No. 53. Proceedings of the 13th fib International PhD Symposium in Civil Engineering - 21-22 July 2021 - Online - Paris, France - PDF format

A long-standing tradition of fib, the PhD Symposia started in 1996. They were established by Prof. Balázs in Budapest to support young researchers and practitioners. Since then, fib National Groups have organised twelve symposia. The PhD Symposia have become highly recognised events, with the participation of international experts attending as PhD supervisors or keynote speakers. A two-year interval between each symposium allows for thorough preparation and for the inclusion of a sufficient amount of new research. The spirit of these symposia is to provide a relaxed and friendly atmosphere suited to the young generation.

The 13th fib Symposium was originally planned to be held in Paris in 2020, following the previous edition in Prague in 2018. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was decided to split the Symposium into two parts. In 2020 (26–28 August), an online symposium was held with the hope of organising an in-person meeting in 2021. Unfortunately, the evolution of the pandemic did not allow this to take place. As a result, the second session of the 13th fib Symposium was also organised online on 21–22 July 2021.

Two organisations are involved in the preparation of these events: Université Gustave Eiffel and the École normale supérieure Paris-Saclay, with the support of the French Association of Civil Engineering (AFGC—representing the national fib group), the University Association of Civil Engineering (AUGC), and of course fib.

Following a standard review process, the 35 selected papers for 2021 are divided into four themes for oral presentations, with two parallel sessions over two days. Thirty minutes are allocated for each presentation to allow for extended discussion, which is an essential part of the spirit of these PhD Symposia. The best papers will be awarded by our sponsor (EFB – École Française du Béton) and by fib. We gratefully acknowledge all sponsors who contributed to the organisation of the Symposium.

For 2021, the programme is further enriched by a keynote lecture, as in 2020. Magali Anderson (https://www.holcim.com/magali-anderson) will present a talk entitled “Why concrete and cement are key for a net-zero world?”—a topic closely related to the previous edition and highly relevant for future researchers.

Finally, we wish all participants—especially PhD students—an engaging and rewarding event. We hope that this Symposium will support their progress in scientific work and perhaps also their involvement in fib activities.