Gerard J. O’Reilly is an Associate Professor of Structural Engineering at IUSS Pavia. Primary research interests include risk-targeted design and assessment of structures incorporating innovative aspects of performance-based earthquake engineering. This relates to economic losses, collapse prevention, post-earthquake functionality, and occupant life safety. Innovative approaches to characterisation of seismic hazard and ground motion record selection for structure-specific and regional-based risk applications. Fragility, vulnerability and risk modelling of existing structures with advanced numerical simulation methods in tandem with empirical damage observations from past earthquakes to evaluate risk and identify efficient retrofitting measures (both structural and non-structural) that promote a safer and more sustainable built environment. Experimental testing of structures and components key to the built environment, critical infrastructures and industrial production via innovative laboratory facilities and techniques. He coordinates the €11.6M EU-funded ERIES project and is Principal Investigator of a €1.3M Starting Grant from the Italian National Science Foundation (Fondo Italiano per la Scienza) for the SONATA project.

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News

• 12/11/2025 – Jose Poveda presented at the “Primer Congreso de Ingeniería Estructural –IABSE Ecuador 2025” on the topic “QONDESA: Un caso real para explorar fragilidad, selección de registros sísmicos y diseño basado en riesgo.” [Photo][Presentation]
• 09/10/2025 - Gerard gave an Invited Theme Lecture at the 10th Turkish Conference on Earthquake Engineering in Istanbul, Türkiye on the topic of "Advancements in seismic risk assessment of existing structures: insights from analytical models and empirical earthquake data" [Photo 1][Photo 2][Photo 3]
• 08/10/2025 - New paper published in the Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering on "A model for the simulated design of Turkish RC frame buildings in seismic vulnerability analysis" [Paper][Link]
• 26/09/2025 - New paper published in Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics on "Quantifying the Impacts of Incorporating Damage Correlation on Scenario‐Based Regional Seismic Assessment" [Paper][Link]
• 15/09/2025 - Gerard gave an invited talk at the 14th International Conference on Structural Analysis of Historical Constructions (SAHC 2025) in Lausanne, Switzerland on the topic of "Embracing Digital Tools and Open Science for Engineering Innovation" [Presentation]
• 10/09/2025 - Together with Profs. Ciro Del Vecchio and Marco Di Ludovico, Gerard co-chaired a special session at the Italian national conference on earthquake engineering (XX Convegno ANIDIS - Associazione Nazionale Italiana di Ingegneria Sismica) in Assisi, Italy, also presenting "Advancements in seismic risk assessment of existing structures: insights from analytical models and empirical earthquake data" [Photo]
• 22/08/2025 - New paper published in Earthquake Spectra on "Impact of modeling decisions on seismic loss and fragility assessment of steel buildings" [Paper][Link]
• 14/08/2025 - New paper published in Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering on "Impact of ground motion record selection on higher-mode responses in RC wall buildings: comparing uniform hazard and conditional spectra approaches" [Paper][Link]
• 20/06/2025 - Gerard attended the "EFEHR Stakeholder Workshop: Connecting with Insurance and Cat-modelling professionals" hosted at University College London, UK
• 15/06/2025 - Our extended research group (Gerard, Volkan, Savvinos, Davit, Tomas, José) and other collaborators gave several presentations and organised different minisymposia related to tools for seismic risk assessment and experimental research at the COMPDYN2025 conference in Rhodes, Greece. Check out these contributions at the proceedings webpage
• 06/06/2025 - Gerard gave an invited talk on "A consistent framework for seismic risk assessment, classification and decision making for existing buildings" at the 1st NORISK Workshop "The role of structural safety in the design and assessment of constructions and infrastructures" in Venice, Italy [Photo]
• 29/05/2025 - Savvinos Aristeidou defended his PhD thesis entitled "Advances in the practical application of next-generation intensity measures for efficient seismic risk assessment" as part of the 9th International Nigel Priestley Seminar in Pavia, Italy. Congratulations Dr. Aristeidou! [Photo 1][Photo 2]
• 28/05/2025 - Gerard attended a dinner organised by the Society for Earthquake and Civil Engineering Dynamics (SECED) at the Institute of Civil Engineers (ICE) headquarters in London, UK in honour of Prof. Gian Michele Calvi's 19th Mallet Milne lecture on "Risk management and rehousing of people displaced by earthquake disasters" [Photo]
