On the afternoon of October 9, 2026, Fuzhou University and the “Gabriele d’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara (UdA), Italy, jointly hosted a collaborative symposium in a hybrid format combining online and on-site participation. The symposium was organized and co-chaired by Professor Enrico Spacone of UdA and Professor Alessandro Contento of Fuzhou University. As institutional representatives, Dr. Carlo Masci, Mayor of the City of Pescara, Italy; Dr. Luca Saraceni, Director of the Mayor’s Institutional Affairs and European Projects Department, City of Pescara; Prof. Andrea Apolloni, Science and Technology Officer at the Consulate General of Italy in Guangzhou; Prof. Liborio Stuppia, Rector of UdA; and Prof. Zhang Yalei, Vice President of Fuzhou University, attended the event online. Chinese and international faculty members and students of the College of Civil Engineering of Fuzhou University attended the symposium in person at the Fuzhou venue.

Figure 1: The symposium in progress (Fuzhou University venue)

The symposium comprised an opening ceremony, welcome addresses by the institutions, presentations on the two universities and their colleges and departments, invited talks, and a closing summary. Professor Enrico Spacone of UdA and Professor Alessandro Contento of Fuzhou University opened the event with the initial greetings. Soon after, Dr. Carlo Masci, Mayor of the City of Pescara; Prof. Apolloni; Rector Stuppia; and Vice President Zhang Yalei delivered remarks on behalf of the City of Pescara, the Consulate General of Italy in Guangzhou, UdA, and Fuzhou University, respectively. In his remarks, Zhang Yalei extended a warm welcome and heartfelt thanks to institutional representatives, Rector Stuppia, colleagues at UdA, and the experts and scholars attending the symposium. He noted that the symposium was the fruit of many years of close exchanges between scholars of the two universities in the field of structural engineering. The civil engineering discipline at Fuzhou University has built a deep foundation in structural engineering, bridge and tunnel engineering, and disaster prevention and mitigation engineering, and has continued to make new progress in recent years in frontier areas such as digital twins, intelligent construction, and structural health monitoring. A number of Italian scholars have long taught at the College of Civil Engineering of Fuzhou University, forming the most direct and cordial bond between the two universities. Zhang Yalei noted that Fuzhou and Pescara established a sister-city relationship in September 2025, laying a foundation of trust for deeper cooperation between the two universities. He expressed the hope that the two sides would take this symposium as a new starting point, deepen practical cooperation in joint research, talent development, faculty and student exchanges, and joint platform development, work together to apply for international cooperation projects and establish a joint research center, and contribute more wisdom and solutions to jointly addressing the challenges of natural disasters such as earthquakes, typhoons, and floods.

Professor Montelpare, Head of the Department of Engineering and Geology at UdA, and Yuan Huihui, Research Fellow and Assistant Dean of the College of Civil Engineering of Fuzhou University, presented an overview of their respective universities and departments as well as their achievements in teaching, research, and international cooperation. Subsequently, 11 experts and scholars from the two universities delivered invited talks on topics including the mechanical behavior of high-performance steel-concrete composite members, safety assessment of expressway bridges, seismic protection of existing structures, digital twin technology, multi-hazard risk assessment, seismic assessment of historic buildings and Fujian tulou, and 3D printing technology, fully demonstrating the complementary strengths that underpin cooperation between the two universities in the field of structural safety and resilience enhancement.

This high-level and substantive symposium was attended by the university leadership of both institutions, officials from the Consulate General of Italy in Guangzhou, and a number of academic leaders from both sides, fully reflecting the great importance both sides attach to deepening cooperation in structural engineering. The success of the symposium has injected new momentum into the two universities’ efforts to deepen international exchange and cooperation and to enhance China-Italy friendship. Going forward, the two universities will build on the sister-city relationship and their complementary disciplinary strengths to accelerate the implementation of practical cooperation in joint research, talent development, faculty and student exchanges, and joint platform development, and will contribute the wisdom and strength of higher education to safeguarding structural safety and enhancing disaster resilience. A follow-up meeting has already been agreed upon by the organizers Prof. Enrico Spacone and Prof. Alessandro Contento to explore opportunities for developing joint research initiatives, reflecting the shared enthusiasm of both universities and their strong commitment to building a closer and more fruitful collaboration.