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From 30 May to 1 June, we visited the concrete and aggregates community in Stavanger. We also visited "Via" - an innovation cluster for transport infrastructure.

The delegation consisted of members of Kupa CIC: Veronika Moan and Geir Frantzen, Jaro: Ole-Marius Thomassen and Truls Robertsen and Boy-Arne Buyle from UiT. We started with a nice dinner at the Fish & Cow on Tuesday the 30th with the invited partners.

On Wednesday we went to Sola Betong. This is a ready-mixed concrete plant. We had a general discussion there, but we also focused specifically on sludge. They have some interesting projects, in particular a new deep sea tunnel and a pair of production lines.

We also came across a beautiful old mixing desk.

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Then we visited Velde, Rogaland's largest supplier of gravel, asphalt and concrete. With knowledge and modern technology, the company delivers sustainable products with a focus on customers and the environment. Velde has quarries with a wide range of rock materials, a landfill, a range of transport and sweeping services, asphalt production and paving, ready-mix concrete and concrete blocks. In addition to supplying products and services to North Jæren, Velde Olsen Gulv provides asphalt paving on Haugalandet and flooring throughout the country. Velde Hausvik outside Lyngdal supplies armour stone for coastal and harbour safety projects and installations in and around the North Sea. Their factory in Sviland is constantly being expanded and today crushing plants, concrete and asphalt production and recycling plants are all located there. This results in efficient and environmentally friendly production with very short distances between raw materials. They are able to produce concrete with 100% recycled aggregates. They have a complete recycling plant and are at the forefront of environmental thinking.

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Förderpreis Beton Central Europe is an international competition for doctoral theses on topics related to concrete. It covers all topics related to cement, alternative binders, aggregates, cement and concrete chemistry, admixtures, additives, technology and rehabilitation.

The work with the title Behaviour of cementitious composites exposed to high temperatures investigated two technologies; the first and more emphasised one was the development of a method for fire protection of existing structures, so-called intentional heat treatment (IHT). The main trigger for the development of this new method for fire protection of existing structures was extensive tunnel lining testing in Germany. Standards have imposed a new requirement in terms of the level of fire resistance and introduced new limits which should be met even by existing tunnel structures. The results from the tunnel lining testing were not always satisfactory, and therefore I focused on the development of a new method that could be applied to tunnel lining without space occupation. The doctoral thesis is available on the Brno University of Technology web, where Iveta defended her thesis in early 2021.

The competition is open to recent PhD graduates from Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic and is particularly prestigious in Germany, where even getting through the first round is considered a significant success. Iveta Nováková placed second in this demanding international competition. We would like to congratulate her on this achievement.

A researcher from the Czech Republic visited Narvik to establish new cooperation with members of the DeTeA research group.

Aleš Průcha, an assistant at the Institute of Technology, Mechanisation and Construction Management, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Brno University of Technology, Czech Republic, wrote a few lines about his visit to UiT campus Narvik within Erasmis+ program:

At the university, I met Dr. Iveta Nováková and Dr. Václav Venkrbec, who took me around and showed me the laboratories where DeTeA and other research groups work, as well as the teaching facilities. Getting students to work together is essential, even necessary, for creating the right environment for their education. In this context, I gained new knowledge during my visit. Many meeting rooms all over the UiT are perfectly equipped for digital teaching or project meetings. At the institute in Brno, I would like to increase the opportunities for students to work on projects/studies similarly. Therefore I started thinking about grants suitable for its financing. Dr. Nováková and Dr. Venkrbec also showed me their department, the Department of Building, Energy and Materials Engineering, where I had the opportunity to visit laboratories and other teaching and research facilities. I also learned about the system for PhD students, which diametrically differs from my home university. Here, in Norway, PhD students are hired by the university or directly from projects, they receive regular salaries and can dedicate their entire time to the PhD. In the Czech, PhD students receive a scholarship which is barely covering expenses for living, and therefore they have to be fortunate to get hired on a project or get a part-time job elsewhere. 

