The international conference Milanković`s Theory of Climate Changes-Hundred Years Afterwords was organized as a part of the program of marking 145 from the birth of great man of Serbian and world science Milutin Milanković. The conference was held on November 4-5, 2024 on the occasion of the International Day Climate Change in Lecture Hall Milutin Milanković of the Faculty of Civil Engineering.
The objective of the conference, which was attended by liding world experts in the fild of climate changes, was to anticipate on the basis of Milanković`s theory what could be expected to occur in the next 100 years as a consequence of the climate changes, both due to naturale long-term processes and anthropogenic factors, and to propose practical measures that the human civilzation should undertake in order to prevent their negative influence on the enviroment.

Program of the Conference

With the presence of over 300 participants from 19 countries, the International Symposium of the Association of Structural Engineers of Serbia 2024 was successfully held. Representatives from the academic community, the construction industry, companies supporting the ASES, scientists, researchers, and engineers – with a diversity of participant profiles and content, the ASES Symposium lived up to the (high) expectations.

There were five keynote presentations on topics such as bridges, vibrations, FRP structures, rehabilitation, and the impact of steel and concrete structures on the environment, all of which garnered great attention from the professional audience. The keynote speakers were Kilian Karius, Vitomir Racić, Marko Pavlović, Snežana Marinković, and Radenko Pejović.

Traditional awards and recognitions were presented:

The Award for Best Professional Achievement was given to Dimitrije Aleksić, Milan Pandrc, Šerif Dunica, and Saša Stošić for the Project: "STATION BUILDING WITHIN THE 'BELGRADE CENTER' RAILWAY STATION COMPLEX." The Award for Best Scientific Achievement was given to Isidora Jakovljević, Andrija Zorić, and Nikola Rajić. Special recognitions were also awarded to Distinguished Members, Boško Stevanović and Dragoslav Stojić.

The proceedings contain a total of 89 papers – 5 keynote presentations, 4 awarded papers, and 80 scheduled to be presented in the working sessions. Special attention was given to young authors, whose presentations were evaluated by a four-member jury based on the following criteria: 1) presentation (clarity, structure, consistency between oral and visual presentation), 2) technical competencies (objectives, methods, results), 3) motivation, and 4) relevance, i.e., the significance of the topic. The awarded colleagues are: Nadica Angova Kolevska, Maja Ranisavljević, and Milica Petrović, who will have the opportunity to present their extended and revised papers in the "Building Materials and Structures" journal, co-published by ASES.

Out of 26 papers planned for presentation in the poster session, 23 were exhibited, with special recognition at the symposium's closing ceremony for awardees Ivan Nackov and Stefan Mitrović.

The roundtable discussion on the topic: "Towards the Mandatory Use of BIM in Structural Engineering" attracted a large number of participants and sparked a lively discussion. It is evident that there is a need for more discussions on this topic, with the organization of panels and consultations suggested for that purpose.

The final session of the Symposium was a panel discussion titled: "Current Scientific Projects from Serbia and the Region – Opportunities for Application and Exploitation of Results." The main speakers were the vice-deans for science of the faculties of civil engineering in Zagreb and Belgrade, Ana Baričević and Miroslav Marjanović, as well as representatives of companies from Serbia: STRABAG – Marko Radulović, PENTA GE CO – Mihajlo Ristić, and PUT INŽENJERING – Denis Milenović.

At the ceremony held on October 8, 2024, the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia announced the opening of two new project calls (IDEAS 2024 and the Program for Cooperation between Serbian Science and the Diaspora: Support for Research Visits of Diaspora Scientists) and promoted 11 projects selected for funding within the Program of Cooperation with the Serbian Scientific Diaspora – Joint Research Projects – DIASPORA 2023. One of the projects approved for funding is "DIGIDRAIN: City-scale digital twins for urban drainage systems – bringing 'smart' to water infrastructure," led by asst. prof. dr Miloš Milašinović. The project team consists of researchers from the Digital Water Engineering Lab of the Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Belgrade, in collaboration with partners from the Institute for Artificial Intelligence Research and Development of Serbia and the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture GAF Niš.
The project will be carried out with significant support from prominent members of the Serbian scientific diaspora from the Netherlands (KWR Water Research Institute and TU Delft), the United Kingdom (Imperial College London), Australia (Queensland University of Technology), and Canada (Toronto Metropolitan University).
The objective of the project is to develop a methodology for creating digital twins for stormwater drainage systems and to implement this innovative approach in the management of urban utility infrastructure.

