The STEPGRAD Conference: The Proceedings Published

Even though this year’s Conference on Contemporary Theory and Practice in Construction – STEPGRAD was cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak, the Faculty of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy of the University of Banja Luka decided that the proceedings of this conference be published according to the original plan.

Let us be reminded that it was originally planned that the 14th STEPGRAD be held on 11 and 12 June in Banja Luka, organised by the Faculty of Architecture, Civil Engneering and Geodesy.

This international conference continues the tradition of connecting researchers, professors and experts from around the world, experts in construction, architecture, geodesy and related fields. Even in such extraordinary circumstances, the Conference enabled the students, young engineers and scientists to interact with more experienced scientists and experts in order to discuss the current trends in construction. The published papers provide an insight into the current scientific and expert knowledge in computational mechanics, engineering structures, construction materials, roads, energy efficiency, urban planning, architecture, history of architecture, geodesy, education of engineers etc. 

A total of 43 of the nearly fifty papers submitted were accepted and categorized. Each paper was reviewed by two reviewers, members of the Scientific Committee. The criteria for the selection of papers were their relevance, significance and contribution to the wide field of construction. In addition to regular papers, two invited papers were submitted by Maximilian Hartmuth, PhD, from the University of Vienna and Vojkan Jovičić, PhD, from the University of Ljubljana.

Director of the Conference Prof. Aleksandar Borković, PhD, points to the fact that the published papers are of authors from seven countries, from altogether 34 institutions. 

,,As before, all papers were indexed in the CrossRef database as well as the Google Scholar, Semantic Scholar and Research Gate services through the service DOI Srpska of the National and University Library of the Republic of Srpska. According to the principles of open science, all papers are available also on the Conference website stepgrad.aggf.unibl.org”, Borković said.

Deputy Director of the Conference, Assistant Professor Miroslav Malinović, emphasizes that the STEPGRAD would not be possible in this volume and at this level of quality without the participation of the co-organizers, ten of whom were from abroad this year and five from the country, or without the exceptional contribution of the reviewers and support of the Golden Sponsor of the Conference, the company ИНТЕГРАЛ инжењеринг а.д.