Announcement and 1st Call for Papers
Scope
Transport and energy infrastructures are increasingly threatened by natural hazards such as mass movement processes, floods, and wildfires. These NaTech risks are exacerbated by both climate change and the ageing of infrastructures. Indeed, the growing physical vulnerability of exposed assets, combined with the increasing intensity of hazards, contributes significantly to rising risk levels. In this context, the development of innovative approaches for risk mitigation has become crucial.
The ageing of strategic infrastructures leads managers to choose between several scenarios, including service life extension, repair, reinforcement, or even complete replacement. These decisions involve operating safety level upgrading and financial implications, given the function of the structures, the cost of manufacturing (often involving facility-specific prototypes), construction expenses, and operational losses during both scheduled (maintenance) and unscheduled outages. Managers therefore need as much information as possible to assess the reliability level associated with each of the scenarios, as well as the residual life.
The aging of critical infrastructure pushes decision making to trade off considering different variables and criteria. That may include description of accident sequences (cascading effects), risk and reliability assessment, advanced maintenance strategy, health monitoring & surveillance, regulatory constraints, partial or full replacement and certainly financial and other resources availability. The effectiveness of such multi-criteria decision-making processes depends on access to diverse and reliable datasets, as well as robust models capable of processing them.
Given the current context (and the near future one), climate change and related natural hazards (floods, strong wind, torrential rain, wildfires, landslides and earthquakes) are amongst the most critical threats as far as ageing infrastructures are concerned. This includes both transport systems (roads, rivers, rail, metro, highway), and energy assets (electricity, gas, water). The challenge is compounded not only by the increasing frequency and intensity of these events but also by the lack of robust predictive models and reliable data. However, protecting ageing infrastructures against natural hazards driven by climate change remains a major stake.
It is important to understand the operational mode of the NaTech hazards and their dynamics, to prevent or mitigate the destructive consequences. Emerging technologies, such as weak signal detection, remote sensing, continuous monitoring networks, and artificial intelligence-based data processing, offer promising tools to improve risk management and resilience.
The 69th ESReDA Seminar will be a forum for exploring these and other related issues. We aim to discuss theories, concepts, and experiences of methods to limit the impact of NaTech risks on infrastructures and at territorial level (cascading effects, decision making under uncertainty). Authors are invited to share their research and experience and discuss challenges in developing more efficient detection or protective systems, through modelling. ESReDA are encouraging new ideas, case studies and cross-sectoral and inter-disciplinary research on this theme. This seminar will bring together researchers, practitioners, specialists and decision-makers to discuss strategies and practical experiences.
Target groups and domains of application
The seminar invites contributions from a broad range of stakeholders involved in the design, operation, maintenance, regulation, and assessment of infrastructures exposed to natural hazards and ageing-related degradation. This includes academic researchers, industry professionals, infrastructure operators, regulators, safety authorities, engineering companies, consultants, R&D organisations, and training specialists.
Submissions are expected to address multidisciplinary perspectives on the assessment, modelling, monitoring, and mitigation of risks affecting ageing infrastructures, particularly in the context of climate change and Natech events. Contributions may adopt sector-specific or cross-sectoral approaches and are especially encouraged from the following domains:
- Transport systems: rail, road, air, maritime, and inland waterway infrastructures, including network resilience, asset management, and continuity of operations under natural hazard conditions
- Energy infrastructures: electricity, gas, and water systems, including production, storage, and distribution networks, with emphasis on vulnerability to natural hazards and ageing effects
- Critical infrastructures and interdependent systems: including telecommunications and information systems, focusing on cascading effects, system interdependencies, and service reliability
- Infrastructure asset management and maintenance: strategies for life extension, repair, reinforcement, or replacement, including reliability assessment, residual life estimation, and multi-criteria decision-making
- Monitoring and advanced technologies: structural health monitoring, remote sensing, weak signal detection, data acquisition systems, and artificial intelligence for risk assessment and early warning
- Urban systems and spatial planning: integration of infrastructure resilience into urban planning and risk-informed territorial management
- Public sector and governance: regulatory frameworks, safety policies, risk governance, and decision-support tools for managing ageing infrastructures under uncertainty.
The seminar aims to address resilience, risk mitigation, propagation of uncertainties through NaTech risk assessment and their communication to decision maker in the context of multiple and evolving threats, including infrastructure failures related to ageing, as well as natural hazards intensified by climate change (e.g. floods, wildfires, landslides, extreme weather events, and earthquakes). Particular attention is given to Natech risks, their underlying mechanisms, and their impacts on complex infrastructure systems.
Contributions addressing related topics are welcome, provided they are consistent with the overall theme of the seminar and contribute to advancing knowledge and practices in the prevention, assessment, and mitigation of Natech risks affecting ageing infrastructures.
Seminar organisation
The seminar is organized by the ESReDA community and the infra2050 competitiveness cluster through the I-RISK natural hazards community.
Location : Savoie Mont-Blanc University, Chambéry (73000), France.
