Associated Partners

Website: www.irsn.fr

The Institution:

IRSN, a public expert with industrial and commercial activities, was set up in 2001.​ The Institute is supervised jointly by the French Minister of the Ecological transition, the French Minister of Defense, and the French Ministers of Energy transition, Research and Health. It is the nation’s public service expert in nuclear and radiation risks, and its activities cover all the related scientific and technical issues. IRSN interacts with all parties concerned by nuclear and radiation risks (public authorities, local authorities, companies, research organizations, stakeholders’ associations, etc.) to contribute to public policy issues relating to nuclear safety, human and environmental protection against ionizing radiation, and the protection of nuclear materials, facilities, and transport against the risk of malicious acts. IRSN employs 1,744 people, including many specialists, engineers, researchers, physicians, agricultural engineers, veterinary surgeons and technicians, as well as experts in nuclear safety, radiation protection and control of sensitive nuclear materials. IRSN also hosts the activities of 96 doctoral students and 21 post-doctoral students.

The Supervisor(s):

Sebastien Hok is a seismologist. He obtained his PhD in Geophysics in 2008 at Grenoble University in France. Since january 2013 he is researcher and expert in the Seismic Hazard laboratory of IRSN in Paris, France. Dr Hok has published scientific papers focused on numerical modelling of earthquake rupture physics. His recent research activities focus on elaborating physics-based earthquake rupture scenarios relevant for seismic hazards, with special focuses on improving the ground motion prediction close to faults and surface rupture hazards.

Oona Scotti is an earth scientist. She obtained her PhD in Geophysics in 1991 at Stanford University in the United States of America. Since June 2007 she holds the post of research and expertise in the Seismic Hazard laboratory of IRSN in Paris, France. Dr Scotti has published extensively on a variety of topics concerned with the understanding of earthquakes and their effects, from a mechanical and from an historical point of view. Her research interests today are mainly focused on the input data necessary for seismic hazard assessment, with a particular emphasis on the characterisation of potentially active faults and how to best integrate physics-based models of interconnected fault systems in fault-based PSHA. Dr Scotti is a member and co-founder of the Fault2SHA WG, a European Seismological Commission working group, created in 2016 (FAULT2SHA – ESC working group), whose common vision and joint efforts of many members contributed to the success of the MSCA-DN TREAD project proposal.

Website: www.ogs.it

The Institution:

The National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics – OGS is a public research institution, monitored by the Ministry of University and Research – MUR, which operates internationally in the field of physical, chemical, biological and geological oceanography, experimental and exploration geophysics, seismology and engineering seismology. Its expertise is applied in the field of earth, sea and polar sciences to contribute to the dissemination of scientific knowledge and to solve environmental, economic and social problems.

The main activities undertaken are research, development and technology transfer projects for the benefit of the territory, with particular focus towards issues related to major global challenges. The strategy pursued by the institute aims at a close integration between research, innovation/technology transfer and training/dissemination activities, as well as a synergy between the different research funding instruments. In particular, using its own research vessel Laura Bassi and other major research infrastructures, OGS intervenes to safeguard and enhance natural and environmental resources, to assess and prevent geological, environmental and climate risks, and to disseminate knowledge and scientific culture.

The Centre for Seismological Research (CRS) is the OGS departments established following the earthquake in Friuli on 6 May 1976, with the National Law No. 828 of 1982 for seismic monitoring the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region. Subsequently, Law No. 399 of 30 November 1989 assigned the CRS the institutional task of “… carrying out, in scientific autonomy, […] with specific projects, research on seismicity and seismogenesis of northeastern Italy, managing and developing the related network of seismic survey for civil protection purposes”. In the Centre, two scientific groups carry out research ranging from the study of the seismic source, spatial and temporal distribution of seismicity, crustal structure, and tectonic deformations, to the development of methodologies for monitoring human-induced seismicity, to the estimation of site effects and soil-structure interaction, hazard and risk related to seismic events, with real-time or quasi real-time analyses.

The Centre manages: the Terrestrial Monitoring System (seismic and geodetic) of North-Eastern Italy (SMINO) with a 24/7 surveillance service and rapid distribution of information to institutions and the public; the mobile laboratory for rapid post-event intervention and temporary networks; two dense seismic monitoring networks of underground natural gas storages in northern Italy; local geodetic monitoring systems for landslide movements; a seismological calibration centre, and a sensor sevelopment group. CRS manages, in collaboration with the Istituto Antartico Argentino (IAA), the Antarctic Seismographic Argentinean Italian Network (ASAIN); in collaboration with EvK2-CNR, Italy and Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), it manages also the EVN seismometer station located in Nepal, at the base of Mount Everest.

