Eucentre is a non-profit private law foundation whose mission is to conduct research and provide training and services in earthquake and safety engineering 
Eucentre promotes science, research and innovation for the benefit of the community, offering targeted methodologies and concrete solutions for prevention, safety and resilience. It collaborates with institutions and companies to disseminate competencies for the common good.
Eucentre carries out research activities in earthquake engineering and risk reduction through laboratory testing and numerical analysis, aiming to improve the seismic performance of structures and soils and to develop innovative seismic retrofitting techniques.
The Foundation promotes diverse and high-quality training activities aimed at academic and professional contexts, with constantly updated and innovative programs and initiatives designed to meet the evolving needs of the sector and society 
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Prof. Iunio Iervolino, Director of Science of the Eucentre Foundation and professor at the Federico II University of Naples and at the University of Pavia, will deliver the first in a series of seminars on seismic hazard and its application in structural design.
The seminar, entitled ‘Seismic hazard analysis and structural design (part I): the classical approach’, will take place on Wednesday, January 29th, 2026, at 2.30 p.m. at the INGV – National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, Milan Section (Via Alfonso Corti 12, 3rd floor). The possibility of remote participation is also foreseen.
The meeting addresses one of the fundamentals of modern earthquake engineering: the definition of seismic actions for performance-based earthquake-resistant design, based on probabilistic seismic hazard analysis. In this first part of the seminars cycle, Prof. Iervolino will discuss the characteristics of classical hazard definition in the seismic assessment of buildings, also in the presence of non-negligible spatial effects.
During the seminar, the following topics, among others, will be explored in depth: the performance matrix, the stochastic characterisation of sources, the distribution of shaking intensity at the site, the Poisson process with random selection, the exceedance rate, and the design spectra and their correct interpretation.
Ample space will also be devoted to discussing the “side effects” of the classic performance-based seismic design/assessment approach, including the possibility of exceedance of design intensities in epicentral areas, the non-consideration of seismic sequences/swarms and of the accumulation of seismic damage, and the consequent unevenness in structural safety. The seminar will also address the issue of the experimental verifiability of hazard results and the role – and limitations – of approaches based on catalogue simulation, clarifying that there is no contradiction, in principle, between probabilistic and neo-deterministic approaches.
The initiative is organised in collaboration with the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology – Milan Section, the University of Naples Federico II and the University of Pavia.
Logistical information:
Wednesday, January 29th, 2026, 2.30 p.m.
INGV – Milan Section, Via Alfonso Corti 12 (3rd floor)
Remote connection: https://meet.google.com/nyg-syry-fgk