STUVA-YEP, the “Forum for Young Engineering Professionals”at the STUVA Conference 2021

The meeting started with a review of the past two years by the speakers Anna Zehlicke and Franziska Hebach. These two years required – like so many things –­ flexible adjustments due to the Covid pandemic. For example, the planned workshops were converted into online events, which were met with a thoroughly positive response among the numerous participants. Among other things, it was possible to organise a cooperation workshop with the working group „Young DGGT“ as well as a joint contribution of the STUVA-YEP and the Austrian and Czech ITA-YM groups for the ITA YM World Tunnel Day (WTD) on 4 December 2020. A one-hour slot of the total 24-hour event was designed with topics of interest from the three nations. This well-coordinated team came together again for WTD 2021.

Thanks to the committed members, a construction site excursion could also be organised in 2021. STUVA-YEP would like to thank ARGE Berne Mittellauf (Eiffage Infra-Nordwest, Eiffage Infra-Spezialtiefbau, Smet Group), which welcomed the group of interested young engineers to the construction site AK Berne Mittellauf EA 4.2 in Essen in October 2021.

To further promote contact and exchange between the YEPs, regional regulars‘ tables were introduced. These offer all STUVA-YEP members the opportunity to exchange ideas informally without a formal programme and, of course, to have a beer or two together in the evening. In the last two years there have been regulars‘ tables in Bochum, Düsseldorf and Frankfurt, and STUVAYEP are looking forward to many more regulars‘ tables in other regions of Germany.

Election of the Steering Committee

In the course of the General Assembly 2021, the Steering Committee was newly elected in accordance with the STUVA-YEP statutes. A total of eleven candidates ran for election for the next two years. The new Steering Committee is composed of the following members (in alphabetical order):

Christoph Caspari (PORR GmbH & Co KGgA)

Ruben Deckers (STUVAtec GmbH)

Nils Gramlich (Ruhr University Bochum)

Franziska Hebach (Amprion GmbH)

Maren Liedmann (ZPP Engineers AG)

Robert Lutz (Vössing Ingenieurges. mbH)

Christian Rhein (Ruhr University Bochum)

Marc Steinfeld (DB Netz AG)

Anna Zehlicke (Schüßler-Plan Ingenieurges. mbH)

Christian Rhein and Anna Zehlicke have been appointed spokespersons of the Steering Committee. The current committee would like to take this opportunity to thank the outgoing members of the previous Steering Committee and hopes that they will be able to continue their work just as successfully.

On the following two days of the conference, the STUVAYEP were again represented with their own stand at the STUVA-Expo. As was the case at the previous STUVA Conference 2019 in Frankfurt am Main, the STUVA-YEP exhibition stand was a central meeting point for all interested young as well as experienced tunnel builders and tunnellers over both days. Interested persons were given information about YEP‘s work to date and future plans, and there was also the opportunity to make new contacts or revive old acquaintances.

Youth Forum

On the second day the YEP offered the opportunity to talk to the speakers of the “Youth Forum” at the STUVA conference, exchanging technical information on the topics of this series of lectures and discussing any queries in a direct and informal conversation: Sebastian Kube, M. Sc. from the Chair of Tunnelling, Pipeline Construction and Construction Operations at the Ruhr University Bochum gave a lecture on “Electrical Resistivity Measurements to Describe Particle Incorporation during Penetration of Bentonite into Cohesionless Soil”; Chris Hömberg, M. Sc, Wayss & Freytag Ingenieurbau AG, discussed the unknown danger to inner-city tunnelling from structural anchors; the presentation by Dipl.-Ing. Alex Morocutti, Head of Tunnelling, ÖBA Pini & Partner dealt with the mechanized excavation of the exploratory tunnel at the Brenner Base Tunnel; Diego Nicolás Petraroia, M. Sc, Institute of Concrete Structures, Ruhr-University Bochum, described a test rig for simulation and experimentally supported investigations of concrete segments; and Sophie Escherich, M. Sc., ETH Zurich and RWTH Aachen University, examined in her presentation the organization of large underground construction projects in Germany and Switzerland.

At this point, we would like to thank all the people who helped and the “Youth Forum” of the STUVA conference for their support at the  STUVA-YEP booth.

The YEP‘s final summary of the STUVA 2021 conference is entirely positive. The congress could be held as a face-to-face event due to an excellently organised and strictly adhered to hygiene concept. Thus, the personal exchange was intensified and the contact to the experienced professional audience was strengthened. The STUVA-YEP have established themselves as an organisation within the STUVA and increased their membership. The young network now has over 357 registered members.