Teaching at the UiT differs from that in Brno, especially by combining physical and online teaching. Also, I want to point out many relaxation areas at UiT Narvik campus that are limited at our university in Brno. I think such areas will create better conditions for the students in general and a more positive, creative and friendly atmosphere at the university as a whole.

I also explored the local ski slopes during my free time. At the Narvikfjellet Ski Resort, Vaclav Venkrbec and I had a nice cup of coffee and a snack with a view over Narvik. I believe that the newly acquired contacts will be strengthened, and I will get a chance to host researchers or teachers from UiT in Brno in the near future.

The two-day lab excursion was mainly to visit a concrete plant Betong&Entreprenør in Lofoten, where the casting of fibre concrete for Richards’s master’s thesis took place. To combine the pleasant with the useful, an excursion to the local museum and team building of UiT concrete laboratory staff and students who are conducting their thesis or have a part-time job in the laboratory were linked.  Lofoten is a beautiful part of Norway and is worth visiting for local and international students.

On the first day, the concrete plant Betong&Entreprenør was visited in the afternoon and part of a group remained there for the whole day mixing the samples. Setting up trial mixing in concrete plants, large scale, is challenging and the addition of steel fibres is even increasing the level of difficulty. The requested mix design has to be first integrated into the mixer operating system, and necessary adjustments are commonly made based on visual assessment of concrete during the blending. We succeeded in the first trial, and samples for all tests, approx. 400 kg of concrete, were cast and stored in the close by hollow core slabs production hall. The samples can be transported only after 16 to 24 hours, and therefore, we could pick them back only in the afternoon of the next day.

The other part of the group had plenty of time to get to know Solvaer a little better and look for the most beautiful and unique spots. During this search, many special spots were found. One of these was the unique view where the Skrei are all hanging out to dry together. In the evening, there was time to get to know everyone outside of the lab environment.

The second day started with a visit to a little village called Henningsvaer. The beautiful village where all fantasy comes to life. This felt exactly like a fairy tale. The views were even more spectacular than those in the rest of Norway. The football field that was completely snowed under and next to the water was something spectacular. After visiting Henningsvaer, we drove back to the Lofotmuseet and the local aquarium. This gave a better understanding of Lofoten’s history and how the fishermen used to live, along with the old boats that they used. Next to this was an Aquarium with much different fish. Besides the many fish, there were also, seals and otters. These were immensely cute. After visiting this, it was time to travel back to the concrete plant, load all the samples and start the return journey to Narvik.  

The visit to Lofoten and the wonderful people was an unique experience never to be forgotten.

For me with a practical background as a carpenter, the bachelor thesis focused on Low Carbon Concrete in Arctic Climate was a challenging task, the setup of the document and the process of gathering information and using references was somewhat unknown to me. The learning curve was steep, but a valuable experience to bring with me forward into the career. Our practical part of the thesis was large, and as I did my thesis together with Klevis Xhura, we made many concrete mixes. Concrete was tested in a fresh state for workability, air content and density. Our target was B45M40 air-entrained concrete which is supposed to withstand harsh Arctic conditions. Properties of hardened concrete such as compressive strength, E modulus, chloride migration and freeze-thaw were tested after 2, 7, 28 and 56 days. Results gave a good overview of concrete performance, and we successfully defended our bachelor theses.

Now, I have a job as a “workplace leader/facility manager” at MBA Entreprenør AS in Mo I Rana, where I take responsibility for the project's success, ordering materials necessary for the progress and more. In the startup phase of my position in this firm, I work as a carpenter and concrete worker to get to know the people and the process of constructing large buildings.

The Betongklyngen CIC, in collaboration with the Norwegian Concrete Association and the Norwegian Association for Concrete Rehabilitation, is pleased to invite you to the Concrete Professional Day 2023 hosted by The Arctic University of Norway

The Betongfagdag has become an indispensable part of the Winter Festival (Vinterfestuka) in Narvik and a favourable event for industry, researchers and academia. The program is full of interesting presentations from industry, such as Norcem AS (Heidelberg Materials) or Skanska Norge, research institutes, Sintef or academics from UiT or NTNU. Rich program can be found at Concrete Innovation Cluster webpage: Betonfagdag 2023 under vinterfestuka.