The Supervisor(s):

Research Manager at Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale – OGS, coordinator of the CRS Group “Seismology applied to Engineering”. Past member of Government Commissione Grandi Rischi-Sismico. Past director and task leader in several national and regional projects. Proposer and executive committee member of the Fault2SHA Working Group of the European Seismological Commission. Ongoing Projects in 2023: TREAD (Doctoral Network EU); GEOSCIENCES IT (PNRR); PRIN Project NASA4SHA (MUR); EQ TIME (CNRS, F); RETURN (PNRR); Applied research projects.

Research interests are related to seismic hazard assessment, mainly by probabilistic approaches, at regional and national scale, with expertise from the definition and characterization of seismogenic sources to the achievement of products designed for the final-users (seismic engineers, land-planning administrations, Insurance companies). Original approaches developed on: attenuation relationships calibrated on macroseismic intensity points to be specifically applied to seismic zonation analyses (elements for the proposal of seismic zonation adopted by the Italian law in 2003); contributions for characterizing the seismogenic source, from the probabilistic definition of its spatial characteristics by earthquake locations, to the geological and statistical criteria for constraining the seismicity rates; these studies have led a wider utilization of individual seismogenic sources (faults) in probabilistic seismic hazard assessment in Italy; prototypes of time-dependent seismic hazard assessment for defining the priorities in seismic risk reduction strategies; educational campaigns focused on seismic risk reduction for schools and citizens. More recent interests in induced seismicity, seismostratigraphy in lakes, integration of multiple geophysical datasets for active faulting characterization.

Author of more than 70 papers on international and national reviewed journals and books, and as many papers on conference proceedings, with about 200 oral presentations or posters. Editors of volumes on seismic hazard, and booklets and multimedia (CD-DVD-Rom) for divulgation and educational purposes.

Website: www.ingv.it

The Institution:

The Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) is a non-commercial public research institution. A legal entity under public law and an autonomous institution, it carries out research activity in the geophysical disciplines in the field of earthquakes, volcanoes, and the environment, with the aim of providing research and responsible innovation while making the research results available to all, in accordance with the principles reported herein, and fostering participation by society.

INGV is responsible for the seismic, volcano, and tsunami surveillance service on the national territory and in the Mediterranean area; it coordinates the activity of regional and local seismic networks; it takes part in European and global studies and surveillance networks; it carries out dissemination activities and promotes communication, information, and training initiatives in schools and companies for the purpose of reducing the risk associated with the phenomena connected to its areas of research; it is a member of the National Civil Protection Service (Servizio Nazionale di Protezione Civile), as well as a competence centre at the Department of Civil Protection (Centro di Competenza del Dipartimento della Protezione Civile), on behalf of which it maintains operative round-the-clock surveillance activities and carries out research projects with dedicated objectives in the area of specific conventions.

INGV is articulated in Department and guarantees a strong territorial presence with the “Sections”. Of main interest for TREAD, the Earthquake Department collects data on a vast range of geophysical phenomena and uses these data for its own studies. Particularly important activities are the promotion of innovation in monitoring, data collection and real-time analysis. The Earthquakes Department is responsible for seismic monitoring on a national scale and for tsunamis that occur in the Mediterranean basin, on which it provides timely information to government bodies and society. It publishes bulletins and detailed reports on seismic activity, manages freely accessible seismological databases with information on historical and instrumental earthquakes. The collected data are used to study the nature and distribution of seismic activity, the causes and the geodynamic context of reference, to improve the understanding of seismic risk. The information obtained from the recorded seismic waves is used to imagine the interior of the Earth and develop models of the Earth’s structure. The research activities embrace a plurality of skills and methods and are grouped into eight thematic areas, in some cases strongly interconnected and in continuous dialogue with each other: structure of the earth, active crustal deformation, seismic source, seismicity of Italy, seismology, geophysics and geology for seismic engineering, seismic and tsunami hazard studies, variations of crustal characteristics and seismic precursors and real time seismology.

