On Thursday, 12 September 2024, the 10th Doctoral Symposium in Civil Engineering was held in the building of the Faculty of Civil Engineering in Zagreb (Ul. Sveti Duh 129). It is an annual gathering of doctoral students and their mentors, which serves as a platform for young researchers to gain experience in presenting their research. Thirteen students enrolled in the first year of the Civil Engineering doctoral programme presented the topics of their research to the audience with the support of their mentors and professor-moderators. The Symposium was opened by Dean Prof. Domagoj Damjanović, PhD and Vice Dean for Science Assoc. Prof. Ana Baričević, PhD, who actively participated in the discussion. This year, the meeting was dedicated to the mobility of young researchers.

The first presentation by Mr. Dario Lečić, PhD, was dedicated to mobility programmes and opportunities to apply to open calls within the Croatian Science Foundation programmes intended for young researchers. Assistants Antonela Moretić and Karlo Ožić then shared their experiences of staying at host-institutions in Spain – in Barcelona at the Technical University of Catalonia and in Madrid, at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), within the Croatian Science Foundation programme: “Outbound Mobility of Research Assistants” (MOBDOK-2023).

Representing the Agency for Mobility and EU Programmes (AMPEU), Mr. Ivan Makovec spoke about the possibilities of applying for and realizing the mobility of young researchers through programmes promoted by the Agency, among which the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme (MSCA) is among the most important.

From Milan, where she started working on her research at the Politecnico di Milano University within the framework of the MSCA postdoctoral scholarship, Ms Suzana Ereiz, PhD presented her journey from application to the realization of this prestigious scholarship through a video conference.

Ms Ana Bešker from the Department of Materials and Ms Ida Javorski Milošić from the Centre for Projects, Innovations and Technology Transfer also spoke about the possibilities for realizing the mobility of doctoral students. Announcing several events that will be organized for doctoral students as part of the Erasmus project GREENCO - Education for the GREEN transformation of the construction sector, they presented an overview of relevant open calls, with a special focus on the call announced as part of the “Outbound Mobility of Research Assistants” Programme of the Croatian Science Foundation, specifically the last open call MOBDOK-2023, with a detailed description of the application procedure.

The list of doctoral students-presenters with titles of presentation topics and mentors and moderators of the sections is available in the Symposium Programme.

Sincere congratulations to the doctoral students for their interesting presentations and their mentors for their successful guidance, with many thanks to the professors-moderators for guiding a fruitful discussion.