Engineering Materials, Structures, Systems and Methods for a More Sustainable Future

Engineering Materials, Structures, Systems and Methods for a More Sustainable Future comprises 275 papers that were presented at SEMC 2025, the Ninth International Conference on Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Computation. This event, held in Cape Town (South Africa) from 1 to 3 September 2025, was attended by around 300 participants from 42 countries worldwide.

The Proceedings are divided into 15 sections. The various topics may be grouped into five broad categories covering: (i) the mechanics of materials, solids and structures; (ii) numerical modelling, computational simulations and experimental testing; (iii) analysis, design and construction in the traditional engineering materials; (iv) innovative engineering materials, structures and methods; (v) maintenance, long-term performance, life-cycle considerations and sustainable construction.

Engineering Materials, Structures, Systems and Methods for a More Sustainable Future will be of interest to civil, structural, mechanical, marine and aerospace engineers, as well as planners and architects. Two versions of the papers are available: full papers of length six pages are included in the e-book, while short papers of length two pages, intended to be concise but self-contained summaries of the full papers, are in the printed book.

Alphose Zingoni is Professor of Structural Engineering and Mechanics in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. After completing a PhD on shells at Imperial College London in 1992, he won a Research Fellowship of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, and remained at Imperial College for a further two years, during which period his interest in symmetry began. Following a 3-year term as Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Zimbabwe, he moved to the University of Cape Town, where he was promoted to Full Professor in 2002, and served as the Head of the Department of Civil Engineering from 2008 to 2012. His research has focused on two main areas, namely the development of analytical methods for shell structures, and the use of group theory in studying problems involving symmetry in structural mechanics. He has written over 100 papers on these topics, and authored 4 books, including “Shell Structures in Civil and Mechanical Engineering” (ICE Publishing, 2018) and “Vibration Analysis and Structural Dynamics for Civil Engineers: Essentials and Group-Theoretic Formulations” (Taylor & Francis, 2015). Over the past 25 years, he has also guest-edited 8 special issues of international journals. He is Founder and Chair of the Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Computation (SEMC) series of international conferences, held in Cape Town every 3 years since 2001, and has edited the Proceedings of all 9 conferences held to date. He currently serves on the editorial boards of several international journals, and has served on the scientific committees of numerous international conferences. His honours and recognitions include being elected a Fellow of the Institution of Structural Engineers (London), a Fellow of the International Association of Bridge and Structural Engineering (Zurich), a Fellow of the South African Academy of Engineering, and a Member of the Academy of Sciences of South Africa. In 2016, he was elected a Fellow of the University of Cape Town in recognition of “original distinguished academic work”, and in 2019, he won the University of Cape Town Book Award for his book on shell structures. In 2023, he was awarded the A1 rating by the National Research Foundation of South Africa in recognition of being "an internationally leading scholar" in his field of research. Over the years, he has also contributed significantly to the professional development of civil and structural engineers in Southern Africa, by organising short industry courses on various specialist topics, in collaboration with international experts. He is registered as a Chartered Engineer with the Engineering Council of the UK, and as a Professional Engineer with the Engineering Council of South Africa.