From research that is constantly developing, products and activities are born that have such an impact on society that they become continuous services. The line of business services and research for the society takes care of it, promoting its continuous updating, as a link between basic research and society

The Supervisor(s):

Francesco Visini, Phd, Researcher at Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia – INGV. Proposer and executive committee member of the Fault2SHA Working Group of the European Seismological Commission.

Specialized in the development of earthquake-forecast models and PSHA. In the last five years, he co-coordinated the development of the new seismic hazard model for Italy and he is currently in charge of creating and coordinating a permanent community for developing guidelines and products for national seismic hazard models in Italy, to serve as a guide for best practice in national PSHA. He has contributed most effectively to constrain seismic hazard in Italy with many focuses in areas where faults have long recurrence times, developing new approaches to integrate geological records into fault-based PSH models. Over the last years, he has been supervising MSc students in the areas of seismotectonic, seismic hazard, and seismology, as well as PhD students and post-doc researchers on active tectonics and seismic hazard themes. He has been involved in national and international interdisciplinary research programs (Civil Defense Department, MIUR, bilateral initiatives), and EU projects (such as TREAD-101072699) and he has worked on research projects funded by local authorities and private companies, collaborating with international and intersectoral researchers.

Author of more than 50 papers on international and national reviewed journals and books, and as many papers on conference proceedings, with hundreds of oral presentations or posters. Editor of a volume on seismic hazard.

Website: www.wtwco.com

The Institution:

The WTW Research Network is an award-winning collaboration supporting and influencing science to improve the understanding and quantification of risk, with the aim to improve the resilience of our clients and society as a whole.

As the risk landscape continues to evolve, the risk advisory and insurance industries are increasingly reliant on better risk insights and innovation. No single institution has the resources or breadth of knowledge to single-handedly answer all of the questions around the quantification and management of risk. Understanding risk and driving resilience are still best met working in partnerships and embracing the talents of people across the globe.

Linking more than 60 organizations in science, academia, think tanks and the private sector, the WTW Research Network forms innovative partnerships with the risk management and insurance industries to confront the full spectrum of risk modeling challenges. The WTW Research Network continues to build on the strength of its partnerships, delivering and incorporating solutions into models, methodologies and transactions that increase resilience and improve the market’s understanding and coverage of risk.

The WTW Research Network comprises of 12 risk specialists and innovative consultants based in the UK, US and Europe, using their subject matter expertise and experience of working jointly with academia and industry to augment WTW domain knowledge and solve client challenges.

The Supervisor(s):

James Dalziel joined the WTW Research Network (WRN) in 2021 as Earth Risk Research Lead, supporting their work in fields including seismic, volcanic, landslide and tsunami-related hazard. Prior to joining the WRN, James has over 6 years’ experience in the Geotechnical Engineering industry, working with a range of geological hazards such as slope stability, flooding, sinkholes, soil and groundwater contamination. He has also had experience in academia researching volcanic and seismic-related hazards.

James holds a BSc in Geology from the University of Southampton, an MSc in Volcanology and Geological Hazards from Lancaster University, and a Research Masters in Geology with a project focus on Volcanology, Seismology and Geophysics from the University of Bristol. He is a Fellow of the Geological Society of London working towards Chartered Geologist status, and is also a member of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) and an associate member of the Centre for the Observation and Modelling of Earthquakes, Volcanoes and Tectonics (COMET).

Websites: www.edf.fr

The Institution:

Electrictité de France (EDF) is the french electricity company, specialises in elctricity, from engineering to distribution. Engineering activities deal with power plant design, construction and dismantling. These activities are realized with the objective of assuring safety, which implies to take into natural hazards, among which the seismic hazard. The department of geosciences and civil engineering of EDF (TEGG), based in Aix en Provence, is in charge of seismic hazard assessment for existing facilities and new projects. The seismic hazard team is composed of scientists involved in seismology, geology, tectonics, seismic hazard processing and site response.

The Supervisor(s):

Kevin Manchuel works on seismotectonics topics, from seismic catalogue building (both hsitoricals and instrumentals) to faults characterization by combining geophysical, geological and paleoseismological approaches. He started his career at EDF in 2012, after a PhD at the University of Nice Sophia-Antipolis (Geoazur lab) on the seismotectonic characterization of the north ecuadorian – south colombian margin.

