Exchange programme extends opportunities for international collaboration
28 May 2019
A new EU-funded programme brings together global research capacity to work towards infrastructure resilience.
Associate Professor Seosamh Costello from our Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering has been collaborating with academics worldwide on HERCULES, an exchange program funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme.
One of our first exchange visitors is Fulvio Lopane, a PhD student from Newcastle University investigating resource management and infrastructure resilience to natural disasters. This involves developing a framework to find ideal warehouse locations that balance the trade-off between two conflicting objectives: the simultaneous minimisation of response time and costs.
His research methodology is currently applied to a case study in his local Humber Estuary in the UK. Over the past five months, he adapted this to a New Zealand-based case study in healthcare, further enriching and adding value to the research. His goal is to develop a mathematically based support tool for urban planners and decision-makers involved with flood emergency response.
For Dr Costello, the research would benefit most from working with an optimisation expert, so Dr Andrea Raith from our Department of Engineering Science was assigned as Fulvio’s supervisor during his time here. According to Dr Raith, they “chose a case study in healthcare because the data is more easily available in New Zealand, and ultimately, the frameworks and systems are very similar to what Fulvio is working on.”
Fulvio’s advice for anyone considering an exchange programme – even at postgraduate level, "is definitely to do it. It is an experience that broadens your horizons, expands your network and enhances your personal and professional growth". A known advantage of exchange programmes is exploring environments outside our University walls, which he has certainly embraced.
I choose the University of Auckland because I always wanted to visit New Zealand, and I found this as the opportunity not only to visit, but to live in it and gain some professional experience. It has been super positive for me and the things I enjoyed here are numerous. The city, the countryside, the natural wonders, the tramping, the University, and among the others, I really appreciated the people I met here. They always made me feel welcome, and I think I established good relationships both from a personal and a professional point of view.
The geoHazards rEsilient infRastruCtUre under changing cLimatES (HERCULES) project brings together a multidisciplinary team to understand and monitor geohazards, with an overall aim to produce new research to boost the resilience of current infrastructure under changing climates.
Aside for Fulvio, we have hosted another student from Newcastle University as part of the programme, and are due to welcome a staff member from the Research Institute for Geo-Hydrological Protection (IRPI), Italian National Research Council in early 2020. Dr Costello is also currently arranging for the arrival of a number of PhD students from Aachen University, Germany later this year. He adds, “HERCULES provides excellent opportunities for collaboration with our academic colleagues in the EU, and will hopefully result in long-lasting benefits to the University of Auckland, including return visits for staff and students from Auckland.”