University of Natural Resources & Life Sciences (BOKU), Austria

The Department of Civil Engineering and Natural Hazards can be traced back to the beginning of our university around 1900. Our department is regarded as the competence centre for research and teaching in the areas of geo-hazards and risk management in Austria. The numerical and physical modelling of geo-hazards plays an important role in research and teaching.

Competencies and facilities

Our department has excellent track record in research and teaching in geohazards. The research activities related to geohazards cover wide spectrum, e.g. geology, hydrogeology, laboratory and in-situ testing, numerical simulation and risk management Our department has excellent experimental and computational facilities. A number of engineering software packages (commercial and home developed) are being intensively used in teaching, research and consulting. Our laboratory hosts some unique testing facilities for debris flow research including channel flow, large viscometer, geotechnical centrifuge and large terrain model for debris flow. 

Key person

Prof. Wei WU is Head of the Institute of Geotechnical Engineering at BOKU. He is a renowned expert in laboratory testing and constitutive modelling of granular materials and in numerical simulation of geotechnical engineering problems. Prof. Wu publishes more than 50 papers in peer reviewed journals and more than 100 publications in conference proceedings. Prof. Wu is the Editor-in-Chief of the international journal “Acta Geotechnica” and the “Springer Series of Geomechanics and Geoengineering”. Before joining BOKU in 2003, Prof. Wu held leading positions in major engineering companies in Europe for 10 years. His experience in industry and in EC funded research in FP6 and FP7 makes him the ideal person to coordinate this ITN.