Prof. Dr. Shen is the Dean of the College of Engineering, Shantou University and Distinguished Professor. Non-EU Fellow, European Academy of Sciences; Member, European Academy of Sciences and Arts. Dr. Shen’s research interests focus on the urban underground infrastructural system, smart maintenance of urban underground facilities. Dr. Shen published more than 490 technical papers in Journals and International conferences with total citation over 31,000 times (google scholar). Dr. Shen’s H-Index in Google Scholar is 101, in SCOPUS is 95. Dr. Shen is listed in World’s Top 0.05% by ScholarGPS within recent 5 years; He is also listed in Top 2% List by Scientist-Stanford University. His stature is reinforced by the ‘highly cited scholars in China’ by Elsevier from 2021 to 2025. He has also been ranked among the Top 6 highly cited scholars in the field of Georesources and Geoengineering on the academic influence ranking of Global High Cited Scholar Database.
Dr. Shen serves as Editors and Editorial Board Member for many international journals, e.g. Editor-in-chief: Smart Construction and Sustainable Cities, Springer Nature; Associate Editor: Geotextiles and Geomembranes; Editorial board member: Canadian Geotechnical Journal, Computers and Geotechnics, Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology (TUST), Acta Geotecnica, Frontiers of Structural and Civil Engineering, Marine Georesources & Geotechnology.
10:00 – 10:30
Keynote Lecture 3
Prof. Yi-Qing Ni
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Early Warning of Tropical Storm Risk in Coastal Cities under Climate Change: From Global Scale, City Scale to Building Cluster Scale
10:30 – 11:00
Coffee break
11:00 – 11:20
Talk 1
Prof. Sebastiano Foti
Director of the Department of Structural, Geotechnical and Building Engineering, Politecnico di Torino
From Heritage to Innovation: The Journey of Science and Technology in Construction at Politecnico di Torino
Biography
Prof. Sebastiano Foti
Department of Structural Building and Geotechnical Eng., Politecnico di Torino, Italy
Sebastiano Foti is Professor of Geotechnical Engineering and Head of the Department of Structural, Building and Geotechnical Engineering at Politecnico di Torino, where he served as Vice-Rector for Education from 2018 to 2023. He is Vice-Chair of ISSMGE Technical Committee TC 203 (Earthquakes) and a former core member of TC 102 (In situ tests), and contributed to drafting the new Eurocode 7 – Part 2 on ground investigation and testing.
His research focuses on geophysical methods for geotechnical characterization, with emphasis on surface wave testing, seismic wave propagation in porous media, and laboratory geophysics. Additional interests include seismic site response, soil–structure interaction, and dynamic testing for the assessment of existing foundations.
He has authored over 200 scientific publications, three books, and six book chapters. He serves as Associate Editor of the Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering and previously sat on the editorial board of Soils and Foundations. His work has been recognized with the Bishop Medal (ICE, 2003), a Honorable Mention from the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (2011), and the Outstanding Paper Award from Earthquake Spectra (2018).
11:20 – 11:40
Talk 2
Prof. Dimitrios G. Aggelis
Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
Engineering Sustainable Built Environment
Biography
Prof. Dimitrios G. Aggelis
Research Group Mechanics of Advanced Materials and Structures (M²S)
Department of Mechanics of Materials and Constructions (MeMC), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB),Belgium
Dimitrios Aggelis is Full Professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel since October 2012. Prior to this position he worked as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Ioannina, Greece (2008-2012) and as research fellow in the Research Institute of Technology, Tobishima Corporation, Japan (2006-2008). He received his PhD degree from the Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics Department of the University of Patras in 2004 and his diploma in Mechanical Engineering from the same department in 1998.
His main area of interest includes characterization of cementitious materials, expanding also to composites and metals by use of non-destructive inspection techniques focused on elastic wave propagation.
He was the recipient of the world RILEM Robert L’Hermite medal of 2012 for his contribution in the field of construction materials and is active member of several technical committees of RILEM. He has published 180 papers in international journals and more than 240 in conference proceedings along with 25 chapters in books. He is editor-in-chief of the journal Developments in the Built Environment, editor of Construction and Building Materials, associate editor of Materials and Structures, associate editor of the journal of Non-Destructive Evaluation, the acoustics section-editor-in-chief of Applied Sciences, editor in Sensors and editorial board member of NDT&E International. He is currently or has been involved in teaching of Experimental Techniques and Nondestructive Testing of Materials, Mechanics/Strength of Materials, Construction Materials, Dynamics of Structures, Structural Health Monitoring.
