The following is the schedule of plenary addresses programmed for the Opening Ceremony:

09:00 – 09:05, Farzad Naeim, Franco Braga and Rui Pinho, Conference Hosts (IAEE & ANIDIS) and Chair of Organising Committee

09:05 – 09:15, Martina Riva, Councilor of the Municipal Board of the City of Milan

09:15 – 09:25, Attilio Fontana, President of Lombardia Region

09:25 – 09:35, Guido Castelli, Senator and Government Commissioner for the Post-2016 Earthquake Reconstruction

09:35 – 09:45, Fabrizio Curcio, Head of Italian Civil Protection Department

09:45 – 10:00, Ekhosuehi Iyahen, Secretary-General of Insurance Development Forum

10:00 – 10:10, Alessandra Gallone, Senator and Councillor of Italian Minister of University and Research

10:10 – 10:20, Nello Musumeci, Italian Minister for Civil Protection and Sea Policies

10:20 – 10:25, Musical Performance, introduced by Michele Calvi & conducted by Eros Cristiani

The following five Keynote Lectures are foreseen:

Julian J. Bommer
Imperial College London, UK
Lecture day: Monday, July 1^st
Lecture title: Seismic Hazard Assessment for Natural and Induced Earthquakes: M_min, M_max, and Everything in Between

Ellen M. Rathje
University of Texas, Austin, USA
Lecture day: Tuesday, July 2^nd
Lecture title: Regional-Scale Seismic Landslide Assessments for Distributed Infrastructure Systems

Xinzheng Lu
Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
Lecture day: Wednesday, July 3^rd
Lecture title: From “Simulation-Driven” Urban Disaster Mitigation to “Generative AI-Powered” Seismic Design

Judith Mitrani-Reiser
National Institute of Standards and Technology, USA
Lecture day: Thursday, July 4^th
Lecture title: Taking Measure: How Earthquake Reconnaissance Has Evolved Over Fifty Years

Dimitrios Vamvatsikos
National Technical University of Athens, Greece
Lecture day: Friday, July 5^th
Lecture title: Criteria for Selecting Intensity Measures in Seismic Risk Assessment: What Matters, What Does Not, and Why

Note: talk abstract and short bio for each speaker can be found in the dedicated Plenary Talks page.

This is an initiative of the International Association of Earthquake Engineering (IAEE), deployed with the support of Computers & Structures Inc. (CSI), aimed at creating an opportunity for the younger generations of researchers and practitioners to meet in person illustrious representatives of the older generation of scholars in our field. At this link you may find the captivating Masters’ lectures that were delivered at the previous world conference.

In addition to the oral presentations included in the conference programme, it is also foreseen that (hard-copy) monographs prepared by each one of the four IAEE-invited distinguished scholars will be distributed to all participants of the conference. These volumes will feature overviews of the history of developments in a given technical area and/or discussion of significant past applications or milestone scientific advancements and/or an insight on future needs, challenges and opportunities.

The four Masters Lectures defined by IAEE for the WCEE2024 are:

Steve Kramer
University of Washington, USA
Lecture day: Monday, July 1^st
Lecture title: The Evolution of Performance-Based Design in Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering

Jack P. Moehle
University of California at Berkeley, USA
Lecture day: Tuesday, July 2^nd
Lecture title: Performance-Based Earthquake Engineering: A Chronicle in Five Easy Pieces

Li Li Xie
Institute of Engineering Mechanics, China Earthquake Administration (CEA), China
Lecture day: Wednesday, July 3^rd
Lecture title: Ranking Strong Earthquake Ground Motion Recordings Based on the Degree of Damage to Structures Caused by the Whole Time History

Gian Michele Calvi
University School for Advanced Studies – IUSS Pavia, Italy
Lecture day: Thursday, July 4^th
Lecture title: The Art of Seismic Design

Note: talk abstract and short bio for each speaker can be found in the dedicated Plenary Talks page.

The Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) confers an annual Distinguished Lecture Award to recognize and encourage communication of outstanding professional contributions of major importance for earthquake hazard mitigation. The recipients of such award then prepare an address on the agreed topic for presentation at the EERI Annual Meeting and at a series of lectures typically delivered at different US venues.

In addition, and in cooperation with the Seismological Society of America (SSA), the William B. Joyner Memorial Lecture series is also awarded annually. Presented at the Annual Meetings of SSA and EERI, as well as at locations of the lecturer’s choosing, the lectures bring scientists and engineers together in an effort to make our world a safer one–just as Joyner himself did so brilliantly.

Thanks to the close collaboration between the WCEE2024 Organising Committee and EERI, this Conference will provide, for the first-time, a unique and exciting opportunity to render the 2024 edition of these two prestigious Annual Lectures available to a global audience.

Michael Olsen
Oregon State University, USA
Lecture day: Tuesday, July 2^nd
Lecture title: Geospatial Technology – Saving the World’s Past, Present and Future from Natural Hazards

Helen Crowley
Global Earthquake Model (GEM) Foundation, Italy
Lecture day: Thursday, July 4^th
Lecture title: Why Seismic Hazard Modelling Has Become a Risky Business

Note: talk abstract and short bio for each speaker can be found in the dedicated Plenary Talks page.

The industry sector plays a paramount role in the development of tools and solutions for the reduction of the seismic risk. As such, we felt that it would be most pertinent for this Conference to feature also a plenary talk from the industry, and no-one seemed more fitting than Ashraf Habibullah, President and CEO of Computers and Structures, Inc (CSI).

Ashraf graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1970 with a master’s degree in structural engineering.  He founded CSI in 1975 and has led the development of CSI’s products, including SAP2000 and ETABS, for nearly five decades. Today, CSI is recognized globally as the pioneer in the development of software for structural and earthquake engineering. CSI’s software is used by thousands of engineering firms and is the choice of sophisticated design professionals in over 160 countries.

Ashraf Habibullah
Computers and Structures, Inc
Talk day: Wednesday, July 3^rd 
Talk title: Engineering is About People! An Introduction to Human Engineering

Note: talk abstract and short bio of the speaker can be found in the dedicated Plenary Talks page.

160 Technical Sessions, described here, have been proposed by the scientific community, attracting close to 4000 submissions from around the World (100+ countries); this undoubtedly constitutes a success for which we should all be very proud of – it is unquestionable that a community-based conference programme has been created.

Technical Sessions are comprised of two Parts; a plenary one where presentations will be delivered on stage and one at a time to all (seating) attendees of the technical session (Stage Presentations), and another where simultaneous presentations will be delivered and discussed with sub-groups of the session attendees that will be standing-up by the monitors where the presenter’s slides are being shown (Monitor Presentations).

At the following links, you may access:

– Overview of Technical Sessions schedule 
– Scientific Programme  (schedule of all Stage and Monitor presentations)

Several side meetings and events will be taking place in parallel to the scientific programme of the conference, as listed below, as well as in this table. We note that, in general, attendance to these side meetings/events is on an invitation basis. Exceptions to this rule are indicated below with asterisks.

MONDAY, JULY 1^ST
13:00 – 14:30
CSI/IAEE “Greet the Masters”* | SUITE 5
Tomorrow’s Cities and partners meeting | SUITE 6
16:00 – 18:00
ReLUIS WP13 Meeting | SUITE 6
17:00 – 19:00
EAEE Executive Committee Meeting | SUITE 5
United for Global Impact with Build Change | AMBER 1
NHERI GSC – Student-Driven Leadership in Natural Hazards** | AMBER 5
Indian Society of Earthquake Technology (ISET) Gathering** | SPACE 3