We wish the team success in implementing the project!

Assistant professor dr Aleksandar Sekulić and teaching assistant Ognjen Antonijević represent the Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Belgrade, in a consortium with Agri Marketplace (Portugal), The Association Of Balkan Eco Innovations (Serbia), and GILAB d.o.o. (Serbia), which recently received funding for the project titled „Developing Carbon Offset Certification and Trading Platform for Mediterranean Carbon Farming“ under the EIT Food call.
The project addresses the following challenges: De-risk transition to Regenerative Agriculture (Reg Agri) for farmers, Reduce the cost of Reg Agri transition to business and consumers, and Demonstrate improvement in Soil Health & Biodiversity, by establishing a high-quality Carbon offsets certification and trading platform for the Mediterranean with focus on olives and almonds. These crops have a high potential to capture carbon in biomass and soil and reduce GHG emissions from production when regenerative practices are applied.

We wish the team success in implementing the project!

At the beginning of September, our colleague, Assistant Professor Marko Marinković, presented the Faculty of Civil Engineering in a great way at the International Scientific and Professional Earthquake Engineering Conference held in Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan), organized by the International Association of Earthquake Engineering Experts.
Assistant Professor Marko Marinković was held a guest lecture "An innovative solution for seismic decoupling of infill walls that is both cost-efficient and easy to install", and was also honored with an award for outstanding contribution to the development of earthquake engineering.

Congratulation!

Prof. Dr. Vladimir Obradović, President of the Association for Project Management of Serbia - IPMA Serbia and Prof. Dr. Vladan Kuzmanović, Dean of the Faculty of Civil Engineering, signed the Cooperation Agreement. The purpose of this agreement is cooperation in the field of promotion and improvement of project management through scientific and professional cooperation between the Association for Project Management of Serbia and the Faculty of Civil Engineering.

IPMA Serbia is a non-governmental, professional and research organisation, qualified to work on different aspects of programme, portfolio and project management. IPMA Serbia is a member of International Project Management Association – IPMA as a federation of about 70 Member Associations spread from Europe to Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Australia, and North and South America.

The Faculty of Civil Engineering  prepares materials for the international accreditation of bachelor's and master's studies of the Civil Engineering, which is approved by one of the most representative international associations - ASIIN (Akkreditierungsagentur für Studiengänge der Ingenieurwissenschaften, der Informatik, der Naturwissenschaften und der Mathematik eV). From September 16 to 19, the Faculty was visited by the Commission of this leading German accreditation agency and in a conversation with the dean, vice-deans, teachers, students and representatives of the companies, they got acquainted with the educational goals, study programs, content, organization and conditions studies, qualifications of teaching staff, cooperation with the companies and other topics that are important for the accreditation process.

The third General Assembly of the Circ-Boost Project, in which the Faculty of Civil Engineering participates as one of the key partners, took place in Barcelona from June 27th to 28th, 2024. Prof. Dr Ivan Ignjatović, the leader of Work Package 3, presented the progress of this work package, as well as the progress of Pilot 3, which is headed by the Faculty of Civil Engineering in Belgrade and aims to develop, test and demonstrate circular solutions in structural engineering through the construction of modular and demountable ground-floor building. Prof. Dr Zorana Petojević, the leader of Work Package 4, highlighted the progress and results of developing a cutting-edge 3D web-based circular economy map aimed at mapping the circularity potential of existing building stock and maximizing their utilization.

The international conference "Nature-Based Solutions for Water Security and Climate Adaptation" was held on 3-5 July 2024, at Metropol Palace Hotel Belgrade.

The conference brought together academic communities and practitioners who exchanged information, experiences and research results on a variety of aspects concerning Nature-Based Solutions.

The Conference was organised by RECONECT network, a project financed by the European Commission (www.reconect.eu). The Conference was also supported by the International Water Association (IWA) and International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (IAHR).

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From June 9th to June 14th, 2024, the 16th International Conference on Urban Drainage (#ICUD2024) was held at the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft). During the conference, researchers from the Department of Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering (University of Belgrade, Faculty of Civil Engineering) had the opportunity to present their latest scientific results in the areas of urban drainage system modeling, development of measurement techniques for monitoring of urban drainage systems, and the application of nature-based solutions to reduce flood risk in urban areas. Additionally, they actively participated in working groups meetings and co-chaired several sessions during the conference.