Websites: www.unimib.it www.disat.unimib.it

The Institution:

The University of Milano-Bicocca (UNIMIB), established in 1998, is one of the faster growing universities in Italy, with 14 Departments and more than 35000 students enrolled in 32 BSc, 34 MSc, and 5 Long-cycle MSc programmes. UNIMIB offers 16 PhD programmes in 7 thematic areas, participates in international research networks and collaborates with 8 European Research Infrastructures. UNIMIB holds 64 active patents and 17 spin-offs, exploiting opportunities from a broad range of technological and commercial sectors. UNIMIB has been awarded 166 European grants (100 H2020, 11 Horizon Europe programme), 48 as coordinator. UNIMIB coordinated several H2020-MSCA projects (MSCA-ITN, MSCA-RISE, MSCA-NIGHT, MSCA-IF, MSCA-EF), is beneficiary of 4 MSCA-DN and coordinates 1 MSCA PF. Furthermore, UNIMIB hosts 12 ERC grants (5 Starting, 5 Consolidator grants, 1 Proof of Concept and 1 Synergy). The PhD work will be carried on at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (DISAT), that groups 100+ professors, researchers and technical staff in the fields of Geoscience, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Agronomy and Engineering. DISAT develops interdisciplinary research to study the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, cryosphere, biosphere in terrestrial and marine environments. DISAT was awarded 2 consecutive MIUR “Departments of Excellence” projects in Earth Sciences (2018–2022 and 2023-2027) and hosts research infrastructures like GEMMA (Geo-Environmental Measuring and Monitoring from multiple plAtforms), EuroCold (for the study of ice samples for climate research), POLARIS (for the study of pollutants and their impacts), CUDAM (for dating with OSL, TL and 14C) and MaRHE (for the study of the marine environment). DISAT offers laboratories of rock and soil mechanics, Remote Sensing and GIS, groundwater hydrology, applied geophysics, X-ray Computed Microtomography, X-ray diffraction, optical and SEM microscopy, 40Ar-39Ar Radiometric Dating, organic and inorganic chemistry, chemometrics, Raman spectrometry, Microscopy and Mass Spectrometry. Facilities are complemented by field instrumentation (soil and rock sampling and testing tools, Terrestrial Laser Scanning, GNSS, UAV systems), and software (data analysis, programming, 3D geomodelling, numerical modeling).

The Supervisor(s):

Federico Agliardi (49 years old) is a geologist, Associate Professor of Engineering Geology at UNIMIB.
His research interests include: the mechanisms and long-term evolution of large rock slope deformations, also in tectonically and seismically active areas; the hydro-mechanical processes underlying slope creep and slow-to-fast transition; surface deformation monitoring using ground based and remote sensing techniques (DInSAR); multi-sensor assessment of the geomechanical properties of fractured media; hydro-geomechanical properties of fault rock-like materials associated to large rockslides; quantitative hazard and risk analysis with particular focus on rockfalls; alpine and coastal geomorphology and hazards; underground stability; volcano flank instability. To these aims, he combines field and laboratory data, remote sensing (InSAR, IRT, LiDAR, photogrammetry) and numerical modeling techniques.
He participated in national (PRIN, FIRB, ASI-MORFEO) and international research projects (EU-FP5, EU-FP6, EU-FP7, INTERREG). He was PI of the project “Slow2Fast – Long-term activity, damage and collapse potential of large slow-moving landslides in rock in Lombardia” (2017-2021; funded by Fondazione Cariplo) and is currently carrying on the project “Rockfall runout modeling in Yosemite National Park, California, USA” (funded by USGS).
He published 40 Journal papers, 23 book contributions and 9 proceeding papers (Google Scholar: 6149 citations, h-index: 31). He presented 80+ conference contributions (23 invited) and convened 30+ scientific sessions. He taught more than 50 academic courses since 2003, supervised 3 PhD and 2 Postdocs, and directed/co-directed 40+ MSc theses and 15+ BSc theses in Geological Sciences and Geotechnologies since 2000. Currently he teaches “Geological mapping II” (BSc), “Engineering-geological survey and site investigation” and “Slope Instability” (MSc).
At UNIMIB, he is the Coordinator of the BSc and MSc programmes in Geological Sciences and Geotechnologies and member of the PhD board in Chemical, Geological and Environmental Sciences. He was member of the scientific board of GEMMA research centre. He co-founded EG4Risk, a UNIMIB spin-out.

