MUSE · Mechanics of unsaturated soils for engineering

Final Activity Report Summary - MUSE (Mechanics of Unsaturated Soils for Engineering)

A total of 10 fellows were recruited by the six partner universities of the MUSE network for a total of 244.25 full-time equivalent months of training. Training and transfer of knowledge at the network level were implemented through a programme of 12 scientific events. A workshop, a school and a hands-on training session took place in each of the four project years, organised by a different partner in rotation and attended by the whole network. Workshops gave fellows the opportunity to present their research to the entire network, while schools and hands-on sessions offered training on theoretical and practical aspects of soil mechanics through thematic lectures, including lectures by renowned experts from outside the network, and applied tutorials. The research and training programme culminated, during the last year of the project, with the organisation of the first ‘European Conference on Unsaturated Soils’, which replaced the fourth school and served as a vehicle for showcasing the network achievements. The three schools and the conference were open to attendees from outside the network and attracted a large number of participants. The three schools were held at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées and the Università di Napoli Federico II respectively. They offered a balanced programme of lectures, delivered by both academics and practitioners and including invited speakers from outside the network. Each school attracted around 100 participants with a significant proportion of attendees from outside the network and outside Europe. Electronic copies of the lecture slides for all three schools were made available free of charge to the wider scientific community via the MUSE website and a total of 38,099 downloads had been registered by the time of this report, including 21,221 from the first MUSE School, 9,957 from the second and 6,921 from the third. The first European Conference on Unsaturated Soils took place at Durham University on from 2 to 4 July 2008 (refer to http://www.e-unsat.dur.ac.uk) and was jointly organised by Durham University and the University of Glasgow with all MUSE partners represented on the advisory board. The conference, which was supported by the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, attracted 156 delegates from 30 countries, among which 15 European countries, and had 136 papers presented during the three days of works. All MUSE partners took part in the conference contributing over 60 papers and three out of four keynote lectures. The conference proceedings were published in a 989 pages book by CRC Press/Balkema, an imprint of Taylor and Francis. Dissemination was a vital part of the network activities and partners published 134 journal articles, with a further 20 being accepted or in press by the time of the project completion, and 311 conference papers. Partners also edited seven books of conference proceedings and five journal special issues. During the four years of network operation a total of 93 joint publications, involving two or more network partners, were produced and 23 doctoral theses were completed. The network was also represented in 68 conferences and 44 workshops, with, usually, two or more partners participating in each of such events. In addition, fellows took part in a large number of conferences and scientific events within the wider scientific community, where they presented their own work and introduced themselves to colleagues operating in similar research areas worldwide. In this way they gained exposure to the wider research community outside the network and started developing an independent profile. This was particularly beneficial to the progress of their career as it was confirmed by the fact that eight out of ten recruited fellows secured prestigious positions in academia or industry shortly after the completion of their appointments. Finally, during the course of the project, six of the eight early stage fellows completed a doctoral degree programme (PhD).

Data: CORDIS, © European Union