4th ISRBT, 6-9 November 2019
Seminar breakdown
The 4th ISRBT in Thessaloniki was held at the 3rd Auditorium of AUTH-ELKE Building, from 6 to 9 November 2019. This year, the Special Theme of the Seminar was “Innovative Technologies in Road Asset Management”.
The Seminar gathered 110 participants and 25 Invited Speakers. The lectures by the Speakers were exceptional products of scientific knowledge and engineering expertise. According to the evaluation comments of the participants, the high level of the lectures was confirmed. The Organizing Committee was also pleased to realise that prospective engineering projects, presented at previous ISRBT Seminars, are likely to be included in the plans of Regional Authorities, in the near future.
Moreover, participants seem to have appreciated the overall organization of the Seminar, including auditorium settings, exhibition stands, information at secretariat, wi-fi facilities, seminar handbags and lunch/beverages quality. This is due to the commitment and the unceasing efforts of the Organizing Committee and to the relevant experience gained from management of previous and similar scientific events.
ISRBT2018 CLOSING STATEMENT:
“About Wisdom…”
Dear Participants of the Seminar, dear friends and colleagues,
On behalf of the Organising Committee, I have the honour to welcome you to the 3rd International Seminar of Roads, Bridges and Tunnels. The scientific event of this year is significantly upgraded (we have excellent Speakers), completely renewed (80% of the presentations are totally new) and fairly extended to cover most innovative aspects of Construction Engineering. I would like to thank you, Speakers and Moderators, for your presence, you, the audience, for your confidence and you, sponsors, for your support.
The Seminar is about Engineering Knowledge. Last year, I spoke about knowledge, its perception by philosophers and the engineering approach. Almost every great philosopher has tried to sort out the quintessential question of Knowledge, its meaning, its importance, its limits, its traps. Plato and Aristotle, especially, have been fully engaged in this path of search and understanding of the sense of Knowledge.
However, for an integrated personality, even more, for an engineer, Knowledge by itself is not sufficient. I would be tempted to paraphrase Lenin’ s quote and say “ Knowledge is good, Wisdom is better” but it may sound somehow exaggerated and oversimplifying and, therefore, I will not. Instead, I would like to mention the wisdom of another great philosopher, Heraclitus, the obscure figure at the lower part of Raphael’s painting “the School of Athens”, the Obscure Philosopher. He has been, probably a mostly engineering philosopher, stating “Everything flows”, meaning everything changes, absolutely valid today, especially in the world of modern technology, where electronic applications, digital systems and innovative techniques push forward our evolving scientific field of Engineering.
Nonetheless, Heraclitus also stated “the way up and the way down are one and the same”, preaching modesty and humbleness, by reminding that you may climb up the ladder and become renowned, eminent and wealthy but, by a turn of fate, or even by simple fading and gradual decline, you may slip down and lose it all. Remain modest and humble, no matter how successful and rich you may be, this is invaluable insight and profound wisdom.
Dear participants, dear friends, I believe that besides engineering knowledge, challenges and innovation, you will be able, during the following days, to discover fragments of wisdom spread around you.
This meaningful scientific event is now open. I wish you a productive Seminar and I thank you.
ISRBT2017 CLOSING STATEMENT:
“There comes the sad moment for saying good-bye,
Dear Friends and colleagues, dear participants,
The 2nd International Seminar on Roads, Bridges and Tunnels comes to an end. During all these days we have had the chance to attend high-quality lectures from gifted speakers. Almost half of them were state-of-the-art presentations on specific topics of construction engineering and the other half, some very interesting case studies of engineering practice. At this point, I would like to thank the Speakers of the Seminar for their eagerness to be present at this event and their witnessed expertise. You, speakers, dear friends, are the keystone of the success of the Seminar.
This year we invited prominent scientists as Moderators of the Sessions. Their scientific ability and their substantial comments enriched and enhanced the quality of the Sessions. On behalf of the Organising Committee, I thank you, dear colleagues, for your kindness.
Undoubtedly, the heart of the Seminar is the audience. The heart is you, dear participants, you, coming from different places and countries, bringing along your knowledge, your concerns, and expectations. Your insightful questions and your pertinent comments determine the success of the event. I can assure you that we strived hard to organize a high-standard Seminar. It is up to you to judge if we succeeded. I thank you for your confidence and your presence.
During the past months, the Organising Committee and myself have gone through difficult and often discouraging situations. It may be just an event of one week but it takes many months and unceasing efforts to organize it. For this reason, dear colleagues of the Organising Committee, I dedicate to you a slightly adjusted speech of a great conqueror of the Antiquity:
‘I could not have blamed you for being the first to lose heart if I, your commander, had not shared concerns and fears in our exhausting marches and our perilous campaigns; it would have been natural enough if you had done all the work merely for others to get the reward. But it is not so. You, gentlemen and ladies, have shared the labour and shared the danger with me, and the marks of recognition are for you’.
Dear participants, dear friends and colleagues, I wish to all of you a flourishing professional life and happiness
Good luck and thank you”.
The Chairman of the Organising Committee ISRBT2017
ISRBT2016 CLOSING STATEMENT:
“The International Seminar on Roads, Bridges and Tunnels 2016 has come to an end. Organised by the School of Civil Engineering of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the Seminar gathered 24 invited speakers, prominent university professors and experienced engineers, and 53 participants from 9 different countries.
The lectures focused on applied engineering issues and methods of construction in infrastructure engineering projects. The cornerstone and the scope of the Seminar was to transfer knowledge from construction projects to both well-qualified and entry-level engineers, either to improve their professional skills or to enhance their qualifications in search of a job position.
The Seminar was completed by a technical visit to a worksite of a large-scale construction project where speakers and participants had the opportunity to get acquainted with long motorway tunnels (over 6km) bearing unreinforced lining, oblique bridges and lightweight road embankments.
Drawing on the very emboldening feedback, the Organising Committee and the School of Civil Engineering are encouraged to launch shortly the 2nd ISRBT Seminar in 2017″.
The Chairman of the Organising Committee ISRBT2016
THE SEMINAR IS ADDRESSED TO:
Construction Engineers, Engineers of International Projects, Scholars, Road Engineering Designers, Construction Managers, Contractors, Motorway Operators, Road Engineers, Bridge Engineers, Tunnel Engineers, Motorway Concessionaire, State Engineers, QA and QC Engineers.
