Our News

Dr Nadiia Kopiika, a member of the MetaInfrastructure community was awarded the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Prize for Young Scientists, recognising outstanding scientific achievements and contributions to the advancement of Ukraine’s research capacity. The award was presented during an official ceremony by Ruslan Stefanchuk, highlighting the importance of scientific excellence and innovation in strengthening the country’s academic and research ecosystem.

The PORTAL Project (Threat-Agnostic Resilience of City Ports) was officially launched with a kick-off meeting held at County Hall in Central London. Coordinated by Dr Sotirios Argyroudis and with Dr Stergios-Aristoteles Mitoulis as the Scientific Manager, PORTAL is a 48-month Marie Skłodowska‑Curie Actions Staff Exchange project developing an innovative, threat-agnostic resilience and adaptation framework for city-port infrastructure and their interdependent socio-ecological systems. The meeting brought together academic and industry partners from Europe and the United States, marking the start of a collaborative effort to establish resilience benchmarks and proactive adaptation strategies for port-city ecosystems. More information: http://portcities.eu

Rethinking infrastructure design from component failure to systemic resilience

Professor Stergios Mitoulis from The Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction (BSSC) at UCL has co-authored an international study published in Nature Communications, developing a resilience-based design framework that challenges conventional approaches to the design and management of critical infrastructure within interconnected infrastructure systems.

Co-written by Sam Dulin, Alexandre Bredikhin, Eric Treyz, Billy Leung, Jeffrey Dykes, Owen Karpeles, Shreeya Gurav, Alex Karhunen and Igor Linkov; the research used the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore as a case study to illustrate how the failure of a single structure can set off chain reactions, disrupting transport networks, supply chains, and regional economies. Through advanced modelling with the REMI TranSight platform, the team quantified the wider economic consequences, projecting substantial losses in GDP, employment, and income. In severe scenarios, the study found that full recovery could take until 2040.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-64683-6

The findings urge a shift in focus from traditional risk-based design to resilience-based planning, providing policymakers and infrastructure managers with new tools to anticipate and mitigate systemic impacts. The work was the result of close international collaboration, bringing together experts from the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Credere Associates, the US Army Corps of Engineers, and Regional Economic Models Inc.

By highlighting the societal and economic costs of infrastructure failures, the study underscores BSSC’s role in pioneering research on resilience and UCL’s wider commitment to addressing global challenges through interdisciplinary action. The evidence generated provides decision-makers with a framework to strengthen policy, guide investments, and update design standards, ultimately supporting more sustainable and resilient infrastructure worldwide.

MetaInfrastructure group hosted a hybrid workshop at University College London, The Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction, a full-day event bringing together more than 20 researchers, teaching fellows, project managers, and international collaborators who are driving world-leading innovation at the intersection of resilient, sustainable, and digital infrastructure.

Our MetaInfrastructure group continues to grow rapidly, delivering exceptional impact through:

• 15 active research projects across the UK, Europe, and internationally
• Major publications, including contributions to Nature and a strong pipeline of high-impact journal outputs
• A team strengthened by new researchers, teaching fellows, and professional project managers
• Ground-breaking advancements in future built environments, digital twins, climate resilience, smart cities, and sustainable construction

We remain committed to strengthening our diversity, and we are proud of the significant efforts we are making to open opportunities for all. For an engineering-focused group, we are leading the way — building an inclusive, supportive, and globally connected community.

A special thank-you goes to our distinguished external speakers:
Prof. Natalya Shakhovska, Rector (Vice-Chancellor), Lviv Polytechnic National University, Ukraine – for an inspiring talk on research strategy supporting Ukraine’s reconstruction; and
Prof. Xinzheng Lu, Tsinghua University – for sharing cutting-edge insights into structural engineering, GENAI design, and digital innovation.

