Report Young Engineers Colloquium in Bochum
From March 31 to April 1, 2017, the Young Engineers Colloquium took place in Germany for the fourth time. This year, the colloquium was coorganised by the German and the Dutch Groups of IABSE, as well as the Institute for Structural Engineering of Ruhr-Universität in Bochum (RUB KIB). The Young Engineers Colloquium series intends to provide an international platform for young engineers to meet and exchange ideas as well as knowledge between students, young engineers and experienced professionals across the borders. As part of the colloquium, young engineers under the age of 35 present their projects from engineering practice and academia to a broad audience.
Based on the number of submitted abstracts and the more than 100 conference delegates, participation was a great success. Considering the 60 contributions submitted by young engineers from six countries, the number of previous events was once more exceeded. All submitted abstracts were reviewed by a Scientific Committee consisting of international experts from industry and academia in advance of the colloquium.
The colloquium started with an introductory lecture by Dr. Roland von Wölfel on the arch bridges of the highspeed railway across the Thuringian Forest and their erection methods. Afterwards, 12 young engineers selected by the Scientific Committee presented their projects from research and construction practice, which is only 20% of the submitted abstracts and makes the colloquium extremely selective. In addition, 36 young engineers had been chosen for poster presentation in combination with an impulse lecture. The three minute impulse lectures were intended to give the young engineers the opportunity to present the essential aspects of their work to the audience and to stimulate the discussions for the following poster presentations. The impulse lectures were introduced as part of the Young Engineers Colloquium for the first time and were highly appreciated by the delegates. All conference contributions were also published in full extent in the proceedings.
Coffee breaks and lunch breaks offered excellent opportunities to socialise with good friends and colleagues, as well as to develop new relationships. The evening event at the ‘Alte Lohnhalle’ in Bochum was a fantastic moment to further intensify the discussions and relationships. During the colloquium dinner the award ceremony for the oral and poster presentations took place, as well as further lectures like “Engineering for Extreme Winds” by Ahsam Kareem. Carsten Machentanz talked about the ‘Emscher Conversion Project’. His presentation gave a wonderful outlook for the technical excursion on the following day. The technical excursion to the construction sites ‘Lennetalbrücke’ and ‘Emscher Conversion Project’ on the following day was the final highlight of the Young Engineers Colloquium 2017.
(Report published in SEI 3/2017; Prof. Marion Rauch, FHNW and Prof. Markus Knobloch, RUB)
The German and Durch Group of IABSE would like to thank all the sponsors for their support. The involvement without which it would be impossible to organise this great event, has been sincerely appreciated.
If you would like to know more about this event and you would like to support the next one in year 2019 in Berlin, please contact the organizing committee via YEC2019(at)iabse.de.
