On Wednesday 8th November 2017, the Masters in Civil Engineering at Escuela Politecnica de Mieres (University of Oviedo, Spain), hosted a series of presentations, composed mostly of research projects by students in their last year, as requisite for their Master degree. The event, titled “I Jornadas de Investigacion, Desarrollo e Innovacion en Ingenieria Civil” (JIDIIC2017), was formally launched by the Vice-dean for research in University of Oviedo, José Ramón Obeso, and chaired by Mario Lopez, Luis A. Sañudo, Antonio Navarro and Pedro Plasencia. It consisted of a poster exhibition and 16 presentations about 15 minutes each, divided in four thematic areas: Structures and Geotechnics, Construction and Civil Works, Simulation and Testing, and Innovative Projects, running from 9.30 am to 2.45 pm. All presentations were delivered in Spanish, and attended by a group of about 50 Master students and academic staff. During the event, TRUSS had the chance to do a communication in a consortium language different from English, when the coordinator, Associate Professor Arturo Gonzalez, was invited to give a talk in Spanish about all aspects of being involved in a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action.
TRUSS presentation can be found in JIDIIC2017 programme as “Avances en evaluación de daños estructurales en el marco del proyecto TRUSS ITN Marie Sklodowska-Curie”, it was delivered from 1.30 to 2 pm and can be seen below or downloaded here 
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Students in the audience recognized a former colleague of theirs during their Bachelor degree at Mieres, Daniel Martinez (ESR12), who was featured in the slides of the presentation. At the end of the talk, the audience showed an interest on how to apply for a position as Early Stage Researcher within a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action in the future, and they queried about the application requirements in TRUSS (see section on vacancies for info) and what was needed for a successful application. Surely, Daniel is serving as encouragement for some of his college comrades to pursue doctoral studies.
The abstract of the presentation in Spanish follows: El crecimiento de las ciudades, el impacto del cambio climático y el enorme coste de las nuevas infraestructuras son las razones detrás del proyecto TRUSS (Training in Reducing Uncertainty in Structural Safety). Se trata de un proyecto ITN (Innovative Training Network) Marie Sklodowska-Curie con un presupuesto de 3,7 millones de euros financiado por el programa Horizonte 2020 de la Unión Europea y cuyo objetivo es maximizar el potencial de la infraestructura ya construida. Por esta razón, TRUSS propone una colaboración internacional, inter-sectorial y multidisciplinar entre seis instituciones académicas y doce industriales de cinco países europeos. El proyecto abarca infraestructuras de carretera y ferroviarias, edificación e infraestructura marina y energética. En esta presentación, se informará sobre avances en campos tales como soluciones de monitorización estructural mediante sensores avanzados – drones, ‘optical backscatter reflectometry’, sensores equipados sobre vehículos – así como algoritmos innovadores para el diseño de estructuras y la evaluación a corto y largo plazo del estado estructural de edificios, puentes, pavimentos, barcos, grúas, componentes nucleares y torres eólicas que serán de utilidad a los operadores y propietarios de infraestructuras para su gestión.