We also acknowledge the contributions and participation of our growing international team:

• Prof Stergios-Aristoteles Mitoulis
• Dr Sotirios Argyroudis
• Nadiia Kopiika
• Dr Raffaele Cucuzza
• Dr George Karagiannakis
• Dr Roberta Di Bari
• Dr Ivan Izonin
• Dr Yiming Xiang
• Dariia Berestok
• Dr Shchasiana Arhun
• Dr Stavros Sakellariou
• Dr Eleonora Perugini
• Dr Jinsheng Wang
• Kalliopi Moysiadi
• Beghal Rasool
• Dr Khrystyna Myroniuk
• Henrry Rojas-Asuero
• John Agbo
• Mohammed Almousa
• Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini

The paper  “Seismic Resilience of Interdependent Built Environment for Integrating Structural Health Monitoring and Emerging Technologies in Decision-Making” co-auhored by Sotirios Argyrouds and Stergios Mitoulis with members of the IABSE Task Group 1.8, received the Outstanding Scientific Paper Award 2025 from the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering. The study introduced and applied a data-driven framework for assessing seismic resilience in interconnected infrastructure systems, integrating hazard analysis, interdependency modelling, socio-economic impacts, and structural health monitoring with emerging technologies. The paper is available here

In collaboration between UCL (The Bartlett), the International Hellenic University, and Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, this work introduces a new methodology for assessing bridge portfolios under seismic hazard.

Key contribution

While seismic intensity is commonly used as the dominant parameter for structural demand, this paper demonstrates that earthquakes with the same intensity level can lead to dramatically different structural responses. This is due to variations in:

• Frequency content
• Duration
• Spectral characteristics of ground motion

This record-to-record variability represents a major source of aleatory uncertainty in seismic assessment.

What the methodology offers

The article proposes an integrated workflow that:

• Explicitly quantifies record-to-record variability
• Uses nonlinear time-history analysis for realistic structural response
• Employs statistical modelling and closed-form predictive expressions
• Generates interpretable predictive models for μ\muμ and σ\sigmaσ of seismic demand parameters (EDPs)

This enables fast and traceable assessment of large-scale bridge networks, moving beyond structure-by-structure evaluation.

Access the full article:
https://www-sciencedirect-com.bham-ezproxy.idm.oclc.org/science/article/pii/S2590123025040137?via%3Dihub

Authors: Henrry Rojas-Asuero, Athanasia K. Kazantzi, Esteban Amaya, Hernán Santa María, Juan C. de la Llera, Stergios-Aristoteles Mitoulis

We are pleased to announce the publication of our latest scientific contribution in Energy & Buildings (Elsevier).

This review article introduces a systematic and integrated framework for passive ventilation in thermally modernized and nearly zero-energy residential buildings, combining:

• Climate-responsive building aerodynamics
• Hybrid passive ventilation strategies
• Digital design and evaluation using CFD, Building Energy Simulation (BES), and experimental validation

The paper demonstrates how passive and hybrid ventilation can achieve meaningful energy savings while maintaining indoor environmental quality — bridging the gap between traditional passive design and advanced digital modelling.

Open-access full paper:
https://www-sciencedirect-com.bham-ezproxy.idm.oclc.org/science/article/pii/S0378778825014112?via%3Dihub

Authors:
Khrystyna Myroniuk, Vasyl Zhelykh, Yurii Furdas, Mike Jesson, Stergios-Aristoteles Mitoulis

Affiliations:
¹ MetaInfrastructure.org
² Lviv Polytechnic National University
³ UCL Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment
⁴ Lviv Polytechnic Energy Engineering Department
⁵ University of Birmingham

This research advances the development of next-generation, low-carbon ventilation solutions and supports the transition toward sustainable and climate-resilient housing.

MetaInfrastructure (in partnership with The Bartlett, UCL) is pleased to announce the publication of a new paper in Nature Communications: “Rethinking infrastructure design from component failure to systemic resilience.”

The study asks: Should all critical infrastructure be built equally? It argues that we must design and value infrastructure based on its systemic impact, geo-economic role, and recovery potential across interdependent systems.
Using the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse (Baltimore) as a case study and the “TranSight” regional economic model, the paper shows that combined bridge-and-port failures generate substantially larger losses in GDP, employment and income, with some indicators not recovering until 2040.
The work marks a major shift from traditional load-based design standards to a resilience-based framework for critical interconnected infrastructure.
Read the full paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-64683-6

Thanks to all co-authors: Sam Dulin, Stergios-Aristoteles Mitoulis, Alexandre Bredikhin, Eric Treyz, Billy Leung, Jeffrey Dykes, Owen Karpeles, Shreeya Gurav, Alex Karhunen & Igor Linkov  and to The Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction, UCL.