HAMK Tech Research Unit has co-operated with the specialists in steel construction at University of Coimbra, Portugal, already for a longer time, and now the co-operation has been intensified. From mid-January the students of construction engineering at HAMK have had the opportunity to study design of steel structures with two Portuguese guest lecturers.

The first of the two guest lecturers, Constanca Rigueiro, arrived in Hämeenlinna in mid-January and spent three weeks at HAMK. She works as an invited assistant professor at the Civil Engineering Department at the University of Coimbra in Portugal, where is involved in in the MSc and PhD programmes of Steel and Composite Construction. 

At the moment her colleague Helder Craveiro continues the work where Constanca left off, for another three weeks. Helder is a post-doc researcher at the University of Coimbra within the research unit ISISE (Institute for Sustainability and Innovation in Structural Engineering), and invited assistant professor in the MSc and PhD programme in Steel and Composite Construction. We at HAMK have the opportunity until the end of February to get to know our Portuguese colleagues, right here at home.

Constanca and Helder do not only give a few lectures, but they are responsible for entire themes in the education of construction engineering: they each deliver a four-credit part of a module in steel construction, also taking care of the exams and evaluation.

University of Coimbra is a significant research institution in the field of steel construction, so Constanca and Helder bring valuable research knowledge to the students of HAMK. In addition, University of Coimbra is also an important partner for us in publicly funded research projects. Both Constanca and Helder have extensive experience in EU-funded projects. We have already submitted a joint application for Horizon 2020 funding and in the future we plan to expand our co-operation into research projects as well.

Neither of our Portuguese colleagues are first-time visitors to Hämeenlinna. Constanca visited HAMK in January last year and delivered the key note presentation at the SCEC seminar of Steel Construction Excellence Center. Helder gave a presentation at the seminar Teräsrakentamisen T&K-päivät, organised by the Finnish Constructional Steelwork Association and HAMK, in August last year.

University of Coimbra

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