A big thank you to the Belgian and Dutch Groups of IABSE for hosting the highly successful IABSE Congress Ghent 2025, held on 27–29 August 2025 at ICC Ghent, under the theme “The Essence of Structural Engineering for Society.”
The Congress opened with a Welcome Ceremony featuring messages from Organising Committee Co-Chairs Hans De Backer and Bert Hesselink, Scientific Committee Co-Chairs Bert Snijder and Davide Leonetti, followed by IABSE President Tina Vejrum. The first Keynote Lecture was delivered by Jean-Yves Del Forno, setting the tone for an engaging programme. Keynote Lectures by Predrag L. Popovic, Dick Hordijk, and Ho-Kyung Kim followed on subsequent days. Alongside these, participants enjoyed a wide range of parallel technical sessions, including a lively Pecha Kucha session, where young engineers presented with great enthusiasm.
Participants were busy networking, meeting new friends during coffee and lunch breaks, and at the Welcome Reception hosted by the Belgian and Dutch Groups, complete with the band, bringing all registered participants together in a festive atmosphere.
The Congress program also featured special activities, such as the Urban Hunt for Young Engineers, the Best Paper Prize, and technical tours of remarkable projects. A highlight was the Gala Dinner on 28 August at the historic Old Fish Market, where participants enjoyed a scenic boat ride along Ghent’s canals before the sunset.
The event concluded with a Closing Ceremony featuring acknowledgments from the OC, reflections by the SC, the Young Engineers Best Presentation Awards, IABSE President’s closing remarks, presentations of upcoming IABSE events, and a farewell drink for all.
IABSE Academy Launched in Ghent!
On the final day, the IABSE Academy was officially launched by the President, the IABSE Academy Board chaired by Fabrizio Palmisano, and Course Leaders Shunichi Nakamura for Bridge Engineering and Laurent Rus for Forensic in Structural Engineering. The Academy currently offers two diploma courses: bridge engineering and forensics in structural engineering. It also includes digital resources, a toolbox, and the IABSE community.
We are pleased to announce the first two graduates of the IABSE Diploma in Bridge Engineering: Maiken Morsing and Seima Chiyooka. Maiken Morsing attended the launch and received the first diploma issued by the Academy on stage.
More information about the IABSE Academy will be available on the IABSE website soon.
Here’s a snippet featuring the people behind the Academy. Watch this video.
The Annual Meetings (AM) preceding the IABSE Congress in Ghent 2025 were held on 25–26 August 2025 at the ICC Ghent.
It was inspiring to see IABSE members from around the world gather once again to have face-to-face discussions on key issues within the Association, reminiscent of the pre-pandemic days. The programme started on Monday morning with meetings of the Executive Committee, Technical Committee, SC Incheon and SC Copenhagen, the IABSE Ambassadors, and the Editorial Board for SEI, Correspondents, Bulletins, and YEC, alongside a number of Commissions and Task Groups.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Permanent Committee, the highest governing body of the association, hosted by IABSE President, Tina Vejrum and Executive Director Chep Uytiepo, reported the associations’ activities, finances, and future direction. This year’s meeting highlight was the election, where four new Vice Presidents: Ana Mandic Ivanovic (Croatia), Eva Lantsoght (Ecuador), Laurent Rus (Spain), and Tomonori Nagayama (Japan) and Technical Committee Chair Niels Peter Hoj, (Switzerland) were elected.
Outgoing Vice Presidents who completed their 2nd term, Carlos Mendez, Christian Cremona, Limin Sun, and Shunichi Nakamura, were sincerely thanked for their dedicated service and valuable contributions.
On Monday evening, participants attended the President’s Reception at the historic Pacification Hall of Ghent City Hall, followed by the Reception hosted by the Belgian and Dutch National Groups of IABSE at the Museum of Fine Arts (MSK) on Tuesday evening.
Register for the IABSE Awards & Gala Dinner 2025, an evening dedicated to celebrating excellence and innovation in structural engineering. Celebrate this joyous occasion and connect your brand with a global community of high achievers, leading professionals and companies during this unforgettable night of recognition and collaboration.