11:40 – 12:00
Talk 3
Prof. Zhen-Yu Yin
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China
Deep Learning-based Multiscale Approach for Granular Materials from Particle Recognition to Mechanical Modelling
Biography
Prof. Zhen-Yu Yin
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China
Prof. Yin obtained his bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Zhejiang University in 1997. He then worked as Engineer in Zhejiang Jiahua Architecture Design Co., Ltd. for five years. In 2003 and 2006, he obtained his master’s and doctorate degrees in Geotechnical Engineering from the École Centrale de Nantes in France, respectively. Prof. Yin is currently full Professor of Geotechnical Engineering at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Prof. Yin has received remarkable global attention, with citation metrics and awards. Prof. Yin also holds significant editorial roles in multiple leading international journals, such as Managing Editor of a new journal: Smart Construction and Sustainable Cities (Springer Nature), Academic Editor for International Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics, and Associate Editor for Géotechnique, International Journal of Geomechanics (ASCE), European Journal of Environmental and Civil Engineering, and Géotechnique Letters, Editorial Board Member for Canadian Geotechnical Journal, Acta Geotechnica, Computers and Geotechnics, Transportation Geotechnics, and so on.
Prof. Yin’s main research areas include: (1) macro and micro characteristics of soil and its constitutive relationship, (2) model testing in geotechnical engineering and large deformation numerical analysis, and (3) practice of artificial intelligence in geotechnical engineering.
12:00 – 12:20
Talk 4
Prof. Fangle Peng
Tongji University, China
New Advances in the Development and Systematic Planning of Urban Underground Space in China for Sustainability
10:30 – 11:00
Talk 5
Prof. Annan Zhou
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia
Modelling of Unsaturated Soils and Its Application to Climate-Adapted Infrastructure
12:40 – 14:00
Lunch
14:00 – 14:50
Details to be announced
Details to be announced
14:50 – 15:10
Talk 6
Prof. Elvira Fortunato
CENIMAT|i3N, NOVA University Lisbon, Portugal
Sustainability as a Driver for Technological Innovation
Biography
Prof. Elvira Fortunato
CENIMAT|i3N, Department of Materials Science, School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon and CEMOP/UNINOVA, Caparica, Portugal
Elvira Fortunato has a degree in Physics and Materials Engineering (1987, NOVA FCT) and a PhD in Materials Engineering (1995, NOVA FCT). She is Professor at the Materials Science Department and between 2017 and 2022 she was Vice-Rector of NOVA for the research area. She was Director of the Associated Laboratory of the Institute of Nanomaterials, Nanofabrication and Nanomodelling (i3N) between 1998 and 2022. From 2015 to 2020 she was selected to be part of the first Group of Chief Scientific Advisors in the European Commission, the Scientific Advice Mechanism. In 2022, she was part of the group of 27 inspiring European Women, elected by the current French Presidency of the European Union. In 2022, she become Minister for Science, Technology and Higher Education from the Portuguese Government until March 2024. She is a pioneer in European research on transparent electronics using sustainable materials and environmentally friendly technologies. In 2008, at the 1st edition of the European Research Council ERC grants, she was awarded an Advanced Grant for the project INVISIBLE, considered in 2011 by the European Commission a success story. This year 2024, INVISIBLE project was again selected by ERC and considered as a scientific breakthrough during the ex-post per-review evaluation done by ERC. Following her target on sustainable electronics, she showed with her group the possibility of manufacturing the first paper transistor, starting a new field in the area of paper electronics. In 2018 she was awarded a second Advanced Grant for the project DIGISMART. Following on from the exploratory results of the DIGISMART, she obtained a Proof of Concept with the e-GREEN project: From forests to Green Electronics, focusing on exploring environmentally friendly and low-cost materials and technology exploration. With over 900 scientific papers published (some highly cited from Web of Science), in the last few years she has been awarded national and international prizes and distinctions for her work. She is an elected member of the Engineering Academy, the European Science Academy, the Lisbon Science Academy, and the Europaea Academy.
15:10 – 15:30
Talk 7
Prof. Ehrenfried Zschech
Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg, Germany
Reliability Physics and Engineering for Robust Microelectronic Products
Biography
Prof. Ehrenfried Zschech
Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg, Cottbus, Germany
Ehrenfried Zschech is a consultant with hands-on experience in the fields of advanced materials, nanotechnology, and microelectronics, as well as process control and quality assessment. He holds honorary professorships in Nanomaterials at Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg, Germany, and in Nanoanalysis at Dresden University of Technology, Germany. Additionally, he serves as a Guest Chair Professor at Southeast University, Nanjing, China.
