TRUSS (Training in Reducing Uncertainty in Structural Safety) is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network (ITN) funded by the European Union under the Horizon 2020 Programme (call H2020-MSCA-ITN-2014).
The growth of cities, impacts of climate change and the massive cost of providing new infrastructure provide the impetus for TRUSS ITN which aims to maximize the potential of infrastructure that already exists. If flaws in a structure can be identified early, the cost of repair will be vastly reduced, and here an effective monitoring system would allow identifying the optimum time to repair as well as improving structural safety. But safety is difficult to quantify and requires a deep understanding of the uncertainty associated to measurements and models for the structure and the loads.
TRUSS ITN gathers this understanding by bringing together an intersectoral and multidisciplinary collaboration between 6 Universities, 11 Industry participants and 1 research institute from 5 European countries. The consortium combines and shares expertise to offer training at an advanced level as new concepts for monitoring, modelling and reliability analysis of structures are emerging all the time. TRUSS ITN will make knowledge of structural safety grow by incorporating these emerging technologies (hi-tech monitoring and manufacturing, computing, etc.) into the training programme and it supports job creation by enabling a wider talent pool of skilled and accredited engineering graduates with business, entrepreneurship, communication, project management and other transferrable skills.
The training programme of TRUSS ITN is structured into taught modules combined with original and impactful research supported by secondments that will give 14 fellows significant insights and exposure to research and innovation in both academia and industry. While developing tools that will reduce uncertainty in structural safety and improve infrastructure management, TRUSS lays the basis for an advanced doctoral programme that will qualify graduates for dealing with the challenges of an aging European infrastructure stock, thereby meeting a critical need whilst at the same time enhancing their career prospects in both industry and academia by matching their skills to the jobs of the future.