Many students from UiT joined the event, and some of them gave presentations about their master’s thesis. The UiT concrete laboratory, in cooperation with the DeTeA research group, serves in these days mainly for activities connected to the master thesis focused on geopolymer, the durability of low carbon concrete and fibre concrete. All three theses were briefly presented by students and their presentation is attached HERE.

The event was successful, and UiT students got great attention and applause from the attendees.

Martin Mohapl from Brno University of Technology visited UiT and met the DeTeA research group.

My name is Dr. Martin Mohapl, and I work at Faculty of Civil Engineering, Brno University of Technology, Czech Republic as an assistant professor. Thanks to the Erasmus+ program, I was able to spend one week in Narvik at UiT The Arctic University of Norway in January 2023. I got to know the city and the university. For a Central European, Narvik is synonymous with far north. I know the laws of polar night and day. But I was still surprised that the sun doesn't really rise in the morning in January. I overslept on the first day of my stay. It was amazing. Firstly, it was caused by the darkness and secondly by the incredible calmness. Traffic noise is almost non-existent.

At the university, I had the opportunity to observe teaching and classroom equipment. I can say that the classrooms are very well technically equipped with audio-visual equipment. Another perfect feeling I had from the „Grupperom“ rooms, where students work independently in groups. We do not have these rooms at our faculty, and I will strive to build such rooms there. I randomly chose the lectures and was surprised by the teaching format. I would describe it as a mix of face-to-face and distance learning. I saw this form for the first time. The university library has a corner with a fireplace and a fjord view. I had to take a photo of these points of interest because they are original. Otherwise, the library is a quiet, ideal place for studying. I also got to know the Department of Building, Energy and Material Technology more closely. I would like to thank Dr. Raymond Riise, Head of the Department, and Dr. Iveta Nováková and Dr. Václav Venkrbec from the DeTeA research group for their kind welcome and assistance during the formal and informal processes.

I had the opportunity to spend a week at a university with a diametrically different atmosphere than my Alma mater. I think calmness and concentration have the most significant effect on mental work. It can be stated that the conditions at UiT are ideal.

ICONDE project workshop covering radioactive/nuclear waste management and other project topics was held at the Lithuanian Energy Institute (LEI) on September 12-14, 2022, in Kaunas, Lithuania

ICONDE Workshop was organized as a hybrid event — online and in-person. All project partner organisations attended in this workshop. The workshop at LEI lasted for three days. The first day of the project started with greetings from the LEI Directorate to the participants, as well as a brief introduction to LEI's activities and laboratories. The leaders of the ICONDE project, Riga Technical University, presented the objectives and tasks of the project and shared the achievements during the implementation of the project. LEI scientists provided a general international practice overview on nuclear and radioactive waste classification and management. Invited guest from State Nuclear Power Safety Inspectorate (VATESI) provided information about Lithuanian requirements for radioactive waste management as well as participant from Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) provided knowledge on liquid radioactive waste treatment at the Ignalina NPP. In the second half of the day the workshop participants had the opportunity to visit the LEI laboratories.

Full article: on the ETSON website.

Let‘s summarise the successful year 2022 and wish everyone Marry Christmas and a prosperous 2023.

The DeTeA research group was established only in June 2022, but its members were already engaged in several projects such as Circulus, DeConcreteor or ICONDE and together started to build a foundation for concrete research in the field of building materials. Moreover, thanks to long-term cooperation with the Norwegian industry and contacts with academics and research institutes worldwide, 3 new projects started in 2022, and 2 additional approved, with a start set for the first quarter of 2023.

