Meet our researchers

A number of skilled researchers do their research to develop a new decision support system for replacement policy.

Amir Garmabaki

Associate Professor, Division of Operation, Maintenance and Acoustics, Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Luleå University of Technology

Amir Garmabaki’s main scientific interests revolve around optimization & statistical data analytics aspects of reliability, availability, maintainability and safety, maintenance modeling, remaining useful life estimation, software reliability assessment (multi upgradation technology), and climate change.

Wolfgang Birk

CTO & Professor of Automatic Control, Predge

Wolfgang holds a M.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Saarland (1997), a Ph.D. degree in Automatic Control from Luleå University of Technology (2002), and a Professor of Automatic Control (2015). He has a background in the development of condition monitoring systems, process control systems for resource efficiency as well as active safety systems in the automotive sector. His research work has led to control and monitoring solutions in several industries. In the railway sector, his main interest and expertise is the use of on-board, way-side, and track monitoring systems for condition monitoring in operation and maintenance.

Ahmad Kasraei

Postdoctoral Researcher, Division of Operation, Maintenance and Acoustics, Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Luleå University of Technology

Ahmad is a researcher specializing in climate resilience and reliability, availability, maintainability, and safety (RAMS) applications, driven by a passion for sustainable urban development combatting extreme climate events. Collaborating with diverse transport consultancy firms, he has successfully led various qualitative and quantitative research projects.

Ahmad's research principles are rooted in the profound belief that urban assets and infrastructures can be reimagined and managed innovatively to ensure sustainability, quality, and efficiency, particularly in the face of climate change challenges.

Over the past years, he has dedicated his expertise to exploring cutting-edge data-driven decision-making approaches, developing predictive models, and investigating RAMS concepts within the context of evolving climate change scenarios (Representative Concentration Pathways [RCPs]/Shared Socioeconomic Pathways [SSPs]).

Vinit Parida

Division of Business Administration and Industrial Engineering, Department of Social Sciences, Technology and Arts, Luleå University of Technology

Vinit is a Chaired Professor for the subject of Entrepreneurship and Innovation. His research interests include digital transformation, business model innovation, organizational capabilities, industrial ecosystem formation, and Circular Economy. He works in close collaboration with numerous large companies (i.e., ABB, Boliden, Epiroc, Ericsson, Komatsu Forest, SCA, Scania, Siemens) and also supports the development of SMEs from manufacturing and high-tech industry. His research results have been published in 200+ leading international peer-reviewed journals, conferences, book chapters and industry/popular publications. Additionally, Vinit is the Associate Editor for Journal of Business Research, the Member of Swedish ministry’s high-level group on digital transformation of Swedish industry, and Scientific Leader for NorrlandsNavet - a Kamprad Family Foundation Center for SMEs Growth and Innovation in Northern Sweden.

Wasif Afzal

Professor, School of Innovation, Design and Engineering, Mälardalen University

Wasif Afzal likes to do empirical research within software engineering in general and within software verification and validation in particular. Some keywords that describe his interests are (not exhaustive): software testing and quality assurance, prediction and estimation in software engineering, application of artificial intelligence techniques in software engineering (including search-based software engineering), decision-making based on software analytics, software metrics and evidential assessment of software engineering literature.

Veronica Jägare

Deputy Director Luleå Railway Research Center (JVTC)

Division of Operation, Maintenance and Acoustics, Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Luleå University of Technology

Veronica Jägare has been the deputy director of Luleå Railway Research Center (JVTC) at Luleå University of Technology for the past 14 years. She has a PhD in Operation and Maintenance Engineering. She was the project leader for ePilot - a large cross-industry project that worked to enable digitalization of railway maintenance. A project that was awarded a place on the IVA 100-list.

Her research profile builds upon the expressed need for better understanding of how new technology that is expected to create potential for great benefits and improvements, can be adapted, implemented, and integrated in the railway industry.

