-
Home
-
European Projects
-
Forecast Engineering: From Past Design to Future D..
Forecast Engineering: From Past Design to Future Decisions
Start date: Sep 1, 2016,
End date: Aug 31, 2019
PROJECT
FINISHED
Current and future engineering practices needs highly qualified engineers trained in advanced topics of structural engineering, modern technologies and good transversal competencies. Additionally, previous acquired knowledge and conducted experimental tests have to be collected, provided and make available and accessible. Beside this, there is an urgent need for advanced training courses in the field of civil engineering for M.Sc. and PhD students in different specific topics to easier approach the increased demands and challenges in research. New forms of cooperation and training have to be introduced to address this issue.The capability of modern software tools and the access to instrumental monitoring systems lead to better (more sophisticated) design and calculation methods as well as procedures for the practical engineers. Beside this the behavior of structures and the related physical phenomena will have better understood and can be reliable described in the nonlinear and dynamic range. For instance, the influence of the wind on the dynamic behavior of bridges or the damage progression due to extreme loads can be simulated by the use of complex numerical models and (semi-) probabilistic approaches. Consequently the results can be considered in the design and optimization of the structural solutions. Parallel to it the demands on new engineering structures increase due to changed loading conditions and usage requirements. The involved partners from the different faculties and chairs at the University of Aveiro, Ljubljana, Osijek, Budapest and Weimar possess diverse expertise, experiences, capacities as well as data, information and knowledge from many past and current research projects (--> see ANNEX 1, Figure A1.2). If such things could be set available for all partners, new innovative opportunities in education and research will be possible. Following this idea the project partners confirmed to create a common knowledge pyramid by the provision of data, information and already gained knowledge for common teaching and research activities (--> see ANNEX 1, Figure A1.1). The strong interdisciplinarity between engineering, computer and natural sciences will be the chance to bundle the diverse expertise and experience and to offer new and innovative learning activities (--> see ANNEX 1, Figure A1.3 & Table A1.1).As this project does not aim at technological innovation or dissemination on the market, we will not focus on the likelihood of market uptake and commercialization of project results. In regard to the management of knowledge (intellectual property) we foresee ‘Open Access‘ distribution of the project and student results to maximize valorization of the results by local, national and European academic. The general principle of the project is to let as many people as possible share in the knowledge and innovations that will be gathered. Therefore, in general and officially the media’s to be used for the dissemination are: book/report/publications, database, network, collaborative platform incl. project website and events.At different educational levels the demands on future civil engineers will be emphasize and trained using the examples of current research topics in the field of civil and structural engineering and by the application of not previously applied ICT tools. Innovative methods in the field of education and training by application of different pedagogical approaches (e.g. project work, physical and virtual activities, lectures, multidisciplinary international team work) will develop basic and transversal skills of the participants. The participating students will be able to create their own networks for their future career (--> see ANNEX 1, Figures A1.4 & A1.5 as well as Table A1.1).The strategic partnership will improve the quality and relevance of higher education, so curricula meet the needs of individuals, the labour market and the careers of the future, as well as stimulating and rewarding excellence in teaching and research. It will provide more opportunities for students to gain additional skills through study or training abroad, and to encourage cross-border co-operation to boost higher education performance. More researchers will be trained to prepare the ground for the industries of tomorrow and it will strengthen the links between education, research and business to promote excellence and innovation (--> see ANNEX 2, Tables A2.1. to A2.3).The strategic partnership will link different already existing bilateral contacts and the European diversity in higher education. It will enable all partner institutions to better benchmark and position themselves. A common discussion open assessment and evaluation criteria for M.Sc. and PhD students will support the transparency and recognition of skills and qualifications (--> see Annex 3, Table A3.1 & A3.2).