5 ECTS | June 22-26, 2026, in person (30h) | 15h remotely | MSc and PhD Students
We are happy to announce the 4th Edition of the Summer Course on Structural Health Monitoring. The in-person sessions will take place in Lisbon from June 22 to 26, 2026, Lisbon.
This blended intensive summer course, funded by the Erasmus+ Program, focuses on structural health monitoring (SHM), with 15 hours of remote sessions and 30 hours of in-person sessions. The main goal of this summer course is to introduce the concept of SHM applied to bridges and special civil structures to MSc and PhD students from several European institutions.
The SHM is posed in the context of a statistical pattern recognition paradigm, rooted in the artificial intelligence field to support the damage identification and risk-informed integrity management. Machine learning algorithms are essential to perform damage identification, by learning (or modeling) the structural behavior from the experience (past data), following the same principle of the human brain.
In order to balance the general concept and the applicability of SHM, this course has been designed to allow students to gain a basic knowledge of SHM with hands-on experiences to demonstrate how SHM can be used for assessing the condition of structural systems, along with the lectures to give some insight into the theory and application examples.
Keywords
Structural Health Monitoring, Bridges, Wind Turbines, Machine Learning, Finite Element Modeling, Digital Twins, Risk, Resilience, Value of Information, Climate Change
Most relevant upgrades since last edition
A new package of upgrades are beeing prepared for the 4th edition in 2026, namely:
- Semih Gonen and Luca Pèla (UPC, Barcelona) as instructors, adding a new dimension in terms of SHM for Heritage Structures & Preservation.
- Introduction of an Industry Session, consisting of a half-day session to present successful SHM applications and case studies.
- And of course, it will be kept the Homework, SHM in Action and Bridge Tour as part of the program.
Funding source
Erasmus+ Program through Blended Intensive Program (BIP), Student Mobility of Education (SME), and Staff Mobility for Teaching (SMT). The BIP covers expenses related to the course organization. SMT and SME cover expenses related to traveling and housing of students in Lisbon.
Which are the host and partners institutions?
Lusófona University is host and responsible for the organization and funding of the course through BIP. Each partner institution is responsible to find students and staff members through SME and SMT (this funding must be coordinated with the international office of each partner institution).
Who can participate?
MSc and PhD students from countries participating in the Erasmus+ Program who are interested in speeding up the learning process of SHM posed in the context of a statistical pattern recognition paradigm.
Registration
A limited number of vacancies is available. This registration form serves as a pre-enrolment to express your interest and does not guarantee final admission until all required steps are completed. We will notify you when official enrolment becomes available in one of the two collection dates: (i) January 15, 2026; and (ii) February 15, 2026.
If you have any questions, jus send an email to
Course material
PowerPoints, books, and research articles: all course materials are available on a virtual drive. Students are encoureged to bring their own laptops.
Student evaluation
The evaluation includes three main components: 1) individual homework, 2) project report and presentation, and 3) individual assessment. Small groups of four, five, or six participants are formed to design an SHM system or a damage identification strategy for laboratory or real-world structures. Each group is assigned a supervisor for guidance. Each group's outcome must be documented in a report and defended in an oral examination, conducted publicly in the form of a seminar. Students are graded, and the grades will be awarded according to the university’s Education and Examination Regulations.
Remote lectures
- Introduction to SHM
- Statistical pattern recognition paradigm
- Data-based modeling
- Hybrid-based modeling
- SHM in Action: hands-on experience
- Probabilistic digital twins in SHM
- The role of SHM for ancient bridges
- Trending SHM topics: The role of transfer learning for SHM and the role of SHM for bridge adaptation to climate change
- Limitations, grand challenges, and trends
In-person lectures
- Field instrumentation
- Risk and resilience
- Value of information
- Probabilistic FE modeling
- Vision-based monitoring
- SHM in Action (lab and field activities)
Instructors
- Eloi Figueiredo, Lusófona University, Portugal
- Ionut Moldovan, Lusófona University, Portugal
- Luca Pèla, Barcelona Tech - UPC, Spain
- Luís Oliveira Santos, National Laboratory of Civil Engineering, Portugal
- Marek Salamak, Silesian University of Technology, Poland
- Marcin Jasiński, Silesian University of Technology, Poland
- Maria Pina Limongelli, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
- Michael Havbro Faber, Lusófona University, Portugal
- Mihai Nedelcu, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania
- Pier Francesco Giordano, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
- Roland Kromanis, University of Twente, Netherlands
- Semih Gonen, Barcelona Tech - UPC, Spain
Invited Instructors
- João Canto, Lusófona University, Portugal
- Mohammad Abedi, Lusófona University, Portugal
- Nuno Santos, Lusófona University, Portugal
Institutional Support
General schedule
| ACTIVITY | TEACHING MODE | DESCRIPTION | CONTACT HOURS | DATE AND TIME (WEST) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Remote | Welcome session | 1 | May 27, 2026 (17:00-18:00) |
| 2 | Remote | Introduction to SHM | 9 | June 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 2026 (17:00-18:30) |
| 3 | Remote | Project’s presentation | 1 | June 17, 2026 (17:00-18:00) |
| 4 | In-person | Lecturing and laboratory activities | 30 | June 22-26, 2026 |
| 5 | Remote |
Presentation of the groups' projects |
3 | July 28 and 29, 2026 (08:00-09:30) |
| 6 | Remote | Closing session | 1 | July 30, 2026 (08:00-09:00) |
In-person schedule
The in-person activities will take place at our campus in Lisbon: Universidade Lusófona - Centro Universitario Lisboa. For information to be available soon.
Testimony from last edition (2025)
Previous editions
- Summer Course on Structural Health Monitoring 2025
- Summer Course on Structural Health Monitoring 2024
- Summer Course on Structural Health Monitoring 2023
Notes
- A Transcript of Records and a Certificate of Attendance will be issued at the end of the course.
- For more information please contact
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- Last update: January 13, 2026.