Patricia Carolina Garcia Martin

Postdoctoral Researcher

Division of Business Administration and Industrial Engineering, Department of Social Sciences, Technology and Arts, Luleå University of Technology

Patricia is a Postdoctoral Researcher at Luleå University of Technology. She works with academics, global industry corporations, and small firms supporting organisational growth through the implementation of digital technologies in collaboration with ecosystem partners. Patricia is part of several research projects aimed at developing the ability of Swedish B2B companies to commercialise digitally driven innovative solutions in national and international markets.

Her research interests involve digitalization, business model innovation, scaling of digital solutions, sustainability and Circular Economy, and ecosystem collaboration.

Seyedehnarjes Mahdavinasab

Postdoctoral Researcher, Division of Operation, Maintenance and Acoustics, Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Luleå University of Technology

Narges is a dedicated researcher specializing in reliability engineering, energy-efficient scheduling in manufacturing systems, and maintenance strategies. She has a strong passion for artificial intelligence and machine learning, applying these technologies to predict and enhance railway reliability. Currently, her focus is on switch and crossing (S&C) systems in railways, aiming to identify preventive maintenance strategies through the assessment of reliability, availability, maintenance, and sustainability (RAMS), as well as life cycle cost (LCC) parameters.

Zafar Beg

Postdoctoral Researcher, Division of Operation, Maintenance and Acoustics, Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Luleå University of Technology

My research interests lie in employing processes-based numerical models to explored the relationship between compound flood drivers (riverine and tidal processes), structural invention (weir, levee and dam), and hydro-geomorphic controls on flood processes and inundation mechanism. He has a background in quantitative remote sensing, catchment hydrology, coastal landscape processes and channel-floodplain interaction, fluvial geomorphology, and process-based numerical modelling (Hydrological and Hydrodynamic).

Mohammadreza Ganji

Postdoctoral Researcher, Division of Operation, Maintenance and Acoustics, Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Luleå University of Technology

Mohammadreza is a researcher working on road and rail infrastructures maintenance with a focus on selecting maintenance options for having more sustainable infrastructures.

Mohammadreza has over ten years of experience and a solid educational background in civil engineering.

Olivier Caelen

Olivier Caelen is a machine learning researcher at Sirris. His academic background includes two master's degrees in statistics and computer science, as well as a PhD in machine learning.

Before joining Sirris, Olivier spent over a decade working in data science and machine learning across various industries. He focused on credit card fraud detection and machine learning techniques for anomaly detection for several years, then worked as a lead data scientist on projects related to churn detection, up-selling, and cross-selling. After that, Olivier led data science efforts primarily focusing on supply chain optimization.

In addition to his professional role, Olivier also teaches courses on machine learning and deep learning at university. He is co-author of more than 45 peer-reviewed scientific papers and co-author of the book "Developing Apps with GPT-4 and ChatGPT," published by O'Reilly Media.

Michiel De Vis

Data Scientist, Data and artificial intelligence competence lab (EluciDATA Lab), Sirris

Michiel is a data scientist with a background in AI and machine learning. He has experience in various topics, including energy consumption forecasting, and is currently exploring the use of energy disaggregation for better monitoring of appliances’ consumption patterns.

Robbert Verbeke

Senior Data Scientist, Data and artificial intelligence competence lab (EluciDATA Lab), Sirris

Tom Jacobs

Senior Engineer Precision Manufacturing, Sirris

Tom Jacobs has 18 years of experience in consulting and research of machining processes. He is dedicated to the use of data analytics to predict machining processes. In the past, he participated in European research projects to improve the life cycle of machine tools and machining processes with the help of insights on energy consumption, life cycle assessments, and life cycle costs. He is involved in this project in defining and leading the use cases for machining and in the research on how maintenance strategies in a machining environment is designed.

Samuel Milton

Engineer Precision Manufacturing, Sirris

Samuel Milton is an expert and performs research on predicting and designing models for machining processes, for a.o. simulating and finding the most (economic) optimized cutting conditions. He is involved in this project in how to analyse and interpret results from the use case on energy and maintenance data and doing research on the background.