Bridging call funded by Interreg, ArCorD „Arctic Low Carbon Concrete with outstanding Sustainability and Durable Properties“ with a duration of 6 months and a budget of 58 580 euro allowing preparation for a full project application to Interreg NPA call opened late June. The ArCorD project consortium was extended by industrial partners from 5 different countries, which appealed to reviewers and Ar2CorD project „Low Carbon Concrete for Arctic Climate with excellent Sustainability and Durability“ was funded with total budget 1,36M euros. Iveta Novakova leads both mentioned projects as well as GEOSUMAT which started in June 2022. The GEOSUMAT project „Materials for circular economy – industrial waste based geopolymers composites with hybrid reinforcement“ is under M-ERA.NET Call 2021 and funded by individual partner countries funding agencies with a total budget 1,6M euros. Another initiated project among the significant ones is Herøy FoU project focused on the corrosion mapping of a deteriorated bridge in Nordland county. The last project recently approved is Horizon project funded by EU, entitled CIRC-BOOST „Boosting the uptake of circular integrated solutions in construction value chains“ that will start in the first quarter of 2023.

Collaborative countries in 2022	Extension of collaboration network during 2022

Alongside new projects, several trips to local and foreign, industries and institutes, took place in order to enlarge the collaboration network. Guest lectures and activities at Malta University, University of Iceland, Gent University, Skanska Czech, Bodo Energy and events such as PIANC in Amsterdam, Gordon research conference in Italy and collaboration establishment visits to Kazakstan and Canada. All travels were fruitful for discussions, and besides research, student exchange and join thesis were arranged.

Education is also one of the activities in DeTeA research group. More than 5 students were involved in research activities and conducted their theses under the supervision of DeTeA members. Several of those were in cooperation with local industries, where one of the bachelor students, Terje Barstrand, was recruited directly. That points towards well-established contact with the industry maintained by visits and scientific consultancy.

 The year 2022 was extremely rich for international events and collaboration visits thanks to the fainting COVID 19 pandemic and connected travel restrictions. Members of the DeTeA research group look towards new possibilities in 2023 and the successful continuation of research and education activities.

 With that, I would like to wish all collaborative partners Merry Christmas and Happy new year.

                                                                                                                                                                       Iveta Nováková

                                                                                                                                                              DeTeA research group leader

Thanks to all DeTeA members, Eirik Gjerløw, Ashfaque Ahmed Jhatial, Boy-Arne Buyle, Svein-Erik Sveen, Václav Venkrbec and Harpal Singh.

For more information, visit the websites of individual projects or contact Iveta Novakova.

The HK-dir Project (CPEA-ST-2019/10029) Academic Cooperation in Post-graduate Engineering Education led by Prof. Mohamad Mustafa from UiT and Prof. Hong R. Kim from Nazarbayev University, funded by Direktoratet for høgare utdanning og kompetanse.

Campus Narvik joined The Arctic University of Norway, UiT, only 6 years ago. Since then, the Department of Building, Energy and Material Technology is building up its competence in research and establishing brought collaboration network. Contact with foreign research institutes is increasing the visibility of UiT, and preparing grounds for mutual research addressing common challenges in the field of civil engineering. One such project is HK-dir Project (CPEA-ST-2019/10029) Academic Cooperation in Post-graduate Engineering Education led by Prof. Mohamad Mustafa from UiT and Prof. Hong R. Kim from Nazarbayev University, funded by Direktoratet for høgare utdanning og kompetanse. Kazak delegation, consisting of professors, lecturers and students from different study programs, came to Norway in November 2022, where Iveta Novakova got to know them and learn about research activities at Nazarbayev University.

Overlap of research topics dealing with sustainability, circularity and the utilisation of waste streams in concrete and geopolymer was recognised. Another common challenge is climate with low temperatures. Frost is a durability concern of every building material. Therefore, Iveta - a researcher in the field of concrete technology and Boy-Arne - a concrete laboratory leader, decided to visit Nazarbayev University in Astana and discuss further potential collaboration within DeTeA research group.

During our visit, we met three main and several other professors dealing with building materials from a technological and structural point of view, visited all available facilities and discussed local research extensively. Prof. Chang-Seon Shon works with the utilisation of Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) slags as binders or aggregates supported by carbonation. Nowadays, carbonation is a topic in high demand. UiT has already conducted some testing and activities that can increase thanks to the new CO2 curing chamber financed by DeConcrete and Geosumat projects.

