The Future of Infrastructure & the Role of Physical Testing
With climate change driving the need for resilient infrastructure and humanity’s push towards sustainable space explorations continuing, the demand for research on materials, structures and systems that can endure extreme conditions has never been greater. This workshop aims to bring together a wide range of science and engineering disciplines to showcase Surrey’s technical capabilities and foster interdisciplinary collaboration with the shared goal of future-proofing infrastructure against extreme environmental and operational conditions.
As the UK faces increasing pressure to adapt its infrastructure to meet the challenges of climate resilience, net zero, infrastructure circularity, and long-term sustainability, the role of physical testing facilities in producing actionable insights has never been greater. This half-day workshop serves as a platform to:
Showcase Surrey’s cutting-edge testing facilities capable of
supporting research in accelerated failure testing under extreme
environmental and operational conditions to identify adaptation
needs.
Explore how emerging technologies, such as digital fabrication, 3D
printing, automated digital twinning and direct/indirect monitoring, can be leveraged for existing and future structure/infrastructure resilience and unlocking opportunities for reuse, repurposing and sustainable lifecycle extension.
Demonstrate live applications of micro-to-city scale testing
methodologies in fields spanning civil, mechanical, space,
environmental, and computer sciences.
Foster collaboration across the sector to identify pressing research
needs and establish a blueprint for the future of infrastructure
across grey and nature-based assets.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Santosh Singh, Structures Group Manager, Safety, Engineering and Standards, National Highways
ORGANISERS
Dr Donya Hajializadeh, School of Sustainability, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Dr Dan Bompa, School of Sustainability, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Dr Boulent Imam, School of Sustainability, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Dr Juan Sagaseta, School of Sustainability, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Dr Marco Funari, School of Sustainability, Civil and Environmental Engineering