Johan Öhman

Analytics Developer, Predge

As an analytics developer at Predge, Johan develops and investigates new solutions for predictive maintenance. He holds an MSc in Engineering Physics (2015), from Luleå University of Technology, and a PhD in Experimental Mechanics (2020), from Luleå University of Technology. His research interests are physics-based, and data-driven modeling of industrial systems.

Vanessa Meulenberg

Analytics Developer, Predge

Vanessa is an Analytics Developer and Project Manager at Predge AB. She completed her BSc. in Aeronautical Engineering from Inholland University of Applied Sciences and MSc. in Composite Materials at the Luleå University of Technology.

Ulla Juntti

With 40 years experience within the railway system as a freight rolling's stock planner, design leader for railway infrastructure re - and new investment and as head of a track area responsible of maintenance of the infrastructure and also being one of the founders of Luleå Railway Research Center were she focused on the railway resilient toward climate related events, she will contribute to this project with experience and knowledge.

Mateo Barbero

Mateo Barbero is Managing Partner at Dosta Tec. An Industrial Engineer, graduated from the Buenos Aires Institute of Technology (ITBA, Argentina), he first worked in software development and later in consultancy for the energy sector. He has developed and held training courses and practical workshops on decision support, stochastic analysis, and energy modelling, with experience working on-site in Latin America, China, and Europe.

As a researcher at INESC TEC’s Centre for Power and Energy Systems (CPES), he developed research projects in the area of building energy services, energy efficiency, and sustainable cities, in both the private and public sectors.

Falak Shair Khalid

Falak Shair Khalid is an experienced back-end and research Python engineer currently working at Dosta Tec, where he specializes in data analysis, predictive maintenance, data visualization, and API integration. His work focuses on optimizing system reliability through the use of Python, AWS, ETL pipelines, and databases including MySQL, MongoDB, and DynamoDB. Falak holds a Bachelor's degree in Software Engineering and is currently pursuing a Master's in High-Performance Computing at the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

Cristina Dimundo

Cristina Dimundo obtained her Environmental Engineering Master's degree from the Polytechnic University of Bari, Italy. She has experience working on carbon capture projects in the forestry sector, with the application of GIS software for data collection, analysis, visualisation and mapping. Currently working on building performance and Life Cycle Assessment projects at Dosta Tec.

Araliya Mosleh

Araliya Mosleh is a senior researcher at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Porto, and an integrated member of the R&D unit CONSTRUCT - Institute of R&D in Structures and Construction. With a PhD in Civil Engineering and over two decades of international experience, she has participated in several high-impact national and European research projects in the fields of structures, intelligent railway systems, damage detection, and infrastructure monitoring. She has also gained international research experience as a visiting researcher at Bundeswehr University (2015), Wollongong University (2017), and Evoleo Company (2019). Her academic contributions include supervising several graduate theses and authoring over 60 scientific publications. In recognition of her contributions, she was awarded in the CEEC-4th edition Junior Researcher individual call in 2022, ranking 5th out of 72 applicants. Her expertise focuses on on-board and wayside monitoring, weigh-in-motion, AI-driven diagnostics, and advanced condition assessment of railway infrastructures.

Scopus ID: 57189853300

Cecília Maria Nogueira Alvarenga Santos do Vale

Cecília Vale received, in 2004, her M.Sc. degree in Structural Engineering from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP) and her PhD degree in Civil Engineering at FEUP, in 2010. She is Assistant Professor at the Transport Infrastructures Division at FEUP, and an integrated member of the R&D unit CONSTRUCT - Institute of R&D in Structures and Construction. She has been involved in several National and International research projects, including SIPAV -Precast solution for High Speed railway lines. From 2012 -2015, she was the General Coordinator of the MAXBE project (Interoperable monitoring, diagnosis and maintenance strategies for axle bearings) funding by the FP7 of the European Commission. She was also the principal responsible for the project WAY4SafeRail - WAYside monitoring system FOR SAFE RAIL transportation, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), through the North Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE2020) and presently she is the responsible for TECHROAD project – Eco-efficient pavement, funded by the Portuguese Railway Agency. Her main research interests include wayside and onboard condition monitoring; vehicle-track interaction, condition-based maintenance for railway vehicles and rail tracks, asset management and the use of waste materials in transport infrastructures.

