The Board of Directors of the Eucentre Foundation, convened on April 14th, has officially appointed Professor Rui Pinho as the new President. He succeeds Professor Riccardo Pietrabissa, whose leadership over recent years has been instrumental in consolidating Eucentre’s role as a national and international reference in earthquake engineering research and training.
Professor Rui Pinho, formerly Executive Vice-President of the Foundation, is a leading figure in the global earthquake engineering community and a distinguished expert in seismic risk assessment. He is a full professor at the Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture of the University of Pavia. He has held several high-level academic and scientific positions throughout his career.
His professional path reflects a strong commitment to applied research, technological innovation, and advanced training. He is the co-founder and previously Technical Director of Seismosoft, a company specialised in developing advanced software tools for earthquake engineering, and was from 2009 to 2013 the Founding Secretary-General of the GEM Foundation (Global Earthquake Model), an OECD-backed organisation dedicated to the development of global seismic risk models.
As Science Director of Eucentre (2014–2019), he was key in shaping the Foundation’s strategic research directions. In his most recent position as Executive Vice-President (since 2023), he has overseen all technical activities, strengthening the bridge between scientific research, technological transfer, and policy support in risk mitigation.
Professor Pinho is the author of more than 400 scientific publications and has been invited as a keynote speaker at numerous international conferences. He has led major research projects funded by national and European institutions and has contributed significantly to developing advanced seismic vulnerability assessment and risk reduction methodologies. His achievements have been recognised with several prestigious awards, including the EERI Shah’s Innovation Prize and multiple best paper awards from international structural engineering associations. In 2024, he was also Chair of WCEE, the World Conference on Earthquake Engineering that took place in Milan last July.
His appointment marks an important milestone in Eucentre’s continued growth. It reinforces its mission to promote seismic safety through scientific excellence, specialist education, and knowledge dissemination. Under Professor Pinho’s leadership, the Foundation is poised to strengthen its role as a center of excellence in seismic resilience in Italy and internationally.