Iveta gave a presentation about activities in the DeTeA research group with the aim of identifying even more areas for further research collaboration. Project GEOSUMAT, which deals with the development of geopolymer with dispersed fibre reinforcement, gained a lot of attention as the main studied waste stream material is wood incineration fly ash. In Kazakstan, there are many coal-fired power stations and large quantities of fly ash are presently utilised at very low levels due to its poor quality. Prof. Shon refers to those fly ashes as "outside of ASTM "and tries to change the habits of those power plants to increase the ashes' quality and uniformity, so their utilisation potential is higher.

 Astana is a new city; therefore, very little construction and demolition waste (CDW) exists there. Projects focused on CDW are in high interest at UiT, but do not overlap with activities at Nazarbayev University, but still, a related issue/area was identified. The by-product of concrete production is concrete slurry generated during the washing of ready-mix concrete trucks and other activities in concrete plants. This concrete slurry can be beneficially utilised in new concrete or geopolymers, and thus researchers from both institutes consider concrete slurry as one viable aspect for further research projects.

Many good ideas were raised during the visit, and researchers agreed to apply for a common research project if any suitable funding opportunity will pop up. Until then, the collaboration will be maintained by exchanging students in summer internships, joined master thesis or joined PhD. Joined supervision of students will be beneficial for both institutes. Funding for joined PhD might be eventually covered by the Public Sector PhD Project – Doctoral Project in the Public Sector from The Research Council of Norway.

Collaboration building visit was successful, and as it took place just shortly before The Independence Day of the Republic of Kazakstan, Iveta attended the Nazarbayev University event, where the president of Nazarbayev University, Shigeo Katsu, gave a speech followed by several artistic performances of Kazak culture.

The project meeting for Herøy FoU and initiation of collaboration with Alcoa took place in Mosjøen

The industry realises that landfilling their waste streams is becoming more and more controversial and that the habits have to change. The new angle of view must be integrated into traditional practices where material producers (steel, cement, aluminium, and others) care only about products and pay very little attention to waste/by-products produced alongside. One example is Alcoa, an aluminium producer located in Mosjøen, Norland county. Alcoa is an international corporation with one of the most complex supply chains, consisting of the main raw materials bauxite, semi-finished product alumina and final product aluminium. In the case of Alcoa production in Mosjøen, alumina is supplied from Brazil and transformed into the aluminium with an annual production of around 200 000 tonnes, mainly supplied to the European market. Simultaneously, approximately 12 000 tonnes of waste/by-product is generated, and presently, it is delivered to the local landfill for non-contaminated masses or shipped away to a hazardous waste facility in southern Norway. Iveta Novakova and Jørn Eldby from the Department of Building, Energy and Material Technology, UiT, Campus Narvik, met with Ellen Bromstad Myrvold from Alcoa, who is eager to establish stronger collaboration with UiT. Together we will promote collaboration with Alcoa to students and establish partnership throughout summer job or thesis work. Such a collaboration will be essential for Nordland county and increase students´ connection with local industry.

Herøy FoU kick-off meeting and seminar

Together with the Norwegian Road Administration and Nordland county as bridge owners, UiT is participated as a research partner in the research project “Herøy FoU”, together with NTNU and SINTEF. The project's main objective is to identify the root cause for the deterioration of the old Herøysundet bridge, and how efficient condition monitoring methods and Non-Destructive testing methods could be used to state the condition and rest lifetime for other concrete bridges. UiT, Campus Narvik will install accelerometers on the existing bridge to measure vibrations in x-, y and z-directions for dynamic analyses. Together with NDT, inspections and analyses of part of the bridge, the objective is to develop a model for the expected deterioration of the bridge and identification of rest life time. In addition, UiT, Campus Narvik will focus on developing repair methods that will bring the bridge back to “as good as new” condition. Identification of materials, repair tools and efficient operation techniques.

The kick-off meeting for Herøy FoU took place in Mosjøen on November 9 where all the parties in the research project were present. Discussion and various strategies to execute corresponding work packages were discussed. A seminar on Herøy R & D was held on November 10 where Nordland County, NTNU, UiT, Campus Narvik, Statens Vegvesen, LTU, Wise Technologies, Equinor, SINTEF, and Concrete Innovation Cluster gave a talk that was based on structural maintenance and monitoring of infrastructure.

