Bringing European professors together 15 Aug 2019

Tunnelling professors from European universities are invited to meet, present their courses, and discuss collaboration at the inaugural Meeting of European Tunnelling Professors and PhD Students. Organised by the ITA Committee on Education and Training (ITA-CET), under Chairman Professor Robert Galler, the meeting will take place 5-6 December at the Politecnico di Torino, Italy, and will also invite a limited number of PhD students to present their theses.

Promoting education and training

The meeting builds on the work of the ITA-CET University Network. Established in 2009 to act as an exchange platform for universities that offer masters degrees in tunnelling and underground space, the network now has 28 members from 20 different countries around the world. This growth has made regular meetings of the entire network difficult to organise, leading to the idea of regional events and the first European meeting.

Politecnico di Torino, Italy

Current European members of the Network include:

• ETH Zurich, Switzerland
• University of Ljubjana, Slovenia
• University of Loeben, Austria
• National Technical University of Athens, Greece
• Technical University of Civil Engineering - Bucharest, Romania
• Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands
• Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium
• Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
• Institute for Tunnelling, Pipeline Technology and Construction Management, Germany
• Politecnico di Torino, Italy
• University of Warwick, UK
• Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon, France
• Ecole Nationale des Travaux Publics de l'Etat, France
• Centre for Tunnel Studies, France

Universities from Austria, Greece, Italy, Switzerland and the UK have expressed interest in the meeting with others expected to follow. “It is hoped that this meeting will spark the organisation of similar events for universities in other regions around the globe and thereby strengthen the ITA-CET University Network,” the ITA said. “Non-European professors are also welcome to attend if they wish to do so and are able to bear travel and accommodation costs.”

In addition to the ITA-CET University Network, the Committee endorses five masters courses in tunnelling and underground construction, four in Europe and one in Mexico:

• Specialised Master in Tunnelling and TBMs at Politecnico di Torino.
• MSc in Tunnelling and Underground Space at Warwick University.
• Specialised Master in Tunnelling and Underground Space at INSA/ENTPE
• Master in Tunnels and Underground Works at AETOS Madrid
• Master in Civil Engineering - Speciality Tunnelling and Underground Works at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM)

More information on these courses, as well as others offered around the world, can be found on the ITA-CET website.