• 28/05/2025 - Gerard visited the experimental facilities at the University of Bristol in the UK and gave a seminar entitled "The role of non-structural element vulnerability and sensor-driven risk assessment in post-earthquake recovery and decision-making: lessons from Japanese field data" [Photo]
• 26/05/2025 - Gerard has been awarded a €1.3M Starting Grant by the Fondo Italiano per la Scienza (FIS) for a project on the topic of "Sensor-driven statistical tools to evaluate risks and manage safety in the built environment". Read more about the project in this interview
• 07/05/2025 - Gerard, along with Davit and Volkan and others organised the 2025 International Workshop in Engineering Research Infrastructures for European Synergies (ERIES-IW2025) in Lisbon on 7-9th May 2025, hosted by the Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil (LNEC). Over 100 participants attended the event to discuss the exciting progress of their ERIES transnational access user projects to date and proposed activities for the upcoming months. For more information, see the project webpage [Photo]
• 28/04/2025 - Gerard gave a presentation on the topic of "ERIES: Advancing frontier knowledge in earthquake, geotechnical and wind engineering through experimental research" as part of the special session “Advancing Environmental Science through Integrated Research Infrastructures” organised by the EU’s Research Executive Agency during the EGU General Assembly Meeting 2025 in Vienna, Austria
• 22/03/2025 - Gerard gave a presentation on "Recent developments in the risk-targeted assessment of existing structures" at the 3rd Croatian Conference on Earthquake Engineering in Split, Croatia to illustrate how recent research developments can be integrated to develop a more accurate but yet highly practical seismic risk classification rating scheme [Presentation]
• 18/03/2025 - Our research group (Gerard, Volkan, José, Davit and Tomás) gave several presentations at the 3rd Croatian Conference on Earthquake Engineering in Split, Croatia. Check out the papers at the Publications page [Photo 1][Photo 2][Photo 3][Photo 4]
• 06/03/2025 - Gerard gave a presentation on "The Built Environment Data Framework for Simulated Design and Vulnerability Modelling in Earthquake Engineering" at the 9th International Course on Seismic Analysis of Structures using OpenSees in Lausanne, Switzerland [Presentation][Photo]
• 20/02/2025 - We just completed the third edition of the PhD course on "Performance-Based Earthquake Engineering" at IUSS Pavia, trialling the SimDesign service from BED: Built Environment Data for the first time and the online services developed by Djura | Risk - Data - Engineering to conduct risk analyses, which all worked extremely well! [Syllabus] [Photo]
• 01/01/2025 - Gerard has joined the Editorial Board of Earthquake Spectra as an Associate Editor!
• 20/12/2024 - New paper published in Earthquake Spectra on "Three benefits of “Caution (Yellow Tag)” in SHM-driven condition assessment of buildings: Eight years experience with market-based SHM" [Paper][Link]
• 20/12/2024 - New Engineering Practice Paper published in Earthquake Spectra on "Seismic loss assessment of existing hotel building in Ecuador" [Paper][Link]
• 27/11/2024 - Gerard gave a presentation on "Built environment data for multi-hazard vulnerability models within EPOS" at the EFEHR Scientific Session 2024 organised as part of the 102nd Journées Luxembourgeoises de Géodynamique (JLG) in Luxembourg [Presentation][Photo 1][Photo 2]
• 01/11/2024 - New paper published in Earthquake Spectra on "Correlation models for next-generation amplitude and cumulative intensity measures using artificial neural networks" [Paper][Link]
Older news
25/09/2024 - Gerard gave a presentation on "Advancing Seismic Risk Analysis through an Integrated Web Service for Ground Motion Record Selection and Scaling" in the special session organised by EFEHR at the 39th General Assembly of the European Seismological Commission in Corfu, Greece [Presentation][Photo]. It introducted the Djura Record Selector and how it advances but yet simpifies the process of ground motion record selection according to building codes, conditional spectra and more. Check it out at: Djura | Risk - Data - Engineering!
18/09/2024 - New paper published in Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics on "The Built Environment Data platform for experimental test data in earthquake engineering" [Paper][Link]. This paper is part of an initative that Gerard is coordinating at the Eucentre Foundation related to the built environment that contributes to our mission to integrate with the EPOS sphere of European research. Find out more about this iniative here!