Priya Perumal from UOULU made an industrial visit to the ready-mix concrete facility of Rudus Oy at Betonintie, Helsinki. Concrete production, logistics and quality assurance have been honed in Rudus to serve the customer reliably and responsibly. Rudus also maintains versatile and sufficient equipment, which makes handling and moving concrete easier, even in difficult construction site conditions.

As a part of DeConcrete, this was interesting to know about the present concrete production facility, material use and industrial point of view for future needs. Rudus also plays a major role in concrete recycling. They have large storage space for concrete recycling, and most of them were crushed, and used in earth construction applications.

Rudus says, “The end product of concrete and brick recycling is the Betoroc crushed stone developed by Rudus, which is a CE-marked product. Recycled crushed stone is well suited for earthworks. It replaces natural stone both technically and cost-effectively. Betoroc can be used to replace the best gravel and crushed rock, for example, in load-bearing and dividing layers of street, road and field structures. The usual granularity range of crushed stone is 0/45 mm. When building with crushed concrete, a better end result than natural stone can be achieved when the technical properties of Betoroc are sufficiently considered. Based on the observations made in the studies, the structural layers of the road with a load-bearing or distributing layer of crushed concrete achieve a bearing capacity of approximately 15-25 % higher than the structural layers built with ordinary aggregate after 13–15 years of construction.”

Priya feels this is an excellent example of how industries can play a role in taking recycled material to market and contributing to material circularity in construction!

The Herøysund bridge in Herøy municipality on the Helgeland coast is to be used as a test pilot in a new research project. UiT is part of a project that could have implications for bridges around the world.

On August 15, the Tretten Bridge in Gudbrandsdalen collapsed. Now research in Herøy can prevent this from happening again. It is connected to the old bridge in Nordland. The Herøysund bridge was completed in the 1960s and then became a link between the two islands in the municipality of Herøy. About two years ago, the bridge was supposed to be restored. However, due to serious injuries, the work was stopped and since September 2020 the bridge has been equipped with sensors to gain knowledge about how the condition of the bridge is developing in real time. The goal is to find ways to detect almost invisible damage in time. Per Ove Ravatsås, responsible manager of bridges and wharves in Nordland County, said that: We need to gain a little more knowledge about the bridge in order to manage, operate and maintain the bridges in a better way. It will also be necessary to create a digital twin of the bridge.There are many people who were interested in the project. The main actors are Nordland County Council and the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, but they include SINTEF, NTNU and UiT.

The external link to the original article in nrk.no with more information is here.

Photo: Nordland Fylkeskommune

Partners of the DeConcrete project were active in participating in a two-day workshop organized by the Concrete Innovation Cluster (CIC) in Bodo by August 2022.

Partners of the DeConcrete project were active in participating in a two-day workshop organized by the Concrete Innovation Clustur (CIC) in Bodo by August 2022. Priya Perumal (UOulu), Abhijit Mistri (UOulu), Iveta Novakova (UiT), Boy Arne (UiT), Cosmin Popescu (SINTEF), Bard Arnsten (SINTEF) from DeConcrete team were part of the event. Several industries were part of the event, to name some were Nordland Betong, Saferock, Jaro AS, etc., These are mostly concrete industries and the workshop mainly disseminated the results from the project, "Circulus" which closely aligns with the objective of DeConcrete. Priya Perumal also got a chance to present about DeConcrete project, mainly about the granulated concrete fines for lightweight aggregate applications. There was also a networking dinner which helped in the interaction between academic and industrial participants to discuss the chances for future co-operations.
The visit also gave chance for the DeConcrete partners to meet in person and discuss the project's future works, organizational changes and reporting targets. Partners also enjoyed visiting the worksite of Nordland Betong, a ready-mix concrete industry at Bodo. The factory produced euro blocs from return concrete, which reduces the amount of dumped fresh concrete. Interestingly, Nordland Betong is trying its best to increase the amount of recycled aggregate in their concrete production and Iveta Novakova helps with their mix design/ innovation actions! Further, the partners continued their visit to another ready-mix concrete plant, BE (Betong & Entreprenør) at Kabelvåg (Lofoten). BE has recently upgraded technologies for batching and mixing operations. Together with, custom-designed precast operations based on the client's needs.
Altogether, the workshop and the visits enhanced the knowledge of the partners in the subjects related to DeConcrete! The best part is about the ferry trip from Bodo to Lofoten with the networking dinner of the DeConcrete partners to have a relaxed discussion and feel of togetherness as a team!!