Belmira de Almeida Ferreira Neto

Belmira Neto obtained her MSC degree in Material Engineering and found her future research area by doing specializing in Environmental Engineering at FEUP. She has a PhD degree in Environmental Sciences from the University of Wageningen, the Netherlands. She is Assistant Professor at the Mechanical Engineering Department - FEUP-DEMec and senior researcher at the ALiCE/Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy – LEPABE (FEUP). Her research work focus on the use of environmental impact assessment methodologies (Life Cycle Assessment, Carbon and Water Footprints), Sustainability Assessments and Sustainable Procurements. She is currently supervising several PhD thesis on the topic of Life Cycle Sustainability Assessments and leading research on LCA of emergent technologies and mitigation strategies for relevant environmental impacts.

Castorina Fernanda Silva Vieira

Castorina Silva Vieira is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP), Portugal, Director of the Construction Materials Laboratory at FEUP and Executive Vice-President of the Board of the "Institute for Sustainable Construction - ICS". She is an Integrated Member of the research unit CONSTRUCT - Institute of R&D in Structures and Construction. Member of several Technical Committees: CEN/TC 189 - Geotextiles and geotextile-related products; ISO/TC 221 - Geosynthetics; CEN/TC 154 - Aggregates), CEN/TC 209 - Waste. Castorina is Associate Editor of the Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering (ASCE) and Environmental Geotechnics (ICE Publishing) and Editorial Board Member of Transportation Infrastructure Geotechnology (Springer), Sustainability (MDPI), Advances in Civil Engineering (Hindawi) and Frontiers in Built Environment (Frontiers). Currently her major research interests are "Circular Economy in Built Environment", “Environmentally friendly construction materials”, "Management and valorization of Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste" and "Geosynthetic reinforced structures". She is author/co-author of several scientific papers published in International Journals and Conference Proceedings.

Cristina Maria Monteiro dos Santos

Cristina Santos is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Georesources Engineering of Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, and Integrated Member of the Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research of the University of Porto (CIIMAR). She teaches courses related to Fluid Mechanics and General Hydraulics, Water and Wastewater Treatment Systems and water supply and Urban Drainage Networks. She was a consultant in Civil Engineering services, and a designer of public and building water supply and drainage systems, being an effective member of the Order of Engineers (Professional License No. 55737) and a qualified expert of the National Energy Certification System for Buildings (SCE). Between 2008 and 2013, she developed her professional activity at SOPSEC, Sociedade de Prestação de Serviços de Engenharia Civil, S.A. as a Civil Engineering designer – hydraulics area. In her curriculum, she has the authorship and co-authorship of several national and international publications, book chapters and participation in congresses and seminars, related to the respective area of specialization, in which she teaches. Her academic activities also include the supervision and co-supervision of several master's and doctoral thesis and participation in the organization of training actions and events in the area.

Elsa Maria da Silva Carvalho

Elsa Carvalho is an Assistant Professor at FEUP, an integrated member of CIIMAR and a member of APRH's Specialized Commission on Rivers. She teaches Fluvial Hydraulics, Hydro Power Plants and Renewable Energies, among others. In recent years she has dedicated herself to River Hydraulics, Flood Studies and Hydro Power Plants, focusing on the study of erosion, sediment transport and hydraulic structures. She has over 25 scientific publications and supervised several Master's and PhD theses.

