Grenoble-Alpes University, 3Sr Laboratory, Ecole Polytech, France

Dr. Daniel Dias obtained his MSc in Civil Engineering from INSA (National Institute of Applied Sciences) of Lyon (France). He finished his Ph.D. in 2000 on Numerical modeling of tunnel face reinforcement at INSA of Lyon. 

From 2000 to 2011 he was an Associate Professor at INSA of Lyon. For more than 10 years he has worked on Geomechanics "numerical and experimental modeling of tunnels and soil reinforcement". Since 2011, he is a Professor of Geotechnical Engineering at the Grenoble Alpes University (France). He was the Head of the Geotechnical and Civil Engineering Department from 2012 till 2017. 

Dr. Said TAIBI is a professor at the University of Le Havre Normandie (Normandy University), Laboratory of Waves and Complex Media (LOMC), UMR CNRS 6294. After an engineering degree in Civil Engineering at the National Polytechnic School of Algiers, and a DEA (Diplôme d'Etudes Approfondies) at the University Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris VI), he defended a PhD thesis in 1994 at the Ecole Centrale Paris, followed by a post-doctoral research activity at the CNRS in collaboration with EDF. He then joined the University of Le Havre in 1997 where he led a research theme dealing with multiphase porous media and the behavior of unsaturated soils. He obtained his habilitation to supervise research in 2007 and was promoted to Professor of Universities in 2012.

His research focuses on Thermo-Hydro-mechanical behavior laws of unsaturated soils, multiphase flows in geomaterials, and coupled hygro-thermal transfers in unsaturated soils. The fields of application concern, among others, Environmental Geotechnics, Natural Hazards, Waste Storage and Recovery, engineered clay barriers, and the development of bio-sourced Eco-Geo-Building Materials, especially based on raw earth...

Reviewer for about ten international scientific journals. Member of the Editorial Committee of PURH (Presses universitaires de Rouen et du Havre) since 2021. Expert for the ANR, for the COMEVAL (Commission d'Evaluation des Chercheurs) and OSEO (project evaluation). Member of the board of the Research Federation FR SCALE (Sciences Appliquées à L'Environnement; FR CNRS 3730 SCALE).

He has supervised or co-supervised 27 doctoral theses, 22 of which have been defended and 5 are in progress. Jury member of about thirty Ph.D. and HDR theses, of which about twenty as a rapporteur. 

Author or co-author of about 170 papers, including 2 book chapters and 70 articles in international peer-reviewed journals.

El-Manar University, ENIT, Tunisia

Dr. Mounir Bouassida is a professor of civil engineering at the National Engineering School of Tunis at Tunis El Manar University, having obtained a technical engineering diploma, a diploma of in-depth studies, a 3rd cycle doctoral thesis, and a state doctoral thesis in civil engineering. He has co-directed 23 doctoral theses and 32 research masters. His work mainly focused on soil improvement and the behavior of soft clays. Dr. Bouassida is co-author of around a hundred articles in indexed international journals, and approximately 190 communications at international congresses including 27 plenary conferences and also several international conference proceedings. In addition, he has published three works and three patents. He is an associate editor of the following journals: Innovative Infrastructure Innovative Solutions Ground Improvement (ICE) journals, Geotechnical-Geological journal, International Journal of Geosynthetics Ground Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering SEAGS-AGSEA and Frontiers and Built Environment journal (Geotechnical Engineering). As a “Fulbright” scholar (USA, 2006) Dr Bouassida developed a new methodology for sizing foundations on column-reinforced soils. He is the co-developer of the Columns 1.01 software where this sizing methodology was implemented. Dr. Bouassida is the recipient of the S. Prakash Prize for Excellence in Geotechnical Practice (2006). In 2008, Dr. Bouassida launched the project of the SIMPRO design office specializing in geotechnics, of which he was the manager until 2012 when he became its technical advisor. In this context, Dr Bouassida was able to intervene in the study of more than a hundred projects. Teacher. Bouassida served as Vice-President for Africa of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnics (SIMSG) from 2005 to 2009, and then he served as a designated member from 2017 to 2022 of the SIMSG responsible for the virtual university program. Teacher. Bouassida has benefited from several stays as a visiting professor at university institutions in the USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, and Asia. In 2018, he became a member of the International Press-In Association (www.ipa.org). In 2019, Dr. Bouassida launched his YouTube channel “Mounir Bouassida” which attracted the attention of a large number of members 1590 (11/25/22). This channel is followed by listeners from several countries. Fifty-nine videos, in French and English, have been uploaded to this channel, the content of which relates to the teaching of soil mechanics, soil improvement, and modeling the behavior of geotechnical structures. 

Dr. Amar Benazzouk, is an Associate Professor in Civil Engineering at the University of Picardie Jules Verne, Amiens (France). His research carried out at the Laboratory of Innovative Technologies, is mainly focused on the feasibility and the characterization of innovative construction materials, with particular emphasis on topics related to energy save and low Carbone footprint.

Recently, special attention is also assessed on the study of reinforced materials with vegetable fibers and/or particles, which are currently considered amongst the most promising materials in sustainable engineering technologies due to their several potential applications. His research activity is also focused on the environmental and biological degradation mechanism of these materials, by investigating the effective means leading to improve their durability.

Dr. Antonio Formisano is an Associate Professor of Structural Design at the Department of Structures for Engineering and Architecture of the University of Naples Federico II. Licensed to the role of Full Professor since 2021, his research activity deals with historical and cultural heritage buildings, metal structures, seismic retrofitting, structural robustness and sustainability. He chaired several research projects and he was author of more 450 publications published in international journals and conference proceedings, where he participated as chairman and speaker. 

His records on Scopus are as follows: Documents 253, Citations: 3515, H-index: 34 (updated on 31/07/23). He is Editor-in-Chief of the Scopus-indexed journals “International Journal of Masonry Research and Innovation” and “The Open Civil Engineering Journal”. He was and is involved in several standard committees on metal structures (i.e. Member of CEN-TC 250/SC9 Committee "Aluminium Alloy Structures") and cultural heritage. He received several awards in the fields of metal structures, innovation technologies and green materials and sustainability.