The event took place in Stockholm between 16th and 19th August 2022, and was organized by the Swedish Concrete Association. UiT was represented by Iveta Nováková and Václav Venkrbec who are part of DeTeA research group.

A large part of the NCR Symposium was dedicated to cement and concrete chemistry and the sustainability of its production. A broad discussion about topics related to concrete manufacturing, handling, recycling and durability took place during the coffee breaks and meals. One of the highlighted topic was the impact of concrete and especially cement production on the environment in the context of CO2 production and its reduction.
At the symposium, the results of the DeConcrete project were presented by Iveta Nováková. The presentation entitled “Evaluation of optimal replacement of natural aggregates by recycled concrete aggregates to achieve sufficient durability” was very well accepted by the audience, and the issue was further discussed in the following coffee breaks. The dissemination of the result from the DeConcrete project had a positive response as it is a very actual topic in the building industry.
Between the lectures, numerous discussions took place with representatives from the concrete industry, academia and other research institutions, such as Terje Kanstad from NTNU (Norway), Wolfgang Kunther from DTU (Denmark), Børge Johannes Wigum from HeidelbergCement Northern Europe (Iceland) or Helena Westerlind from KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden). The entire symposium had a very pleasant atmosphere and a friendly course with valuable constructive discussions.

Despite that the DeConcrete project has undergone restructuring in recent months, project representatives from Oulu university Priya Perumal and Iveta Novakova from UiT keep the good research and social spirit by attending Gordon Research Conference (GRC) in Italy.

The GRC conference is focused on cutting-edge research as the title "Advanced Materials for Sustainable Infrastructure Development - Cement Based Materials: Reaching Net Zero" indicates. The conference is unique by a selection of speakers and robust discussion after every 20 min presentation. Speakers are predominantly well-known researchers from prestige institutes such as ITH Zurich, Switzerland, Politecnico di Milano, Italy, Vito from Belgium, Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT, United States or industrial representatives from R&D departments such as Christophe Levy from Holcim Innovation Center, France or David Dreisinger from Negative Emissions Materials, United States.

Poster sessions were kept alongside the lectures, and 1.5 hours per day were dedicated to presentations and discussions about various research topics focused mainly on cement production, CO2 sequestration and supplementary cementitious materials. Priya and Iveta also contributed by poster entitled "Impact of reclaimed fines from concrete handling on fresh properties of cementitious materials" which was mainly of interest to industrial participants. DeConcrete works forward solutions implementable in the local industries which have to deal with arctic conditions, and therefore the approaches are rather conservative than radical as in continental climate countries.
Iveta Novakova attended also the Gordon Research Seminar with the title “Advanced Materials for Sustainable Infrastructure Development - Cutting Edge Solutions for Sustainable Development of Cement and Concrete”, a connected event dedicated to PhD students, postdocs and young researchers. During the event, Iveta gave a lecture entitled "Sustainable Concrete Solutions: Switch from Local Knowledge in Global Industry to Global Knowledge in Local Industry" and also presented an earlier mentioned poster entitled "Impact of reclaimed fines from concrete handling on fresh properties of cementitious materials". Discussions and dynamics during GRS were very pleasant as all participants were at the beginning of their careers and dispone by high optimism and motivation. 

Thanks to an emphasis on discussion and establishment of new collaboration during the GRC and GRS, DeConcrete representatives established a new collaboration with renowned research institutes/researchers - Ravindra Gettu from Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India; Jan Skocek from Heidelberg Cement AG in the field of CO2 sequestration and utilisation in cement based materials sector. The ACT4 Call - Accelerating CCUS Technologies with a deadline is September will be a target for a newly established consortium that will follow up on discussion and proposal preparation during online meetings.