Website: www.munichre.com

The Institution:

Munich Re Group is one of the world’s leading risk management organizations. Founded in 1880 in Germany, the company is now active on a global scale. Munich Re’s department of NatCat Modeling has its core responsibility in the development, evaluation and calibration of internal and external hazard and risk models for all natural catastrophes (NatCat) relevant for the reinsurance segment. We interact with the scientific community, brokers and model vendors to ensure that Munich Re’s NatCat models reflect all relevant aspects and trends (including climate change) and inherent uncertainties are well understood. We support the business in analysing and taking advantage of NatCat related business opportunities, we are responsible for monitoring and controlling NatCat accumulations and provide the input on NatCat risks for the Group Internal Risk Model. As a center of competence for all NatCat risks our main tasks include the development of internal NatCat models and evaluation of external vendor models, the development of NatCat pricing best practices, the identification, quantification and monitoring of NatCat accumulation risk, the support of business units risk management in modelling requests concerning hazard, vulnerability, and exposure treatment.
Munich Re was a founding sponsor of the Global Earthquake Model and remains one of the main supporters of the project. Munich Re aims at facilitating measures to protect human life and reduce loss and damage due to earthquakes and their secondary effects like tsunami, liquefaction, land sliding or fire. Especially, in emerging and developing countries inadequate data and varying methodologies have in the past made it difficult to assess earthquake risks consistently, which is our major target for risk adequate protection measures.

The Supervisor(s):

Martin Käser graduated in Geophysics from Ludwing-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany, in 1999 working on the physics-based simulation of seismic wave propagation. After working offshore as a seismic engineer and in London on seismic exploration data processing he finished his PhD in Numerical Mathematics and Scientific Computing at the Technical University in Munich. He was involved in various international scientific projects and worked as a researcher and research group leader in Computational Seismology and Deterministic Modeling of Earthquake Scenarios for several years in Italy and Germany. In 2011 he joined Munich Re in the GeoRisks team working on inhouse earthquake model development. Currently he is responsible for Munich Re’s internal modeling of geophysical risks and is deeply involved in the improvements and optimization of Munich Re’s cross-peril modeling platform. He was appointed Adjunct Professor at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in 2019 and continues to lecture and supervise Master- and PhD-students in the field of Probabilistic Modeling for Seismic Hazard and Risk Assessment. Since 2022 he is a member of the Governing Board of the Global Earthquake Model (GEM).

Website: https://site.tre-altamira.com/

The Institution:

TRE ALTAMIRA (TREA), a CLS Group company, is the leading global provider of commercial services based on SqueeSARⓇ, which is today an industry standard for advanced Permanent Scatterer SAR Interferometry techniques to monitor ground motion by means of radar – SAR – satellite data processing.
TREA provides measurements of displacement to millimeter-precision to detect, measure and monitor geophysical phenomena such as subsidence, uplift, landslides, and seismic faults, as well as verify the stability of individual structures. Satellite displacement maps offer a quantitative understanding of ground response to natural and anthropogenic activities.
For over 20 years, TREA’s services have supported different applications in various sectors, including urban mapping and monitoring, geohazard monitoring, oil & gas, mining, and civil engineering, throughout Europe, North and South Americas, Australia, and Asia.
Along with commercial activities, TREA carries out R&D, industrial development and service provisions activities with Regional, National and European Institutions (European Commission and linked Agencies such as JRC, EEA), Space Agencies (European Space Agency, Italian Space Agency, Canadian Space Agency), and IFI (World Bank, Asian Development Bank).
TREA also collaborates with the Universities of California, Miami, Nevada, Berkeley and Stanford, the Politecnico di Milano and the University of Florence in Italy, the Italian Civil Protection Authority, and the Italian National Institute for Geophysics and Volcanology.

The Supervisor(s):

Andrea Uttini is an engineering geologist with twenty years’ experience in remote sensing and geological – geotechnical design projects.
He has been working on international and national projects (South and North America, Turkey, Russia and Italy) for civil and environmental design projects: road and rails tunnels, underground, dams reaching a fully independence in analysing, managing and developing the entire chain of the geo-environmental engineering design steps for big infrastructure.
As an engineering geologist, he led the “geo-design” starting from the field surveys, passing through the organization and supervision of geotechnical investigations, to get the geotechnical characterization using both deterministic and statistical approaches.
In 2007 he got his PhD in Earth and Environmental Sciences focused on the study of debris avalanche in volcanoes area approached by field works, geotech data, remote sensing and numerical modelling.
He started working in TRE ALTAMIRA in 2017 as senior geological engineer in the geospatial solutions team.