Title

Advancements in seismic risk assessment of existing structures: insights from analytical models and empirical earthquake data

Biography

Gerard J. O'Reilly (pronounced: ge-rard  o-rai-li) is an Associate Professor of Structural Engineering at IUSS Pavia, widely known as the ROSE School. He obtained a PhD in Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Seismology from the same institution and has held visiting researcher positions at the University of California, Berkeley and the Kobori Research Complex in Tokyo, Japan.

His primary research interests are in risk assessment, management, and mitigation, particularly in the context of performance-based earthquake engineering. His work addresses economic losses, collapse prevention, post-earthquake functionality, and occupant safety. He uses advanced numerical simulation and empirical data to model structural fragility, vulnerability and risk, in order to identify effective retrofitting measures. 

He has been involved in several international projects and is currently the coordinator of the €11.6M EU-funded ERIES project.

He is the 2022 winner of the Shah Family Innovation Prize awarded by EERI, and is an Associate Editor at Earthquake Spectra since 2025.

Title

Should we design for sequential earthquakes?

Biography

Murat Altuğ Erberik obtained his undergraduate degree in 1993 from the Department of Civil Engineering at Middle East Technical University (METU). He then completed his master's degree in 1995 and his doctoral studies in 2001 in the structural engineering laboratory of the same department. Between 2002 and 2003, he conducted postdoctoral studies as a TÜBİTAK researcher at the Mid- America Earthquake Center head-quartered at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the United States. Since 2004, he has been working as an academic staff member in the Department of Civil Engineering at METU and is currently continuing his active research as a professor in the same department. Additionally, since 2021, he has been serving as the President of the Earthquake Engineering Association of Türkiye. He published many journal and conference papers, book chapters and supervised more than 30  M.S. and Ph.D. theses. He contributed to many national and intenational projects as a coordinator, researcher or advisor. His research topics include the linear and nonlinear dynamic analysis of structural systems; assessment and analysis of masonry and reinforced concrete structures under earthquake effects; earthquake damage and loss prediction studies; and energy-based structural design and evaluation.

Dr. Pelin Ozener is a Professor in the Civil Engineering Department of Yildiz Technical University in Istanbul-Turkey. She received her M.Sc. and Ph.D degrees in Geotechnical Engineering from Yildiz Technical University in 2001 and 2007, respectively. She has worked as a visiting researcher at the University of Washington on the Identification of time of liquefaction triggering assessments. Her research and professional interests are mainly related to Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering focusing on liquefaction, its remediation methods, site response, and dynamic behavior of soils. She is a member of ISSMGE, Turkish National Committee on Earthquake Engineering, Turkish National Committee on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering. She is still serving as a geotechnical consultant in several geotechnical engineering projects, including stability of deep excavations, liquefaction mitigation, site improvement works, and tunnel-building interaction problems.