This year’s Day of the Structural Engineer focused on the young structural engineer.

This decision is in line with the broader movement outlined by VNconstructeurs in the position paper ‘From invisible to indispensable’, in which Mariëlle Rutten, leader of the Education & Labour Market theme, argued for more visibility of students and a stronger connection between education and practice. The Day of the Constructor 2026 put that ambition into practice.

For the first time, the new generation of manufacturers was given their own place in the program. Students and starters were not only spectators, but also active participants. They co-designed, presented their graduation research and talked to companies.

The new generation has its say

New this year was the student pitch, in which three students presented their graduation research. Their pitches were well received and gave the experienced structural engineers insight into the topics that students are currently working on. Mariëlle Rutten, who supervised the pitches, said: “The students were initially a bit reluctant and doubted their place on stage. In the end, we managed to find three students with very nice projects. I’m really happy about that.”

• Isabelle van Heijzen (TU Delft) presented about her research into the load-bearing capacity of the underwater concrete under the pillars of the Haringvliet Bridge, and the possibilities for reusing the substructure. Not an easy task, because the original foundation construction, the so-called Prepakt method, is hardly used anymore.
• Thijs Ballintijn (TU Delft) presented a parametric tool he developed to optimize flat concrete slab floors in terms of both cost and embodied carbon. He showed how digitization and parametric design can directly contribute to more sustainable and efficient floor designs.
• Ruben Philips (TU/e) presented on vibration and damping behaviour in CLT floors. His presentation made a big impression. His talk raised many questions from the audience, including about digitization and the role of algorithms in his research. He explained how he performed measurements on bare and finished wood floors together with Hanze (university of applies sciences), and how he used different analysis methods to determine the modal frequencies and attenuation for similar floors. Philips won the pitch round and was allowed to present his story again later in the day in the main hall.

Ruben found the presentation for the large audience quite exciting, he said. “They are all structural engineers with a lot of knowledge, but it is very nice that they give students a platform.” Just before Philips took the stage again, he took courage. “I’ve already given the pitch once, so I’m sure it’s going to be fine.” The pitch also provided him with new contacts. “During the session, someone already came and said that they are doing a similar study in Belgium. It’s very nice that I can now get in touch with that.”

His choice of subject and further career were also discussed. “I wanted to do something with wood, because I see a lot of potential in wood construction. When I asked around with specialists, vibration in wooden floors kept coming back,” Philips said “I don’t want to specialize yet, but I definitely want to do more with wood. I also think that we as a construction sector should do more with this.