capobianco, Alessandro Fraccica, Manuela Cecconi, Zhun Mao, Anthony Leung.

(NGI – Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, ISPRA – Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research, University of Perugia – Italy, INRAE – French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology)

More information and the session description can be found in the attached flyer and here: Session NH3.13

Interested participants are welcome to submit an abstract within January 15, 2025 (13:00 CET).

Additional info about abstract submission can be found at: EGU25 – How to submit an abstract

Thank you for your support to AGERP lecture series from the past four years. At AGERP’20 AGERP’21, AGERP’22, and AGERP’23, we have more than 50 lectures and 1 panel discussion that brought together more than 60 renowned geoengineering experts and a huge audience from 131 countries through a free to access knowledge sharing platform. Apart from the generous support from the experts that appeared in the past fourth editions of, it is your participation and appreciation that largely contributed to the success of AGERP.

In the last four editions of the AGERP lecture series, we covered quite a breadth of topics related to geotechnical engineering. In the fifth edition, we intend to dive even further and deeper into some of the specialised topics in geotechnical engineering. To that end,  we are pleased to invite you to the Indo-Australian Workshop on Geotechnical Engineering, scheduled to be held from 29th November 2024. You may register for the workshop at www.age-rp.com. Program for the workshop is summarised in the Flyer (In IST and AEST).

The aim of Powders & Grains 2025 (to be held in Goa, India, during 8-12 December 2025; https://www.powdersandgrains2025.co.in/) is to share the recent advances in the broad research field of granular media and particulate suspensions. Contributions from experts around the world will cover a wide range of topics.

Powders & Grains (https://www.powdersandgrains.org/) is the premier international scientific conference held every four years in three different continents (Europe, America and Asia & Oceania) since 1989. It brings together engineers, physicists and applied mathematicians interested in the mechanics and physics of granular media and particulate suspensions. It distinguishes itself from other meetings on granular materials by (1) the mixture of disciplines, (2) the unique single-session talks, (3) the posters taking a prominent role and being displayed throughout the conference, and (4) the refereed conference papers published online before the meeting.

Further information can be found in this file.

Dear Colleagues,

From April 14th to 17th, 2025, we are organizing an international workshop titled “International Workshop on Granular Materials & Regolith” at the University de Lorraine, Metz, France. The theme of the event will focus on: “Granular Materials Fundamentals, Applications, and Concepts for Extraterrestrial Regolith, including the Moon, Mars, and Asteroids.”

The event will bring together specialists and established researchers from academia, government agencies (including NASA, ESA, CNES) and industry. Participants will exchange and discuss ideas and topics related to regolith issues, particularly how knowledge and methods developed for granular media can help to approach extraterrestrial regolith behavior under extreme temperature, thin atmosphere, radiation, meteorite impact and other extreme environmental conditions.

The Workshop will have 10 sessions including 10 invited researchers/specialists delivering keynote presentations and 14 invited Feature presentations,18 quick-talks, and a poster session with more than 40 presentations.

We are pleased to invite you to participate in this event, and we will be grateful if you could circulate the attached flyer to those interested.

More information can be found on the workshop website at: https://regolith-metz.event.univ-lorraine.fr/ or here. We look forward to seeing you at the workshop in Metz, France. Thank you.

With all the best,

On behalf of International Organizing Committee

CoChairs:
Mahdia, Anil and Ramesh

Mahdia Hattab (Workshop Co-Chair),
Professor, Université de Lorraine-LEM3-CNRS/Member ASCE/EMI-GMTC and Member IRN GeoMech,. France.
E-mail: mahdia.hattab@univ-lorraine.fr,

Ramesh B. Malla (Workshop Co-Chair),
Professor, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, U.S.A.Chair, ASCE/Aerospace Division (ASD) -Space Engineering and Construction Technical Committee (SEC TC).
E-mail: Ramesh.Malla@uconn.edu, 

Anil Misra (Workshop Co-Chair)
Professor, Florida International University, Miami, FL, U.S.A.Chair, ASCE/Engineering Mechanics Institute (EMI) -Granular Materials Technical Committee (GMTC).
E-mail:  anmisra@fiu.edu

May 12-15, 2026
Vilnius, Lithuania
(https://vilniustech.lt/mbmst)

Traditional International Conference Modern Building Materials, Structures and Techniques has been organized since 1991 when the very first forum organized by the Faculty of Civil Engineering of Vilnius Gediminas Technical University was held in Vilnius, Lithuania. Conference will be organized in 4 parallel sections: Structures, Materials, Geotechnics and Construction technologies.

Confirmed keynote speakers:
Maria Stefanidou. Utilization of industrial by-products for the production of sustainable building materials
Lyesse Laloui. Energy geostructures: a smart exploitation of the renewable energy situated under our cities
José António Silva Carvalho Campos Matos. Implementing Novel Technologies Towards the Sustainable Management of Existing Infrastructures
Klaus Holschemacher. Application of robotics for the production of precast carbon-reinforced concrete members

Abstracts will not be collected. Only full papers will be reviewed.
January 1, 2025 – Opening the full papers submission system.
October 1, 2025 – Deadline for registration and full paper submission for review
November 31, 2025 – Notification of paper acceptance
January 31 , 2026 – Submission of the corrected final papers (corrected according to the review report)
February 15, 2026 – Notification of acceptance of final papers
February 28, 2026 – Deadline for payments for all conference authors of the articles (if not paid until 28th February 2026, the articles will not be published)
May 12, 2026 – Welcome reception
May 13–14, 2026 – The event
May 15, 2026 – Cultural tour

We look forward to seeing you in Vilnius.
Sincerely,
Organizing committee members
Remigijus Šalna and Šarūnas Skuodis

Conference EUNSAT2025 – 5th European Conference on Unsaturated Soils (https://eunsat2025.tecnico.ulisboa.pt/) – will be at Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, Portugal, from 1 to 3 September 2025. This conference is supported by the Technical Committee 106 of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering.

Considering Unsaturated Soils natural link to Bio-Inspired Technology such as Nature-based Solutions and Biocementation, among other topics, the organization has decided to create special sessions related to Biotechnology in Geotechnical Engineering, BGE, and offer a summer course on this topic mainly dedicated to PhD students. Participants outside unsaturated soils technical community are mostly welcome, having the option to register only at BGE. 

Abstracts on any topic related to UNSATURATED SOILS AND ROCKS are welcome, covering topics on traditional geotechnical engineering applications, sustainability in Geotechnical Engineering, environmental problems (engineered barriers to protect the environment, the reuse of waste materials, tailings and mine waste, etc), climate stresses under climate change scenario, energy geotechnics, historic sites, geo-education and bio-inspired technologies in Geotechnics (BGE topics: nature-based solutions, root reinforcement, bio-cementation, fungi reinforcement, hydrophobic materials, among others).

Conference proceedings will be submitted for Scopus indexation.

Abstract submission, until 30th December 2024, is already open through the website (https://eunsat2025.tecnico.ulisboa.pt/). There you can find further information, but you can also contact: info@eunsat2025.tecnico.ulisboa.pt

Rafaela Cardoso – Chair of EUNSAT2025 with BGE