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COST Action TU1208: "Civil Engineering applications of Ground Penetrating Radar"

Jorge Pais, represents the University of Minho in the COST Action TU1208 "Civil Engineering Applications of Ground Penetrating Radar". The support of the COST for funding COST Action TU1208 is gratefully acknowledged. More information about the action can be found in the following website: http://www.cost.eu/domains_actions/tud/Actions/TU1208

2010 Best Doctoral Thesis Award in Road Paving

The doctoral thesis by Liseane Padilha Thives da Luz Fontes, from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Brazil, entitled "Optimizing the performance of bituminous mixtures with asphalt rubber for pavement rehabilitation" received the "2010 Best Doctoral Thesis Award in Road Paving". This Brazilian award is granted biennially by the Instituto Brasileiro de Petróleo, Gás e Biocombustíveis (IBP).

This thesis was developed in co-supervision, under the framework of an agreement between the University of Minho (UM) and the Federal University of Santa Catarina. The experimental part of the thesis was developed at the University of Minho, namely at the Department of Civil Engineering School of Engineering, using Brazilian and Portuguese materials.

Dr Liseane Fontes received a scholarship granted by the Alßan Programme while she was at the University of Minho. In Brazil, she received a scholarship from the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq. Her tutors were Professors Paulo Pereira and Jorge Pais from the UM, and Professor Glicerio Triches, from the UFSC.

The Highways Research Group of the University of Minho, in cooperation with the University of Coimbra, are organizing  the XV Congresso Ibero-LatinoAmericano do Asfalto, which will be held in the FIL, Parque das Nações, Lisbon from 22 to 27 September, 2009. Further information at:

http://www.xvcila.org

The Highways Research Group is organizing the Second Workshop on Four Point Bending, which will be held at the University of Minho on 24-25th September 2009. Further information at:

http://www.civil.uminho.pt/4pb/

Mission

Annually, the European citizens spend nearly 15% of their revenues (approximately 500 billion euros) in mobility, particularly using the road network, which constitutes a key infrastructure for the economic and social development. In this context, investment in transport infrastructures research constitutes a strategic objective, especially in the field of maintenance optimisation.

The members of the Highways Group of the University of Minho are devoted to three main missions: (i) education, both at undergraduate and postgraduate level; (ii) research; (iii) specialised services to the community.

Education represents a major issue on the group’s mission, through its involvement on subjects of the undergraduate course – surveying, highways, pavement engineering, and on subjects of the postgraduate course – pavement maintenance management, design and construction of highways; design and construction of railways; design and management of safety equipment.

Research is one the most important field of the mission of the group, where, in addition to the development of fundamental research, the applied research takes a very important place on the activities of this group, which has a strong link with the administration of transportation infrastructure networks. The group has been increasing over the last years its link with major research centres all over the world, receiving research students from several countries that are coming to make use of the very good research infrastructures.

The production of specialised services to the community, in particular regarding issues related to transportation infrastructures, also represents a key point in the activity of this group, where the transfer of research into practice is also part of its strategic mission.