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Pre-Conference CoursesProgramme
Pre-conference courses will be organised in coordination with the University of Nairobi and the Meru University of Science and Technology. The topics covered will be:
Registration & fees
Attendees: the courses will be opened to any RILEM or non-RILEM member.
To register to the courses, please create an account on this website and proceed to your registration (registration to the pre-congress courses only is possible). The fees cover the coffee break and lunches offered during the courses. CPD Credits
Engineers Board of Kenya CPD points will be credited to pre-conference courses attendees upon request. Pre-congress Courses Speakers
Wolfram Schmidt works at in the Department “Safety of Structures” at the Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM), responsible for the rheology and admixtures laboratory with a research focus on particle-polymer-fluid interactions and innovative organic and mineral cement and concrete constituents. Furthermore, he is Secretary of the German Rheological Society, and Chairman of the Development Advisory Committee of RILEM. He is founder of the Pan-African cement round robin (PACE-PTS) and initiator of the conference series “Advances in Cement and Concrete Technology in Africa” (ACCTA) and ISEE-Africa (Innovation, Science, Engineering, Education).
Joseph Mwiti Marangu is the Founder and Director of the Institute of Cement and Concrete at Meru University of Science & Technology. The institute focuses on advancing research, training, and community outreach in cement technology. He holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry (Cement Chemistry) from Kenyatta University and has conducted postdoctoral research at EPFL in Switzerland and at Cardiff University in the UK. His research emphasizes sustainable cement materials, and he has made key note presentations at international forums such as UN Climate Change conference among others. He is also a senior member of International Union of Laboratories and Experts in Construction Materials, Systems and Structures (RILEM). He plays a profound role in linking academia and industry in cement and concrete.
Karen Scrivener has been Professor and Director of the Laboratory of Construction Materials in the Department of Materials of EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne) for the last 20 years. She is a Fellow of the UK Royal Academy of Engineering and author of over 200 journal papers. Her research focuses on understanding the chemistry and microstructure of cement based materials and improving their sustainability. In 2008, she came up with the idea for LC3 cement, which has the potential to cut CO2 emissions related to cement by more than 400 million tonnes a year. She received her bachelor’s degree in Materials Science from the University of Cambridge in 1979 and her PhD from Imperial College London in 1984. 
Emmanuel Keita graduated from the École Polytechnique and received a Ph.D. in physics. He is a researcher at the Navier Laboratory and a teacher at the École des Ponts ParisTech. His research work focuses on the physical understanding of construction materials. Using innovative imaging techniques, he adapts the concepts of applied physics to the development of construction materials with low environmental impact, by minimizing the material required (3D printing) or by using recycled concrete or concrete without hydraulic binder (earth). Emmanuel Keita is the chair of the RILEM Technical Committee “Processing of Earthen Materials”. 
Sofiane Amziane is the Founder and main organizer of the International Conference on Bio-Based Building Materials (ICBBM), launched in Clermont-Ferrand in 2015 and now a leading global event in the field, with recent editions in Belfast (2019), Barcelona (2021), Vienna (2023), and Rio de Janeiro (2025). He also actively contributes to international scientific communities, particularly within RILEM, where he chaired Technical Committee 236-BBM on bio-based building materials. Author of numerous scientific articles, book chapters, and edited volumes, his work focuses on the multiphysical performance, durability, and environmental impact of bio-based concretes, with the ambition to integrate them widely into sustainable construction practices.
Gabriele Tebaldi
Sabine Kruschwitz
Liberato Ferrara
Hisham Hafez 
Mareike Thiedeitz is a postdoctoral researcher specialized in rheology and supplementary cementitious materials, with a strong focus on multidisciplinary research and international collaborations. She co-organized several projects in the field of sustainable building, mainly in collaboration with research partners in Tanzania, Ghana and Turkey. In her postdoctoral research, she investigates the performance assessment of organic waste residues, emphasizing their application in emerging economies. Her approach combines data-driven methods for performance prediction with a shift from capital-intensive material analysis to practical, decentralized methods, empowering local resource management.
Daria Maria Léopoldine Ardant |