TUESDAY, JULY 2^ND
09:00 – 13:00
IAEE Executive Committee Meeting | SUITE 5
13:00 – 14:30
CSI/IAEE “Greet the Masters”* | SUITE 5
SENce Project Meeting | SUITE 6
14:30 – 16:00
IAEE Executive Committee Meeting | SUITE 5
16:00 – 18:00
EAEE WG11 Meeting | SUITE 5
ISO 3010 Meeting – WG TC98/SC3/AHG9 | SUITE 6
MDPI Buildings Editorial Board Meeting | SUITE 7
GEM Foundation – From Academic to Insurance Industry: What’s in it for Earthquake Engineers | AMBER 5
EPOS – Built Environment Data Candidate TCS** | AMBER 1
COSMOS – Happy Hour Gathering | SPACE 3
18:00 – 19:00
BEE Editorial Board Meeting | SUITE 5

WEDNESDAY, JULY 3^RD
09:00 – 13:00
IAEE Executive Committee Meeting | SUITE 5
13:00 – 14:30
CSI/IAEE “Greet the Masters”* | SUITE 5
FIB Task Group TG2.13 on Tsunami Engineering | SUITE 6
14:30 – 16:00
IAEE Executive Committee Meeting | SUITE 5
16:00 – 18:00
EAEE WG13 Meeting | SUITE 5
European Research Council (ERC) Presentation** | SUITE 6
EAEE WG15 Meeting | SUITE 7
Special Session in Celebration of Enzo Ciampi** | AMBER 5
Global Tsunami Model – Stakeholders meeting | AMBER 1
18:00 – 19:30
EESD Editorial Board Meeting | SUITE 5
Proposal for a Strong Motion Data Working Group | SUITE 6
ERIES-FREISUST User Group Meeting | SUITE 7

THURSDAY, JULY 4^TH
09:00 – 16:00
IAEE General Assembly | SUITE 5
16:00 – 18:30
LASSIE Project Meeting | SUITE 5
Meeting of “Giunta Tecnica delle Costruzioni” | SPACE 7
COSMOS – Basin Effects Estimation Competition | SPACE 3
17:00 – 18:30
World House Encyclopedia (WHE) Gathering | AMBER 5
The Blessings of Disaster – Meet the Author: M. Bruneau** | AMBER 1

FRIDAY, JULY 5^TH
09:00 – 12:00
IAEE Executive Committee Meeting | SUITE 5

* Aimed at young researchers and featuring a limited capacity; participation will thus be on a first-come, first-served basis (see newsletter sent on June 5^th)

** Open to all conference participants.

Conference attendees interested in taking part in the Technical Visits listed below must register here first (got to ‘Registration add-ons’ section). When the maximum number of participants foreseen for a given Technical Visit will be reached, registrations for such specific activity will be closed. A registration fee must be paid, to cover organisation costs; naturally, this fee will be reimbursed if a given Technical Visit gets cancelled (in case the number of registrations does not reach the minimum threshold indicated below).

Visit to EUCENTRE Test Labs
Description: The European Centre for Training and Research in Earthquake Engineering (EUCENTRE) is located in Pavia, a University town distant 40 km south of Milan. Two shuttle buses will transport participants from the conference venue (MiCo) to Eucentre and vice-versa. The main focus of the technical visit will be two large-scale shake-table testing facilities available at Eucentre, as well as its high-capacity bearing/isolator testing system. Further details on Eucentre testing facilities can be found at this webpage.
Date & time: Friday July 5^th, 14:00 – 18:00
Registration cost: 20 Euro
Minimum number of required participants: 20
Maximum number of allowed participants: 95
Shuttle bus departing/return location: MiCo

Visit to JRC-ELSA Test Lab
Description: The European Laboratory for Structural Assessment (ELSA) at the Joint Research Centre (JRC) is located in the town of Ispra, 65 km distant from Milan. A shuttle bus will transport participants from the conference venue (MiCo) to JRC-ELSA and vice-versa. The main focus of the technical visit will be large-scale pseudo-dynamic testing facility available at JRC-ELSA. Further details on JRC-ELSA testing facilities can be found at this webpage.
Date & time: Friday July 5^th, 14:00 – 18:00
Registration cost: 20 Euro
Minimum number of required participants: 20
Maximum number of allowed participants: 48
Shuttle bus departing/return location: MiCo