Francisco de Almeida Taveira Pinto

Civil Engineer, Full Professor of Hydraulics, Water Resources and Environment and Coastal and Port Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering and Georesources (DECG), Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto (FEUP). He is Director of DECG, Coordinator of the Hydraulics, Water Resources and Environment Group of the Institute for Sustainable Construction (ICS) of FEUP. He is a specialist in Hydraulics and Water Resources (Coastal and Port Engineering) by the Order of Engineers and Vice-President of the General Assembly of the Portuguese Water Partnership. He was Director of the Hydraulics, Water Resources and Environment Division, member of the executive committee of EUCC-The Coastal Union Mediterranean Centre, President of the Board and of the General Assembly of the Portuguese Water Resources Association (APRH) and Coordinator of the Specialization in Hydraulics and Water Resources of the Order of Engineers. He was President of the board of the Hydraulics and Water Resources Institute from FEUP.

His main research interest is maritime hydraulics, coastal engineering and marine energy, having participated in several national and European projects. He was involved in the organization of several national and international conferences, namely the Littoral Congress Series of the Eurocoast Federation, International Conference on Coastal Conservation and Management and CoastLab. He is the coordinator of the DECG-FEUP research group on Sea Energy and Hydraulic Structures. The group is dedicated to numerical and physical modelling of wave energy extraction prototypes, as well as to the study of the interaction of wave action with coastal hydraulic structures. He was editor of several conference proceedings, as well as member of several scientific and President of the Portuguese Water Resources Association – North Branch. Has +250 scientific publications in journals and proc, of conferences (+155 papers indexed in Scopus, +80 in journals of the 1st quartile). His research focuses on applying physical and numerical modelling in studying offshore, ports, coastal and environment-related topics, namely marine renewable energy, climate change adaptation, and coastal protection. Principal Investigator or Researcher in +25 R&D projects. Independent Expert evaluator of R&D proposals for different national and international entities. He has +2530 citations and is h-index +27 (Scopus). Received 6 Scientific recognition awards from FEUP. Supervisor of several PhD and M.Sc. students and Post-doc researchers.

Luciana Paiva das Neves

Neves is a Senior Coastal and Offshore Engineer-Project Manager at IMDC, a company within the Engie Group, with over 20 years of experience. In addition to her full-time role at IMDC, Luciana is a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, in the fields of Coastal Engineering, and Sustainability and Climate Change, and is an integrated member of CIIMAR – the Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research of the University of Porto. Throughout her career, Luciana has worked in over 30 countries across 4 continents, managing more than 50 consulting and engineering projects ranging from small (<€250k) to large (>€5M) scale. These projects focus on strategic investment in coastal and port infrastructure, urban resilience, and blue energy. To date, she has been involved in consulting and engineering design services worth over €25 million, contributing to strategic investments totalling over €4 billion. Luciana has been the Principal Investigator or a member of the research team for over 20 nationally and internationally funded projects and frequently serves as an Expert Evaluator on panels for EU-funded research and investment projects. She has (co-)authored several scientific papers published in International Journals and Conference Proceedings and (co-)supervised several MSc and PhD theses. Her h-index is 13.

Maria de Lurdes de Oliveira Simões

Maria de Lurdes Simões is an Associate Professor at Faculty of Engineering of University of Porto and a Member of the CONSTRUCT. She has a degree in Mathematics at Coimbra University, a MSc in Operations Research and Systems Engineering at Instituto Superior Técnico de Lisboa, a DESS - Ingénierie Statistique et Numérique from Université des Sciences et Technologies de Lille and a PhD in Engineering Sciences at Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto. Her main research interest/expertise is in multivariate statistical analysis and stochastic simulation applied to civil engineering area, namely building physics, hygrothermal behaviour, energy efficiency, traffic control, urban accessibility and value capture, rail infrastructure degradation, etc... Published 32 articles in journals. Has 2 books. Participates and/or participated as Researcher in 6 projects.