The theme of the Symposium, “Bridging Advanced Technologies – Structural Innovation,” serves as a call for all engineers, young & curious as well as ambitious & experienced to come together. We encourage all of you to share papers on R&D projects, your lessons learned and real case studies. And as we often learn most from the difficult times, where things did not go as planned, we ask you to be brave and also share the hard learned lessons. The Symposium will provide a unique opportunity to share knowledge, learn from the experience of others and together set a new agenda for the future.
Main topics include:
Circular Construction; Structural Modelling & Structural Concepts; Codes and Standards; Material Technology; Data Driven Technologies; and Automation and Robot Technologies.
Important Timelines:
2025 September: Full Paper submission deadline
October: Paper acceptance notification deadline
December: Final Programme
2026
Mid-January: Early bird registration deadline
End January: Final paper submission deadline
Do you have a special session that you would like to organise in the Congress?
Submit Special Session Proposal: Click Here.
Congress Theme: Structural Engineering Towards Evolution and Hyper-Expansion
Sub-Themes
• Expanded habitats and networks
• Disaster-resilient and risk mitigation
• Smart structures, AI and digital transformation
• Sustainability, clean energy and carbon neutrality
• Structural health monitoring, operation and maintenance
• Innovative structures and construction technologies
• Advanced structural materials
• State-of-the-art design and Analysis.
Submissions on traditional topics in bridge and structural engineering are also highly encouraged.
Activities of IABSE's Technical Committee
The Technical Committee (TC) chaired by Tobia Zordan is responsible for the overall technical activities of IABSE. It promotes, co-ordinates and assesses the activities of all technical groups. Read further here ...
Technical Committee Meeting
On 24 August 2025 at the Annual Meetings that took place in Ghent, the Technical Commtitee Meeting - Part 2 was held, chaired by Niels Peter Hoej (incoming Chair from 1 Nov. 2025). This meeting was attended by Chairs of Committees and Boards. The upcoming TC core with young engineers from Greece, China and Germany also attended the meeting to plan and prepare.
Photo (right): TC Meeting Ghent
Commission 1 Meeting
SEI Editorial Board Meeting
Bulletin Editorial Board Meeting
Commission 6 Meeting
IABSE Publications
IABSE Ghent Congress
Proceedings
Missed the IABSE Ghent Congress 2025?
The Conference Proceedings include all papers presented during the symposium, Keynote Lectures and Special Sessions, now available in ePDF format on the IABSE Online Shop.
National Groups Meeting in Ghent ICC 26 August 2025
The National Groups are, within their field of influence, responsible for providing active support to the Association's objectives. They support IABSE in particular through the nomination of qualified members for election to the different committees of the Association. They may have their own activities, such as conferences and publications. Click Here!
Interview with Jose Matos in Ghent for IABSE National Groups: Click Here,
and the IABSE LinkedIn post about NG meeting that took place in Ghent: Click Here.
Early career architects, engineers, and designers (expected to be under 35 and based in the UK) are invited to submit a single author paper for judging for the Nethercot Prize. The paper should cover the process of designing a new structure or adapting an old one. This award aims to encourage the written communication skills of the participants and highlight the excellent project work that is carried out by IABSE early career professionals.
Ecuador
The First Structural Engineering Congress – IABSE Ecuador 2025 is organised by the Ecuadorian NG, in collaboration with the Civil Engineering programs at Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ) and Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral (ESPOL). Read more here ...
Obituaries
Anton Franz Steffen
It is with great sadness that we would like to inform you that IABSE's longstanding member from Switzerland, Anton Franz Steffen (1938 to 2025), who was committed to the progress of structural engineering and connecting engineers across the world and was an active IABSE member, passed away on 13 August 2025, shortly before his 87th birthday. Anton F. Steffen – a civil engineer with a degree from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), was an active as an engineer and also politically and attended IABSE's international conferences and was often tying up with the local government to represent IABSE. He shall be missed by his fellow IABSE members and colleagues.
Per Tveit
It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Professor Dr. Ing. Per Tveit of University of Agder, Norway, who died on June 29th, 2025 at the age of 94. He is recognized by the international bridge engineering community as the inventor of the network arch bridge, which has been built over 100 times all over the world. Many engineers were inspired by his ideas, experience and active advice and will remember him as an extraordinary structural engineer. Our deepest sympathies are extended to Professor Tveit's family and loved ones.
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