GEOLAB: Science for enhancing Europe's Critical Infrastructure

Project Information

GEOLAB

Grant agreement ID: 101006512

DOI

10.3030/101006512

Project closed

EC signature date 1 July 2021

Start date 1 February 2021

End date 31 July 2025

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Research Infrastructures

Total cost

€ 4 999 288,50

EU contribution

€ 4 999 288,50

Coordinated by

STICHTING DELTARES
Netherlands

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - GEOLAB (GEOLAB: Science for enhancing Europe's Critical Infrastructure)

Reporting period: 2024-02-01 to 2025-07-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The existing Critical Infrastructure (CI) of Europe in the water, energy, urban and transport sector is facing major challenges because of pressures such as climate change, extreme weather, geo-hazards, aging and increased usage in combination with pivotal changes in the CI to meet long-term societal goals (e.g. energy transition). To address these challenges, scientific research and innovative solutions are needed that can only be achieved by an interdisciplinary, cross-boundary approach and by equipping expert teams with the most advanced suite of physical research infrastructure available that allows them to work across spatial scales, explore different theories that describe the pressures and adopt innovative techniques for solutions. The GEOLAB Research Infrastructure (RI) consists of 12 unique installations in Europe aimed to study subsurface behavior and the interaction with structural CI elements (e.g. a bridge) and the environment. The overarching aim of GEOLAB was to integrate and advance these key national research infrastructures towards a one-stop-shop of excellent physical research infrastructure for performing ground-breaking research and innovation to address challenges faced by the Critical Infrastructure of Europe.

The main conclusion of the action are:
• Widening access and focus on user needs: The impact was largely achieved through our TA projects, which were organized in three themes in accordance with user needs and are especially targeted at diverse groups of users: the scientific research community, construction industry, and CI owners and policymakers. This ensured that all sectors critical to the enhancement of the resilience of CI have gained access to the world-class facilities of GEOLAB for excellent research outputs.
• Synergy and complementarity: GEOLAB installations were carefully selected such that they form a coherent, complementary set of research infrastructures for investigating problems relevant to CI resilience. Its three groups of activities – Transnational Actvities (TA), Joint Research Activities (JRA) and Networking Activities (NA) – are closely-linked and designed to reinforce and synergize each other. In particular, outputs from our JRA stimulated innovations for improving and harmonizing the operation of our research infrastructure through the development of methods (with guidance and data protocols) and technology (with instrumentation and other features).
• Innovation impact: The GEOLAB consortium engaged itself in different areas of innovation and cooperates with SMEs to assist them in gaining more leadership in the industry and enabling technologies. Successful innovations initiated in GEOLAB are expected to contribute to the business development of these SMEs, and therefore to the wider availability of advanced engineering tools. This is then expected to lead to optimizations in critical infrastructure design and management (e.g. cost savings, risk reduction, improved resilience).
• Next Generation researchers: Another critical area of our impact was the Next Generation (NG) researchers. Many of our NA and other actions were specifically targeted at educating and training these researchers so they can acquire the ability to better assess the added value of physical modelling and use the physical modelling tools in combination with data and numerical modelling for science and engineering.
• Closer interaction: Through our activities, we realized closer interactions among the different user groups, which, in turn, enhanced the quality and impact of these activities through a constructive feedback loop, as well as improve our research infrastructure. For instance, the activities undertaken during the Transnational Access (TA) round have already facilitated significant cross-disciplinary exchange, incorporating innovative technologies from various industries (e.g. Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS), 3D printing, fibre optics), and have sparked further collaborations.
• Integration of equipment and data: The sharing of the approach to instrumentation and other relevant methods of interest between consortium participants throughout Europe brought new and unique capabilities to our facilities. The integration of data formats, protocols, physical modelling methods and compliance with international standards eased the exchange of experiment results. Our Zenodo open access database of well documented experimental results allowed scientists who have no direct access to the project to use these experimental results freely in their scientific work.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

• Organizing the 3 call-for-proposals for TA and selection of user projects by the USP.
• Total 41 TA project completed, involving researchers from 16 countries
• Establishing a web site, social media channels and realize communication and dissemination activities, e.g. webinar on TA and 3 GEOLAB event (Madrid, Zurich and Oslo).
• As separate part of the web site, development of a Knowledge Platform to disseminate project outcome to the stakeholders among industry, CI managers and academia.
• Activities for Next Generation (NG), such as 3 trainings and 15 internships, including 37% female participation
• Activities for stakeholder involvement, such as workshops during the 3 GEOLAB events
• Performance of JRA on innovation of the research infrastructure and data management & standardization
• Reinforcing partnerships with industry, CI owners and SMEs through NA, TA and JRA
• Increase innovation through collaboration with various stakeholders
• Increasing awareness and exposure of GEOLAB within the wider research community, industry and CI owners & operators and policymakers
• Over 60 peer reviewed conference papers and journal publications (more in preparation or under review)
• Approximately 900 dissemination activities other than (peer-reviewed) publication, e.g. social media posts, press releases, flyer, website news, booklets
• 43 open access data sets stored in the Zenodo platform

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

GEOLAB has successfully built a robust and multi-dimensional communication ecosystem that has significantly expanded its reach and influence across academia, industry, SMEs, and government agencies. Through its user-friendly and regularly updated project website, the GEOLAB project showcases innovation, research outcomes, and collaborative activities, while the Knowledge Platform offers a secure, interactive space for sharing data, publications, and training resources. Social media channel, particularly LinkedIn, have amplified visibility and engagement, with tailored content promoting events, research outputs, and opportunities for early-stage researchers. The LinkedIn group alone has grown to over 900 members, reflecting strong community interest. Complementing these efforts, the GEOLAB network database (garnered through transnational research activities, networking events and trainings) enables targeted outreach and event promotion. Sustainability is ensured through strategic planning, including the migration of the Knowledge Platform to ELGIP, ongoing training for future hosts, and continued content updates. Together, these channels have created a vibrant, enduring ecosystem for collaboration, knowledge exchange, and innovation in geotechnical research.

Worth noting is our good reach of the scientific research community, which currently constitutes an active and vibrant part of our User Community that still continuously engages with us in the social media and our activities. A substantial proportion of this community are NG researchers who shall carry into their future work the knowledge and skills they acquired in GEOLAB. Our dedicated effort to reach out to female researchers resulted in a sizeable number of them participating in our activities, bringing them at par with their male counterparts. Although not as wide reach as the research community, involvement and support of the industry (SME), CI network managers and policymakers remain also strong. This guarantees the practical applications of GEOLAB outputs on the one hand and catalysing additional innovative approaches to assessing and attaining CI Resilience on the other hand. Active, interaction among the varied groups and sectors ensures that the multi-faceted aspects of Critical Infrastructure Resilience are considered and addressed.

Deltares GeoCentrifuge

GEOLAB networking event in Madrid (2021)

GEOLAB research infrastructure facilities

Preparation of a peat sample for GeoCentrifuge testing