The 14 regular council members of EuraSEM are:

Raj Das

Professor, RMIT University, Australia

Prof Raj Das is the Full Professor of Applied Mechanics and leads the ‘Simulation of Advanced Materials and Structures (SAMS)’ research group in the ‘Sir Lawrence Wackett Defence and Aerospace Centre’ of RMIT University (Australia). Prof Das has nearly 20 years of experience in the design, analysis and optimisation of engineering materials and structures with a focus on computational mechanics, structural optimisation, composite structures, failure analysis, and damage tolerance design. Prof Das has published more than 300 papers in international journals and conferences in collaboration with several universities, institutes and industries. Prof Das has a PhD from Monash University, Australia in Applied Mechanics, and has previously worked in the University of Auckland (New Zealand), the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (Australia), and the University of Manchester (UK). Prof Das is associated with various scientific and technical societies broadly related to Theoretical and Applied Mechanics. He has been granted several national and international awards and fellowships. 

Sesé Luis Felipe

Dr, University of Jaén, Spain    

Dr. Felipe-Sesé graduated in Mechanical Engineering at University of Jaén (Spain) in 2008. After a period at industry as R&D engineering, Dr. Felipe-Sesé joined the University of Jaen in 2010 and obtained his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Jaén in 2014. He became Associate Prof in 2021. He has been involved in experimental mechanics since 2010. His fields of research are the development of optical methods and processing algorithms and their application in experimental mechanics. Main research work is focused in dynamic testing, such as vibration or impact and comparative of results and validation. He has been involved in different national projects on, vibration and modal testing, optical methods and thermoelastic stress analysis (TSA). He is author of more than 30 papers published in highly ranked scientific journals in the field of experimental mechanics and more than 40 proceedings papers.

Mateusz Kopec

Professor, Inst. Fundamental Technological Research, Poland  

please find updated information about myself:
Associate Professor and Head of the Materials and Structural Testing Laboratory at the Institute of Fundamental Technological Research PAS. Currently, Visiting Fellow at University of Derby. Vice-President of the Warsaw Branch of Polish Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Secretary of Experimental Mechanics Section of Committee of Mechanics of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Member of British Society for Strain Measurement and Polish Materials Science Society. Research interest in fatigue damage development of power engineering steels and additive manufactured materials, hot stamping of lightweight alloys, implants for biomedical applications and thermal barrier coatings for nickel alloys. The author of more than 100 publications.

Paola Leo

Professor, University of Salento, Italy

Paola Leo is currently an Associate professor in Metallurgy at the University of Salento, in Lecce (south of Italy), also qualified as full professor according to the National Scientific Qualification since 2017. Author or co-author of more than 100 papers and 74 indexed publications with H index equal to 23 and citations equal to 1669 up to January 2026, according to Scopus Database. After completing in 2005 a PhD on “Severe Plastic deformation of Aluminum Alloys”, she started to teach in Engineering Courses (both master’s and bachelor’s degrees) of University of Salento. To specialize on cold and hot plastic deformation behavior, she spent abroad periods in Norway and Germany. After that, she developed research on microstructure characterization, heat treatments, microstructure evolution induced by innovative processes (joining techniques, coating, additive manufacturing) and post processing thermal and mechanical treatments for improving in-service performance of the metallic components (such as corrosion and mechanical performances). The main research projects have been focused on metallic component refurbishing/repair by green techniques, on improving quality of additive manufactured parts and metamaterials by optimizing process parameters and thermal/mechanical post processing, on surface modification techniques for components durability.  She has been member of the University of Salento Quality Presidium, representing the National University Council 09 area, and she is currently a member of the Committee of the Doctorate in Complex Systems Engineering at the University of Salento, scientific referee of the Metallurgy Laboratory at the University of Salento, member of the National Committee of Metallurgy (COMET) and of the Physical Metallurgy and Material Science technical committee of the Italian Metallurgical Association (AIM).

