The 2022 John Adjeleian Lecture

Resilience of the built environment and cultural heritage at risk: Earthquakes, blast, and other extreme events.

Lecture Synopsis:

Over the years European countries have gained valuable experience and knowledge in the field of conservation and restoration, leading to impressive developments in the areas of inspection, non-destructive testing, monitoring, and structural analysis of historical constructions. The guidelines developed on the basis of such knowledge and experience for future reuse and conservation projects allow for safer, economical, and more adequate remedial measures. The lecture will present such knowledge and guidelines addressing aspects related to the risk posed by natural disasters, such as floods, storms, landslides, earthquake, and blast. Also covered will be recent research and applications related to the design and evaluation of structures to deal with the threat posed by explosions.

Speaker Bio

Paulo B. LOURENÇO is a Full Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, University of Minho, Guimarães, Portugal and Head of the Institute in Sustainability and Innovation in Structural Engineering. He is experienced in the fields of non-destructive testing, innovative repair and strengthening techniques, and earthquake engineering. He specializes in structural conservation and forensic engineering and has worked on more than one hundred monuments and existing buildings, including 17 UNESCO World Heritage sites. An expert in structural masonry, he has led the team responsible for the revision of the European code for masonry. Among his many awards are Europa Nostra Award (the most prestigious award in cultural heritage in Europe). He is editor of the International Journal of Architectural Heritage and author of the books “Historic Construction and Conservation” and “Finite Element Analysis for Building Assessment”, Routledge (2019 and 2022).

About the John Adjeleain Lecture

The John Adjeleian lecture was established in 2003 in honour of the late Professor Emeritus, John Adjeleian. It serves to acknowledge his outstanding contributions to Carleton University and to the profession of civil engineering. The annual lecture celebrates the standard of excellence exemplified by Professor Adjeleian and highlights outstanding achievements in professional practice, education and research that have advanced the field of engineering. For list of previous lectures, visit this page.