Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest (UTCB) is a Romanian higher education institution entirely devoted to education in civil engineering and related fields (such as building services, construction machines and equipment, environmental engineering, geodesy). In UTCB the research work is carried out by the teaching staff and by a limited number of research employees, with the involvement of postgraduate and doctoral students.
UTCB academic staff has a long-standing experience in the fields of earthquake & structural engineering and engineering seismology. UTCB was instrumental in the development and implementation of JICA Technical Cooperation Project for Seismic Risk Reduction of Buildings and Structures in Romania (2002-2008) within which the seismic risk assessment and seismic retrofitting of buildings and structures were core research topic.
UTCB is member of International Platform for Reducing Earthquake Disaster (UNESCO-IPRED) established by UNESCO in close cooperation with Building Research Institute (BRI) of Japan, for collaborative research, training and education regarding seismology and earthquake engineering.
The National Institute for Earth Physics (INFP) was established in 1977, as the Center for Earth Physics, and was reorganised in the present form in 1996. It is under the coordination of the Romanian Ministry of Research and Innovation. The major directions of INFP activity as delineated by the strategic plan are:
- Monitoring seismic activity in Romania
- Fundamental and applicative research regarding seismotectonic, seismic source, seismic tomography, engineering seismology
- Elaboration of standards in the field of seismic zonation and microzonation of the dense populated areas
- Site studies for critical infrastructures
- Development of real-time seismic warning systems
- Earthquake forecast based on geophysical and geodesic precursors
- Implementation and valorisation of research in the benefit of society
Research infrastructure
- Romanian Seismic Network – 135 seismic stations
- GPS/GNSS Network – 31 GPS/GNSS stations
Command and data center:
- regional multi-disciplinary observatories 2 seismic and infrasound arrays
- participating to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) monitoring activities
- member of the MEMFIS and INFREP networks (electromagnetic and infrasound monitoring), with sensors