Paulo Jorge Rosa Santos

Paulo Rosa Santos is an Associate Professor with Aggregation at the Faculty of Engineering - University of Porto (FEUP) and an Integrated Member of CIIMAR – the Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research of the University of Porto. Head of the Hydraulics, Water Resources and Environment Division. Director of the Hydraulics Laboratory of FEUP. President of the Portuguese Water Resources Association – North Branch. Has +250 scientific publications in journals and proc, of conferences (+155 papers indexed in Scopus, +80 in journals of the 1st quartile). His research focuses on applying physical and numerical modelling in studying offshore, ports, coastal and environment-related topics, namely marine renewable energy, climate change adaptation, and coastal protection. Principal Investigator or Researcher in +25 R&D projects. Independent Expert evaluator of R&D proposals for different national and international entities. He has +2530 citations and is h-index +27 (Scopus). Received 6 Scientific recognition awards from FEUP. Supervisor of several PhD and M.Sc. students and Post-doc researchers.

Diogo Ribeiro

Diogo Ribeiro is Coordinator Professor in the Civil Engineering Department of ISEP, director of the Bachelor course in Civil Engineering at ISEP and director of iBuilt - Center of Innovation in Digital Construction at ISEP. He is coordinator at ISEP of several R&D projects financed by EU (NPRCES, FireBIM), National Innovation Agency (DigiMaTRIA, CRIARTE, WAY4SAFERAIL) and FCT (Digi4RailBridges and framed on Portugal-Poland cooperation). He also participated as researcher in >25 R&D projects in digital construction and railway infrastructures. He is the main editor of the Springer Book Series “Digital Innovations in Architecture, Engineering and Construction” and editorial board member of several prestigious journals (Eng. Failure Analysis, Construction Innovation, Sensors). His main research interests are remote inspection, AI, BIM, dynamic of railway bridges, train-bridge interaction, structural testing, SHM, model calibration, validation and damage identification.

Ricardo Santos

Ricardo Santos is a Professor at the Civil Engineering Department of ISEP. His main research interests are remote inspection, AI, BIM, digital construction, history of construction, additive manufacturing and SHM.

João Ventura

João Ventura is a researcher at the iBUILT research group of ISEP. His research focuses on structural engineering, digital construction, and the application of artificial intelligence to remote inspection and geometric control of steel structures. He holds a Master’s degree in Civil Engineering – Structures, where he developed a methodology for geometric control in steel structures using AI and digital technologies, aligned with NP EN 1090-2:2020. He contributed to the CHECKMETALLIC I&D project, applying LiDAR, photogrammetry, and Python for structural validation. His expertise includes point cloud processing, AI-driven analysis, and BIM integration for structural assessment, and advanced digital transformation in civil engineering.

Francisco Andrade

Francisco Andrade holds a Degree in Civil Engineering and is currently completing his Master’s in Structural Engineering at ISEP. He is a member of the iBuilt research group at ISEP. His research interests include Building Information Modeling (BIM), structural inspection and diagnosis, digitalization, laser scanning, digital twin and data visualization. His work explores the use of computational tools and data-driven approaches to improve the efficiency and accuracy of construction management, with a focus on integrating multi-source data into 3D models for enhanced analysis.

Elena Surra

Elena Surra is a senior researcher at HyLab, based in Sines, Portugal. She holds a PhD in Energy and BioEnergy from the Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa. Her main research interests are the three pillars of sustainability: environmental, economic and social, studied through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach applied to different projects and novel technological solutions.

Jorge Magalhães

Jorge Magalhães holds a Master’s degree in Civil Engineering – Structures and is member of the iBuilt research group at ISEP. With background in research, participation includes 4 R&D projects, focusing on damage identification in railway systems and digital construction. Jorge has authored 3 journal articles, particularly on damage identification in railway vehicle wheels. His primary research interests include remote inspection, artificial intelligence (AI), digital construction, dynamics of railway systems, structural testing and experimentation, structural health monitoring (SHM), and damage identification. Jorge’s work demonstrates a commitment to advancing innovative solutions in civil engineering and infrastructure systems.