The attendance of the GRC and GRS events was very successful on a professional level but also personal as Iveta and Priya share the same interest in the research field and also in private life. Such a relationship is key to the success of young female researchers from the arctic region where implementation of innovations developed during laboratory testing in the industry is a true challenge due to the harsh climate.

Associate professor Eirik Gjerløw recently completed a 12-day Erasmus training stay in Iceland.

Eiric was hosted by the Institute of Earth Sciences (IES) and professor Ármann Höskuldsson at the University of Iceland. The aim of the stay was for Eirik to learn more about drone technologies used for mapping and measuring topography and making digital elevation models. The first week was spent at a field station by Mývat in northern Iceland, where Eirik accompanied a team of scientists from the IES conducting fieldwork and measurements on old lava flows.

Eirik got to try piloting a DJI Matrise drone equipped with a LIDAR camera to map volcanic areas and experience nice Icelandic summer weather! During the second week, Eirik was in Reykjavik at the IES to learn how to process the data collected from the drone fieldwork. The first two days of the week were used for this purpose, however during the third day a volcanic eruption started, and the processing had to be postponed for more drone fieldwork. This time at an erupting volcano!

André joinend the UiT concrete lab team for 2,5 months and got a chance to work on and be funded from the DeConcrete project.

I stayed in Narvik for 2,5 months, meanwhile I worked as a scientific assistant at UiT.

My work experience at UiT was full of learning and adventures, ranging from writing reports to visiting a brand new town under construction in Sweden, a city called Kiruna. At the university I got the opportunity to collect and process data, make reports, mix, cast and test concrete.
Alongside Matyáš, another scientific assistant staying for the summer, I went on some hikes and met new people also working at the university. Furthermore, I also travelled to some places around Narvik, such as Lofoten, a magical archipelago surrounded by mountains.
Approaching the end of the experience, I could also meet more people since the students were returning from holidays. The engagement events made by the university are great because they help the students socialize with each other and, at the same time, get to know the university itself.

In a nutshell, the whole experience provided me with an extensive amount of new knowledge and abilities, not only technical wise but with personal skills as well which I will definitely be able to use throughout all my life.

Boy-Arne Buyle from UiT participated in Nord-PIANC 2022 technical meeting in Akureyri, Iceland.

The event took place between 30th of August and 1st of September 2022. Pianc Iceland hosted a technical meeting and conference in Hof Conference Hall Akureyri. Representatives from Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Estonia participated. In total, 19 presentations were presented and we had very interesting discussions.

Link to agenda of the Nord-PIANC 2022 event

Matyáš is a student from Czechia and has spent his two months at UiT Narvik working on project websites and in the laboratory under the supervision of Iveta Nováková.

Hi,
I am Matyáš Haruda and I was a trainee at UiT from the beginning of june until the end of july.
I come from Czechia where I am studying civil engineering at BUT (Brno University of Technology). As my semester in the Czech Republic was ending, I was searching for options on what to do for my summer holiday. As I wanted to spend the time being productive and try to travel at the same time, a traineeship seemed as the only right choice.
Luckily for me, I got Iveta Nováková’s contact from her previous Erasmus student and she was looking for an intern for the summer, so right after my semester has ended I headed out on a journey to Narvik.
During my stay I lived in a dormitory, cooked for myself, did a lot of running, other activities in the mountains, and of course tried to do my best with the tasks I was given by Iveta.
My main objective was to create a good base for project websites on top of which she and her colleagues could build their news articles, and other content. Other than the websites I got to do some laboratory work under the supervision of Iveta, which was very useful since the time spent in laboratories at my university is limited.
As a whole I value this experience very positively. I had the opportunity to look at how working in the academic field can look like, I read and learned a lot of valuable information about different topics in concrete and building materials development, met new interesting people, got to see how beautiful Norway is and so much more!
At the end I would just like to say thank you to Iveta and the whole department of building, energy and material technology for the opportunity and the experience.
It was a pleasure working with you all.