Ming-Tzer Lin

Professor, National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan

Prof. Ming-Tzer Lin is Associate Vice President for General Affairs at National Chung Hsing University (NCHU), Taiwan. He also serves as a Distinguished Professor at the Graduate Institute of Precision Engineering and Director of the Industrial and Smart Technology Program at the Academy of Circular Economy. He earned his M.S. (1999) and Ph.D. (2003) in Mechanical Engineering from Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA, where he also completed postdoctoral research. In 2004, he joined NCHU, and from 2012 to 2013 he was a Visiting Professor at Cornell University. His research interests include the mechanical behavior of thin films, semiconductor and MEMS materials, small-scale structures, and experimental mechanics—particularly digital image correlation (DIC) and optical methods—with applications in microelectronics technology. He has also contributed to industrial projects in steelmaking, inspection, finite element simulation, and fracture mechanics. Prof. Lin is active in professional societies, serving as a Steering Committee Member of the Asian Society for Experimental Mechanics, President of the Taiwan Society of Experimental Mechanics (TSEM), Vice President of the Taiwan Association of Coatings and Thin Films (TACT), and Board Member of the Taiwan Refractory Materials Association. His contributions have been recognized with the Excellent Teaching Award and the Academic-Industrial Practice Award in Taiwan.

Giorgio Olmi

Professor, University of Bologna, Italy

Giorgio Olmi (GO) is currently an Associate Professor of Machine Design at the University of Bologna with Scientific Qualification as a Full Professor. He received a M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering in 2001 and a Ph.D. in Mechanics of Materials in 2005. He is responsible for teaching units dealing with experimental mechanics of solids and Non-Destructive Testing (NDT). In addition, he is a Tutor and a member of the Research-Didactics Committee of the Collegio Superiore, an institution of excellence of the University of Bologna devoted to high-level and interdisciplinary education. GO’s main research topics are fatigue (experimental testing and predictive methods), Additive Manufacturing, fracture microscopy analyses, strain gauges, NDT, and joining techniques. GO has been member of research assessment committees at his Department and at a national level. Moreover, he is currently acting as Associate/Academic Editor of “Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science” and “Actuators” and has served as Guest Editor of several Special Issues in Journals. He has chaired Sessions and Symposia at previous ICEM Conferences and acted as Vice-Chairman of the latest ICEM21 in Bologna. GO is the author or co-author of over 200 papers published in peer-reviewed International Journals and in the Proceedings of International and National Conferences, including a scientific book on Experimental Stress Analysis for materials and structures. Bibliometric data (based on the SCOPUS database, as of December 2025): Number of indexed papers: 122; Number of papers in Peer-Reviewed International Journals: 75; Number of citations: 1,418; h-index: 19.

Raffaella Sesana

Professor, Politecnico di Torino, Italy

Raffaella Sesana is Associate Professor of Machine Design at the Politecnico di Torino with scientific qualification s Full Professor. She is M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering in 1993 (Politecnico di Milano) and Ph.D. in Machine Design in 1999 (Politecnico di Torino). She teaches Basic Mechanics, Structural Mechanics and Machine Design in Bachelor and MD Mechanical, Mechatronics and Energy Engineering. She also teaches in TTPU and AIU universities. Her research focuses on material experimental characterization, fatigue behaviour of metallic materials, Thermography and Non Destructive Testing and Monitoring. She coordinates a research group in department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering – Politecnico di Torino. She is part of the Board of AiPnD. She is part of the PIU-AEI board of Politecnico di Torino, developing projects for refugee and refugee like students.

