No. 43. Proceedings of the 11th fib International PhD Symposium in Civil Engineering - 29-31 August 2016 - Tokyo, Japan PDF format

The fib is very pleased to have its 11th International PhD Symposium in Civil Engineering hosted by the University of Tokyo in Japan. Beginning with the first PhD Symposium at the University of Budapest in Hungary in 1996, this event has been held in a different city every two years. Today, 20 years later, the PhD Symposium is being held in Asia for the first time, which is greatly appreciated and fully consistent with the goals of fib.

The mission of fib is to develop, at an international level, the study of scientific and practical matters capable of advancing the technical, economic, aesthetic, and environmental performance of concrete construction. In this spirit, the International PhD Symposium in Civil Engineering is a key component of fib’s series of international events.

Around the world, research carried out by PhD students under the supervision of professors represents the forefront of scientific development and ensures the highest level of academic education. It is therefore not surprising that many PhD graduates go on to become recognised engineers in industry or professors at universities.

The fib International PhD Symposium in Civil Engineering provides a special forum, complementary to local PhD programmes, which may differ significantly across universities worldwide but are consistently committed to promoting high-level research and education.

In this forum, PhD candidates who have already begun their research but have not yet submitted their theses are given the opportunity to present the results of their ongoing work to an international audience and to receive advice on how to continue and complete their dissertations. For this reason, the programme includes a substantial, mandatory discussion period for each presentation, which is one of the unique features of these Symposia.

Correspondingly, the audience (including students) gains an interesting overview of the most relevant and current research topics worldwide, as well as the different approaches used to generate new scientific knowledge. Moreover, the personal contacts established during the Symposium can help develop future international collaborations. In this way, the original objectives of the fib International PhD Symposia are fulfilled.

I would like to thank and congratulate fib Honorary President György L. Balázs, the initiator of the first PhD Symposium 20 years ago, for his inspiration in creating this event, which is now firmly established in the fib calendar. Furthermore, I would like to express my sincere thanks to the main organisers of the 11th fib International PhD Symposium, Koichi Maekawa (The University of Tokyo), Akio Kasuga (Sumitomo Mitsui Construction Co., Ltd.), and the honorary advisor Jun Yamazaki (Nihon University), for their significant commitment and excellent work.

I hope you will all enjoy the unique atmosphere of the PhD Symposium, full of activity and enthusiasm from both PhD candidates and attending professional engineers and professors. Finally, I take this opportunity to wish all PhD candidates fruitful discussions, a pleasant stay in Tokyo, and, at a later stage, a successful PhD defence at their home universities.

Harald S. Müller
President of the International Federation for Structural Concrete (fib)