Local Organization Committee (LOC)
| Name | Institution |
| CLAUDE Margaux | infra2050/I-RISK |
| BAROTH Julien | infra2050/I-RISK, Université Grenoble Alpes, RISK@UGA |
| NICOT François | infra2050/I-RISK, Université Savoie-Mont-Blanc |
Technical Program Committee
| Name | Institution |
| BARDOU Eric | Haute Ecole d’Ingénierie, Switzerland |
| BAROTH Julien | Université Grenoble Alpes, 3SR, France |
| BERENGUER Christophe | Université Grenoble Alpes, Gipsa Lab, France |
| CANDE Raphaël | INERIS, France |
| CAPDEVIELLE Sophie | Université Grenoble Alpes, 3SR, France |
| EID Mohamed | ESReDA President, Consultant at RiskLyse, France |
| GEORGES Didier | Université Grenoble Alpes, Gipsa Lab, France |
| KONSTANTINIDOU Myrto | National Centre of Scientific Research Democritos, Greece |
| MARCOULAKI Effie | National Centre of Scientific Research Democritos, Greece |
| NICOT François | Université Savoie Mont Blanc, ISTerre, France |
| RAFFOUX Jean-François | IMdR, France |
| TUBIS Agnieska | Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Poland |
Relevant Dates
| Event | Date |
| Submission of abstracts | Before 15th July 2026 |
| Notification to authors | 1st September 2026 |
| Submission of camera-ready papers | 30th October 2026 |
| ESReDA Board of Directors meeting and Project Groups meetings | 2nd December 2026 |
| Seminar* | 3rd–4th December 2026 |
* The 69th ESReDA Seminar will take place on 3rd December (full day) and continue on 4th Dec 2026 (until lunchtime).
Submission process and seminar proceedings
Procedure to submit a title, a draft paper and to register
The abstracts, not exceeding 400 words, should address:
- Objectives of the paper
- Relevance to the Seminar
- Novelty or relevant contribution to the subject
- Methods and findings
- Main conclusions
The language of the seminar is English.
Final papers (4 to 12 A4 pages) should be submitted after the notification to the authors. Extended abstracts (2-5 pages A4 pages including references) are an alternative to full papers. ESReDA will publish both extended abstracts and full papers in the online proceedings.
Authors wishing to present a paper are invited to submit an abstract online on EasyChair before the 15th of July 2026,
and send their submission in copy to julien.baroth@univ-grenoble-alpes.fr, m.claude@infra2050.fr, andajguillen@us.es.
Guidance for authors and speakers about the format to be used for ESReDA camera-ready papers will be sent directly to authors who expressed interest in writing a contribution.
More information will be announced soon on the ESReDA webpage.
Seminars Proceedings
The final proceedings of the 68th Seminar will be edited in the form of a Technical Report and e-published with public access.
Registration and Seminar Fee
Registration will be accepted until 15th November 2026. A registration form and information package for the venue will be made available on the ESReDA website.
The registration fees are €300. Fees are to be paid by bank transfer only to the ESReDA account:
Bank transfer details
Holder: ESReDA
Bank: BNP Paribas Fortis Bank, Boulevard Jamar 1 D, 1060 Bruxelles, Belgium
IBAN: BE69 0012 3728 1678
BIC: GEBABEBB
Subject: 69th ESReDA Seminar – Registration fees
Fee waiver:
- Fees will be waived for one speaker per accepted paper.
- The participation fee for ESReDA members is taken care of by the Seminar (up to 3 participants per ESReDA member).
For follow up and more details you may contact to julien.baroth@univ-grenoble-alpes.fr, m.claude@infra2050.fr, with Antonio Guillén (ajguillen@us.es) in Cc.
About European Safety, Reliability & Data Association (ESReDA)
European Safety, Reliability & Data Association (ESReDA) is a European Association established in 1992 to promote research, application and training in Reliability, Availability, Maintainability and Safety (RAMS). The Association provides a forum for the exchange of information, data and current research in Safety and Reliability.
ESReDA membership is open to organisations, privates or governmental institutes, industry researchers and consultants, who are active in the field of Safety and Reliability. Membership fees are currently 1000 EURO for organisations and 500 EURO for universities and individual members. Special sponsoring or associate membership is also available.
For more information on ESReDA, contact: ESReDA General Secretary, Dr. Antonio Guillén, ajguillen@us.es.
About I-RISK, a French natural hazards community
I-RISK is a network in the field of natural, mass-driven hazards. It gathers companies, research laboratories and universities working in the field of landslides, rockfalls, mudslides, torrential floods, and avalanches.
The I-RISK community, managed by the French competitiveness cluster infra2050, is committed to developing tools, methods, and structured work approaches aimed at:
- Strengthening the understanding and characterization of natural phenomena, taking into account climatic, territorial, and environmental dynamics
- Improving anticipation, prevention, and mitigation of natural risks through the development of protection strategies, advanced monitoring systems, and effective early warning systems
- Designing, sizing, and adapting infrastructures to make them more robust and resilient to hazards, while considering climate uncertainties and long-term changes
- Optimizing the operation, management, and maintenance of structures through predictive approaches, data exploitation, and technological innovation
- Promoting knowledge sharing and collaborative innovation by engaging scientific, technical, and institutional stakeholders around a common risk culture
This approach aims to support the transformation of practices and to sustainably strengthen the resilience of territories and infrastructures against natural hazards.
So far, I-RISK has caried out strategical workshops on various topics to increase the resilience against mass-driven hazards:
- management and resilience against exceptional natural hazards
- dynamic behaviour of structures subjected to natural hazards
- snow cover in the climate change context
- the role of water in landslides
- impacts of permafrost melting on mountain infrastructure
I-RISK has also conducted a programme of webinars to shed light on, and share within the community, the tools and knowledge developed by companies and laboratories.
About Risk@UGA, Risk Institute
The Risk@UGA project aims to develop interdisciplinarity and scientific innovation in the field of risk and disaster management in regions that are vulnerable due to a strong interdependence of hazards of human, natural or technological origin. In addition to the Grenoble basin, the project focuses on vulnerable territories in the region of Beirut in Lebanon, Port-au-Prince in Haiti, Peru and Nepal. The project also aims to propose a risk institute within Univ. Grenoble Alpes. See https://risk.univ-grenoble-alpes.fr/.
Location
The seminar will be held in Chambéry, France, and hosted by Savoie Mont Blanc University.
There are many hotels in Chambéry. More information will be provided soon regarding the suggested hotels where you can book your stay.