George Z. Voyiadjis

Boyd Professor, Louisiana State University, USA

George Z. Voyiadjis is the Boyd Professor at the Louisiana State University, in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. This is the highest professorial rank awarded by the Louisiana State University System. Voyiadjis is a Foreign Member of several Academies/societies and the recipient of numerous awards. Research activities of particular interest encompass macro-mechanical and micro-mechanical constitutive modeling, experimental procedures for quantification of crack densities, inelastic behavior, thermal effects, interfaces, damage, failure, fracture, impact, and numerical modeling. He has two patents, over 385 refereed journal articles and 23 books (13 as editor) to his credit. He gave over 440 presentations as plenary, keynote and invited speaker as well as other talks. Over sixty two graduate students (40 Ph. D.) completed their degrees under his direction.  He has also supervised numerous postdoctoral associates. Voyiadjis has been extremely successful in securing more than $40.0 million in research funds as a principal investigator/investigator from the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Department of Transportation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and major companies such as IBM and Martin Marietta.

The President of the next and past ICEM-conference and the chair of the Technical Committees and affiliated societies are the 4 members by right: 

Luis Zelaya-Lainez

Professor, TU Wien, Austria  

Luis Zelaya-Lainez is the Head of the Laboratory for Mechanics of Materials (MMLAB) and Deputy Head of the Laboratory for Macroscopic Material Testing at the Science Center, Technische Universität Wien (TU WIEN), Vienna, Austria. His work covers experimental mechanics across scales, from micro- and nano-mechanics to macroscopic behavior, including nanoscopic sample preparation, nanoindentation, and the characterization of creep, stiffness, hardness, and strength. His research focuses on bio-based composites, cementitious, and biological materials, including implants. He is a member of the Biomechanics Committee and the Experimental Analysis and Instrumentation Committee of the Engineering Mechanics Institute (EMI), ASCE. He holds a PhD in Experimental Micromechanics (Jan 2021) and a Master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering (Dec 2016) from the Technische Universität Wien (Austria), as well as a Master’s degree in Nuclear Engineering (Dec 2012) from Valencia Polytechnic University (Spain).

The 3 co-opted council members are:

Zbigniew L. Kowalewski

Professor, Inst of Fundamental Tech Research, Polen  

Professor Zbigniew Kowalewski graduated from the Faculty of Mechanics, Warsaw University of Technology (1981). The Ph.D. and habilitation he received at the Institute of Fundamental Technological Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IPPT PAN) in 1988 and 1997, recpectively. In 2008 Professor Zbigniew Kowalewski was nominated by president of Poland as full Professor in Mechanical Engineering. He was the British Council Fellow from 1992 to 1993 at the University of Manchester. Professor Zbigniew Kowalewski is appointed at the  IPPT PAN since 1985, he also worked at the Warsaw University of Technology from 1997 to 2010. Since 2011 he is a Head of the  Department of Experimental Mechanics at IPPT PAN. From 2015 to 2019 he was the President of the Polish Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics. From 2019 he has been elected as the President of the Scientific Council of IPPT PAN. He is the Vice-president of EuraSEM. His 35 years research work experience is mainly devoted to: plasticity, creep, fatigue, experimental methods in solid mechanics, modelling of creep constitutive equations. He is an author or co-author of more than 380 papers published in well known international journals and conference proceedings, 14 books, and 8 patents.

Danny Van Hemelrijck

Professor, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium 

Danny Van Hemelrijck received a  M.S in Civil Engineering (1984), a second M.S. in Computer Science (1987) and a Ph.D. in applied Sciences (1992) form the ‘Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB)’, Belgium. After a short period as postdoctoral researcher,  he was appointed in 1996 professor at the department of Mechanics of Materials and Constructions (MeMC) of the ‘Vrije Universiteit Brussel’, Belgium. His main research interests include the  mechanical characterisation of fibre reinforced material systems under complex loading conditions, Thermoelastic Stress Analysis and damage characterisation using different NDT-techniques. He has co-authored over 150 peer reviewed journal papers and over 200 conference papers on topics related to his research interests. He co-organised the conference series on ‘Emerging Technologies in NDT’ and organised the 18th edition of the ‘International Conference of Experimental Mechanics (ICEM18)’ in Brussels, Belgium in 2018. In 2008 he joined the European Society of Experimental Mechanics (EuraSEM) as member of the executive council (permanent secretary) and from July 2018 until July 2022 he acted as president.