For the first time, a Portuguese researcher will join the technical and scientific leadership of the leading international federation for structural concrete. Eduardo Júlio, a professor at Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, and a researcher at the Civil Engineering Research and Innovation for Sustainability (CERIS), will take up the post of Deputy Chair of the Technical Council of the International Federation for Structural Concrete (fib) from January 2027.
Following this election held on 13 June, Eduardo Júlio will also join the fib Presidium, the Federation’s governing body, which is responsible for defining its strategic direction and overseeing its principal institutional activities.
“It is a tremendous honour and, at the same time, a great responsibility”, says the Técnico professor, who credits this election to “recognition of the work carried out over the last few decades, both in academia and in professional practice”. According to the professor, this distinction also comes “at a time of greater international recognition for the national community”, highlighting the growing presence that “Técnico has been consolidating in the field of Civil Engineering”.
The new term of office begins against a “backdrop of profound transformation” in the construction sector, marked by challenges such as decarbonisation, the integration of artificial intelligence tools and the automation of construction processes. Therefore, Eduardo Júlio anticipates “an even more active and collaborative involvement of researchers and professionals from different regions of the world”, reinforcing fib’s role as an international platform for “knowledge sharing and the development of best practices in the field of structural concrete”, he states.
President of the Portuguese Group for Structural Concrete (GPBE) since 2019, Eduardo Júlio sees his election as coinciding with a time of particular prominence for the Portuguese community within the federation. Técnico hosted the meetings of the fib Technical Council and General Assembly, as part of the 7th fib Congress, held in Lisbon between 15 and 19 June, which brought together around a thousand engineers, researchers and construction professionals from around 70 countries to discuss the sector’s main challenges.
Under the theme “Structural Concrete 2050: Towards Carbon Neutrality, AI Design and Robotic Construction”, the event was also marked by the awarding of a Special Mention to the Pre-Shell project at the fib Awards for Outstanding Structures 2026. Led by Eduardo Júlio, the project stood out for developing an “innovative solution for laminar concrete structures, based on prefabrication processes and new construction approaches”.
The prototype, built in Ílhavo as part of a project funded by the National Innovation Agency, was the result of collaboration between researchers from various national institutions and industry partners, which, according to Eduardo Júlio, highlight “the connection between research, technological development and real-world application”.
