1 month ago I had the pleasure to take part to a great conference: EATA2019. Well, if you are not into the domain of pavement engineering, the acronym
could remind you the wifi password of your neighbor, but believe me, it is one
of the most important conference regarding the bitumen.
It took place in Granada, a vibrant city in the south of Spain, known
throughout the world for the Alhambra, the flamenco and the tapas for free!
Walking for the old town, the first feeling is the strong influence of the islamic
culture in the architecture. The best example is the Alhambra, a palace and
fortress complex built between 1238 and 1358 at the end of Moors rule. After
the christian reconquista, the site
became the royal palace of Ferdinand and Isabella, undergoing the renaissance
style.
Unfortunately I couldn’t visit the Alhambra because of the limited number of tickets (my suggestion is to book the ticket in advance, even before your flight!!!). At least I admired the building from an advantage point called Mirador San Nicolas. You should go there during the night, so you can enjoy the beautiful lighting of the Alhambra, while someone is playing the guitar.
Now I’d like to tell you more about EATA (European Asphalt Technology
Association). It is an organization of European engineers and scientists
involved in asphalt technology research. They hold a technical meeting every
two or three years and publish a volume of papers, which are presented and
discussed. During the conference we attended 9 sessions regarding the
sustainability and the circular economy, the future trends in asphalt
pavements, advanced tests and methods, the mechanics of asphalt material, the
durability and the long term performances.
My presentation titled “viscoelastic
characterization of transparent binders for application on solar roads” was
included in the future trends in asphalt pavements and I had the opportunity to
share my results with an expert audience. Considering that it was my first
presentation in an international conference, I was a little nervous. I was
worried about the questions, because all the people were expert in pavement engineering and there were no parallel sessions. It
means that I had the attention of all the participants for 25 minutes!!! Finally
I had interesting discussions, remarks and new points of view, which will be helpful to advance my
research.
I also attended a seminar regarding the new challenges in
asphalt pavement and I briefly presented my research work, paying attention to
the methodology, in order to receive some feedback.
But the conference was not just a formal event, I had the pleasure to meet
other PhD students involved in the European project saferup and I enjoyed the gala
dinner, tasting some glass of vino tinto (the number of glasses in not relevant
for this blog).
The next city to host EATA2021 will be Vienna, it means that I have two years
to publish some good paper and attend again this conference!
Bye for now
Domenico
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