His activities include high-resolution X-ray imaging and the development of customized solutions for a wide range of applications, including package failure analysis, metrology, and inspection in the semiconductor industry. Ehrenfried Zschech received his Dr. rer. nat. degree from Dresden University of Technology, Germany. He held several management positions at Airbus, Advanced Micro Devices, Fraunhofer, and the start-up deepXscan. Ehrenfried Zschech is a Member of the European Academy of Science (EurASc) and a Member of the German National Academy of Science and Engineering (ACATECH).
In 2019, he was awarded the FEMS European Materials Gold Medal, in 2023 the DGM Pioneer Award, and with the Roland Mitsche Prize.
15:30 – 15:50
Talk 8
To be confirmed
To be confirmed
15:50 – 16:20
Coffee break
16:20 – 16:50
Keynote Lecture 4
Prof. Paul Lecoq
CERN Honorary Member; Dr. Honoris Causa of Politehnica University of Bucharest
An Example of How Science Can Contribute to Developing a More Sustainable World
Biography
Prof. Paul Lecoq
CERN Honorary Member Dr Honoris Causa Polytechnic University of Valencia (Spain) Dr Honoris Causa Institute of Single crystals, Kharkiv, Ukraine
Paul Lecoq has received his diploma as Engineer in Physics Instrumentation at the Ecole Polytechnique de Grenoble in 1972, under the leadership of Nobel Laureate Louis Néel. After two years of work at the Nuclear Physics laboratory of the University of Montreal, Canada, he got his PhD in Nuclear Physics in 1974. Since then, he has been working at CERN in 5 major international experiments on particle physics, one of them led by Nobel Laureate Samuel Ting. His action on detector instrumentation, and particularly on heavy inorganic scintillator materials has received a strong support from the Nobel Laureate Georges Charpak. He has been the technical coordinator of the electromagnetic calorimeter of the CMS experiment at CERN, which played an important role in the discovery of the Higgs boson.
Paul Lecoq is the founder of the CERN-based international Crystal Clear collaboration regrouping 31 institutes and companies worldwide contributing to the development of scintillator science. He has also created the SCINT conference series in 1991, which gathers every second year the international community working on fundamental aspects, production technologies and applications of scintillators.
Member of a number of advisory committees and of international Societies he has been the promoter in 2002 of the CERIMED initiative (European Center for Research in Medical Imaging, installed in Marseille) for networking physics and medicine in the field of medical imaging.
He has been elected in 2008 member of the European Academy of Sciences and in 2017 head of the Physics division of the Academy.
He has been awarded an ERC advanced grant in 2013 by the European Research Council.
He has been elevated in 2015 in USA to the fellow grade at IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional organization for the advancement of technology. He has received in 2019 the IEEE NPSS Merit Award.
In 2016 he received the title of Doctor Honoris Causa at the Kharkhiv Instritute of Single Crystals (Ukraine Academy of Sciences)
Since August 2019 he is CEO of the company Multiwave Metacrystal SA, based in Switzerland: https://metacrystal.ch
In 2020 he has got a position of Distinguished Professor at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (Spain).
In Feb. 2023 he has been nominated Doctor Honoris Causa at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (Spain).
In October 2024, he received the Edward J. Hoffman Medical Imaging Scientist award at the IEEE Medical Imaging conference in Tampa (USA),
“for contributions and driving force to the development of fast, radiation hard and heavy scintillation materials, with a strong impact on medical imaging applications.”
In October 2024 he became main shareholder and CEO of the company METACRYSTAL SA, after the takeover of the company Multiwave Metacrystal.
In October 2025, he has been elected member of the Praesidium of the European Academy of Sciences (EurASc).
16:50 – 17:10
Talk 9
Prof. Norbert Bachar
Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary
Ready for Technology? From Science to Industry
Biography
Dr. Norbert Babcsán
CEO, Innobay Hungary Ltd.
Hungary Vice-President for International Relations and Division Development, Hungarian Academy of Engineering
Dr. Norbert Babcsán is a Hungarian materials scientist, innovation expert and technology entrepreneur working at the interface between scientific research, engineering and industrial implementation. He received his PhD in materials science from the University of Miskolc and has been involved in international research and development activities connected to advanced materials, metallic foams and space-related technologies, including projects linked to NASA and ESA. He has contributed to the development of patented technologies and the establishment of several technologyoriented companies, including Admatis Ltd., Aluinvent Ltd. and Innobay Hungary Ltd.