Visit to ATM Control Room
Description: The Milan Public Transportation (ATM) Control Room is located in via Monte Rosa 89, which is a 15 min walking distance from the conference venue (MiCo). It is a state-of-the-art high-tech facility that monitors and controls on a 24/7 basis all public transportation operating in the metropolitan area of Milan. Further details on ATM Control Room can be found here.
Date & time: Friday July 5^th, 14:00 – 15:30
Registration cost: 10 Euro
Departing location: MiCo
Minimum number of required participants: 15
Maximum number of allowed participants: 40

Night visit to Milan’s underground transportation tunnels and infrastructure
Description: In this very special technical visit, conference attendees will have the unique opportunity to walk inside some of the tunnels of Milan’s underground transportation infrastructure. With a view to allow participants to appreciate first-hand the evolution of underground design and construction practice, the visit will include metro lines M1 (in operation since 1964), M3 (opened in 1990) and M4 (inauguration in 2023/24). This will be the first time such a visit (further details here) is organized by Milan Public Transportation agency – not to be missed!
Date & time: Thursday July 4^th, 1:00 – 3:30 (i.e. from the night between Wednesday 3^rd and Thursday 4^th)
Registration cost: 10 Euro
Departing location: Piazza San Babila
Return location: Piazza San Babila
Minimum number of required participants: 10
Maximum number of allowed participants: 20

Working hard is important, but so too is having moments of relaxation and non-sedentary activity amongst friends and colleagues. For this reason, the WCEE2024 organisation is pleased to invite conference participants to register in the table football championship.

The tournament will be taking place in the Balcony at Level +1 (map) from Monday July 1^st to Thursday July 4^th during the 13:00 – 14:30 and 16:00 – 19:00 time slots, and the winners will be awarded during the conference’s Closing Ceremony.

The championship will consist of 32 teams of two players each, and a total of 63 matches of 15 minutes duration will be played during the first four days of the conference.

Both round-robin and a knock-out stages are foreseen, as described in the tournament rulebook. 

Update: Registrations are closed

(once the number of 32 teams will have been reached, all teams that register subsequently will be added onto a waiting list; if a team then drops out of the championship, the organisation will draw from the waiting list in order of registration)

The Conference Party will be taking place at Milan’s fashionable events venue Superstudio Maxi, on the evening of Thursday, July 4^th from 20:00. High-quality Italian buffet dinner will naturally be a feature of the event, as so will be live music, covering an as wide as possible range of musical eras. There is not a fixed deadline for registration at the party yet, however, on a later stage, a cut-off date will be set, so that the catering may be organized in proportion to the number of enrolled party attendees.

To get your ticket for the Conference Party:
– go to Conference participant platform
– select “Registration add-ons”
– indicate the number of tickets you wish to purchase
– payment is accepted by credit card only

References:
Superstudio Maxi https://www.superstudioevents.com/en/locations/superstudio-maxi/

With the support of Computers & Structures Inc., conference participants have the unique opportunity to attend an exceptional evening at the famous “La Scala” theatre. The celebrated Turandot opera show will be performed in the evening of Monday, July 1^st.
There is no specific deadline for buying your tickets, however the Organisers’ suggestion is not to wait too long, given that the number of seats at this famous opera house is not limitless.

To get your ticket for the La Scala Theatre:
– go to Conference participant platform
– select “Registration add-ons”
– indicate the number of tickets you wish to purchase, in the desired seating section
– payment is accepted by credit card only

At a later stage, a tool for the selection of the booked seats will be made available by the Organising Secretariat.
Tickets are non refundable.

Further information and details on the show may be found at this page.

References:
Seating sections
La Scala Theatre https://www.teatroallascala.org/en/index.html
La Turandot  https://www.teatroallascala.org/en/season/2023-2024/opera/turandot.html