2025

The IABSE Ghent Congress and Annual Meetings took place in Ghent from 25-29 August 2025. View the photos from here.

GUSTAVE MAGNEL 14th Gold Medal awarded to Dr. Liu Zhenyu

Prof. Gustave Magnel (1889 - 1955), full professor at Ghent University (Belgium) was very instrumental in the development of prestressed concrete also at the international level. During the Second World War, he developed his own prestressing system and he was the author of the first text-book on prestressed concrete in English. He designed the Walnut Lane bridge in Philadelphia, which was the first post-tensioned concrete bridge in the USA.

In commemoration of the late Prof. Magnel, the Association of Engineers of Ghent University (AIG) bestows the prestigious ‘Golden Medal Gustave Magnel’ every 5 years on the designer of a structure, which is deemed to be an important and remarkable application of reinforced or prestressed concrete. Previous laureats were N. ESQUILLAN (1959), P. BLOKLAND (1963), F. LEONHARDT (1968), U. FINSTERWALDER (1973), R. De KEYSER (1979), H. WITTFOHT (1984), R. GREISCH (1988), Olav OLSEN (1994), M. VIRLOGEUX (1999), J. SCHLAICH (2004), J. J. ARENAS DE PABLO (2009), W. F. BAKER (2014) and L. NEY (2019).

For the period 2020-2024, the Magnel Gold Medal was awarded to Dr. Liu Zhenyu for the design of the JINYANG RIVER BRIDGE in the NATIONAL HIGHWAY 356 IN JINYANG COUNTY, SICHUAN, P.R. China. The award ceremony took place on 13 December 2024 in the Head Quarters of the Cordeel Group in the city of Temse (Belgium).

Liu Zhenyu (°1972, Chengdu) is the Dean of the Bridge Branch of Sichuan Highway Planning Survey and Design Institute Co., Ltd. He graduated from Southwest Jiaotong University with a doctor’s degree in bridge and tunnel engineering. For nearly 20 years, he has been engaged in bridge design, seismic research, and new bridge technology development in mountainous areas on the front line of production.

Read the full report from here.

2024

The Belgian Group endorses the International SECO Magnel PhD Award, in memory of Professor Gustave Magnel, a great scholar and engineer inspiring excellence in research, who was one of its founders and subsequently its managing director, SECO created in 1963 a prize initially known as the ‘Gustave Magnel’ prize. The goal of this prize is to encourage scientific research applied to construction while recognising researchers working in this field.

In order to better reflect SECO diversification and international outreach, the ‘Gustave Magnel’ prize has been merged with the ‘Jacques Verdeyen’ prize and is now called ‘International SECO Magnel PhD Award’. This 10.000€ prize is awarded every two years to the author of a doctoral thesis in any construction, civil, structural or architectural engineering or material related topics without any restriction as long as it can be related to the SECO Group (www.groupseco.com) activities.

Read further here ...

2023

Young Engineers Colloquium 2023 - YEC2023 Proceedings can be downloaded from here.

On the 24 and 25^th of November 2023, the Belgian and Dutch National Groups of IABSE jointly organized their third Young Engineers Colloquium 2023 (YEC2023) at the Aula of Ghent University in Ghent in Belgium. YEC2023 is especially meant for young engineers to exchange knowledge internationally, with  focus on Belgium and the Netherlands. This Colloquium offered young engineers the opportunity to present their interesting research, engineering or construction projects to an audience of fellow engineers from the structural engineering sector. The event was sponsored by 8 Belgian and Dutch sponsors and attended by 68 participants.  The Proceedings can be downloaded from IABSE Members Area. Below are some photos from the YEC 2023 event. The Keynote Lecture was delivered by Prof. José Campos e Matos (ISISE, University of Minho, Guimarães, Portugal) on the subject “Case study for a KPI-based Quality Control system of roadway bridges”. The Technical Excursion took place visiting several bridges under construction in Ghent and visiting the construction site of the Oosterweel tunnel project in Zeebruges under the guidance in Ghent of prof. em. dr. ir. Philippe Van Bogaert and under the guidance of technical specialists of the contractor TM COTU on site in Zeebruges. Full report will be published in SEI February 2024 issue.

Click Here to view the photos.

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Report by J.Matos:  Vice President IABSE Prof José C Matos visited the Belgium NG President Bart de Pauw in Brussels on 15 April 2023. It was an opportunity to learn about how the group was structured and to discuss the main activities from Belgium NG and especially on how IABSE could come closer to the younger generation. Additionally, there were some propositions and discussions about the development of joint European activities, pushed by all European IABSE NGs. It is important to discuss at European level topics that are relevant for Europe and these activities could be held in Brussels, Belgium.