His professional activities focus on translating scientific results into industrially applicable solutions, supporting technology transfer, innovation management and European collaboration.
He is Vice-President of the Hungarian Academy of Engineering, responsible for international relations and division development, and is actively engaged in Hungarian and European innovation networks. His work combines scientific research, entrepreneurship, industrial scaling and innovation-policy perspectives.
17:10 – 17:30
Talk 10
To be confirmed
To be confirmed
17:30 – 18:30
Round Table
Details to be announced
Details to be announced
19:30 – 21:30
Social Dinner
Location to be confirmed
Optional / details to be announced
Day 2 – 28 October 2026 Venue: Accademia delle Scienze di Torino
Time
Presenter
Title
INFO
08:00 – 08:45
Reception
Registration and welcome
08:30 – 09:00
Prof. Marco Mezzalama
President of Accademia delle Scienze di Torino
Welcome and Presentation Presentation of Accademia delle Scienze di Torino
Biography
Prof. Marco Mezzalama
President of Accademia delle Scienze di Torino, Torino, Italy
Prof. Marco Mezzalama is Professor Emeritus at the Politecnico di Torino, where he held the position of Full Professor of Information Processing Systems (Computer Engineering). Throughout his distinguished academic career, he served as Vice Rector for Information Systems and Deputy Rector of the University. Since November 2024, he has also served as President of the Academy of Sciences of Turin, one of Italy’s most prestigious scientific institutions.
Prof. Mezzalama has made significant contributions to the fields of computer engineering, information systems, cybersecurity, signal processing, multimedia technologies, and artificial intelligence. His scientific output includes more than 150 publications in national and international journals, and he has served as reviewer for leading scientific journals and European research programmes. His work has contributed to the advancement of both fundamental research and technological innovation across multiple areas of information and communication technologies.
Beyond academia, Prof. Mezzalama has played a prominent role in research governance, innovation policy, and scientific outreach. He has served on the boards and advisory bodies of major research organisations and companies, including IREN and Reply, and was Vice President of Compagnia di San Paolo, one of Europe’s largest philanthropic foundations. Until 2024, he was President of the LINKS Foundation, one of Italy’s leading research and innovation centres. A strong advocate for science communication, he has also contributed extensively to public engagement through print, television, and digital media.
09:00 – 09:30
Leonardo da Vinci Award
Winner to be disclosed
To be disclosed
09:30 – 10:00
Ceremony Awards
Details to be announced
Details to be announced
10:00 – 10:30
Coffee break
10:30 – 12:00
Ceremony Awards
Details to be announced
Details to be announced
12:00 – 13:30
Lunch
13:30 – 15:00
Ceremony Awards
Details to be announced
Details to be announced
15:00 – 15:45
Coffee break
15:45 – 16:00
Honor for Distinguished Leadership
Prof. Vincenzo Capasso
University of Milano, Italy
EurASc former President
Biography
Prof. Vincenzo Capasso
Former EurASc President
University of Milan, Italy
Prof. Vincenzo Capasso is a distinguished mathematician and Senior Scholar at the Department of Mathematics and the ADAMSS Centre of the University of Milan “La Statale”, where he previously held the Chair of Probability and Mathematical Statistics. Throughout a highly accomplished academic career, he has made significant contributions to applied mathematics, probability, statistics, and mathematical modelling, while also serving as Visiting Professor at numerous prestigious universities worldwide.
Author of more than 180 scientific papers and around 10 monographs and edited books, Prof. Capasso is internationally recognised for his contributions to mathematical sciences and interdisciplinary research. His distinctions include Fellowship of the International Statistical Institute, Fellowship of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA), membership of the European Academy of Sciences, and an Honorary Doctorate from the Lappeenranta University of Technology in Finland.
Beyond his scientific achievements, Prof. Capasso has provided outstanding leadership to the international scientific community. He served as President of the European Consortium for Mathematics in Industry (ECMI), President of the European Society for Mathematical and Theoretical Biology (ESMTB), and notably as President of the European Academy of Sciences (EurASc) from 2010 to 2012. In recognition of his lifelong dedication to scientific excellence, international cooperation, and academic leadership, Prof. Capasso will receive the EurASc Honour for Distinguished Leadership at the Academy’s 2026 Annual Event.