22/07/2024 - New paper published in Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering on "Artificial neural network-based ground motion model for next-generation seismic intensity measures" [Paper][Link]
18/07/2024 - Gerard and Davit Shahnazaryan have been recognised with the Engineering Structures Editor's Featured Paper Award for their paper on "Next-generation non-linear and collapse prediction models for short to long period systems via machine learning methods" [Award][Paper][Link] [PyPI] [GitHub]
16/07/2024 - Gerard gave an invited talk on "Quantifying fragility functions for non-ductile infilled RC buildings from past earthquakes: analytical models versus empirical data" at the 3rd Structural Engineering Workshop organised at the University of Palermo, Italy [Presentation][Photo]
05/07/2024 - Gerard and his research team presented several research papers during the World Conference on Earthquake Engineering in Milan Italy. With a total of 10 papers spanning 5 sessions, in addition to chairing 8 sessions, it was a busy and fascinating week! Check out the papers here and here are some photos. [Photo]
03/07/2024 - Gerard organised and chaired a technical session dedicated to the ERIES project funded by the EU. It was great to host representatives from the European Commission and hear the progress of the different transnational access projects conducting experimental research. Furthermore, synergies with Geo-INQUIRE and EFEHR were underway at our shared booth at the conference. [Photo 1][Photo 2][Presentation]
02/07/2024 - Gerard presented an overview of the Built Environment Data candidate service that will be soon presented as a candidate to EPOS during a side meeting at the WCEE. It is an important step for our research community to organise and consulate its data and knowledge within this framework and it is a privilege to be part of the coordinating team at the Eucentre Foundation. [Photo][Presentation]
01/07/2024 - Together with and present students Davit, Jose, and Volkan, we have created Djura! It is a new company specialising in transforming ideas into reality with cutting-edge digital tools and engineering services. Our ongoing development and academic collaborations bring the latest advancements into practical solutions. With expert consulting, we cater to diverse industry needs, empowering clients to navigate complex risk landscapes and build a safer, better-informed society. Check us out at www.djura.it!
28/06/2024 - It was a great pleasure to welcome Prof. Pedro Rojas from Escuela Superior Politecnica del Litoral (ESPL) in Guayaquil, Ecuador to the Eucentre experimental testing facilities in the build-up to the WCEE in Milan. [Photo]
22/06/2024 - New paper published in the Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering on "Fragility functions for non-ductile infilled reinforced concrete buildings using next-generation intensity measures based on analytical models and empirical data from past earthquakes" [Paper][Link]
11/06/2024 - Gerard served as part of the PhD evaluation committee for Borjan Petreski, who defended his PhD work entitled "Towards implementation of codified design methodology for self-centering concentrically braced frames" at the Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Seismology - IZIIS in Skopje, North Macedonia. Well done and congratulation Dr. Petreski! [Photo]
29/05/2024 - Gerard organised and chaired the 2024 General Assembly meeting of the ERIES project in Eindhoven, Netherlands. For more information about the meeting and the project activities, see the LinkedIn page [Photo 1][Photo 2][Photo 3]
23/05/2024 - Al Mouayed Bellah Nafeh successfully defended his PhD thesis on "Advancements in Risk- and Loss-Based Methodologies for Large-Scale Assessment of Non-Ductile Infilled Reinforced Concrete Buildings" at the Eighth International Nigel Priestley Seminar in Pavia. Well done and congratulation Dr. Nafeh! [Photo]
29/04/2024 - New paper published in Earthquake Spectra on "On the utility of story loss functions for regional seismic vulnerability modeling and risk assessment" [Paper][Link]
22/04/2024 - New paper published in Journal of Earthquake Engineering on "Exploring the Use of Orientation-Independent Inelastic Spectral Displacements in the Seismic Assessment of Bridges" [Paper][Link]
09/04/2024 - Gerard attended the 2024 EERI Annual Meeting in Seattle, USA
14/03/2024 - Gerard gave a presentation on the research on risks (Ricerca sul rischio) carried out at IUSS Pavia during the visit of Alessandro Fermi, Assessore Regionale con delega a Università, Ricerca e Innovazione della Regione Lombardia, in Pavia, Italy [Presentation]
12/03/2024 - Gerard attended the EPOS Days Workshop 2024 in Rome, Italy to take part in presenting the new EUCENTRE-led initiative on proposing a Built Environment Data Thematic Core Service to be included in EPOS [Photo]
15/03/2024 - New paper published in Engineering Structures on "Next-generation non-linear and collapse prediction models for short- to long-period systems via machine learning methods" [Paper][Link] [PyPI] [GitHub]
12/02/2024 - New paper published in Journal of Earthquake Engineering on "Appraising the Risk Assessment of Non-Structural Components via Simplified and Machine-Learning-Based Approaches" [Paper][Link]
14/12/2023 - New paper published in Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics on "On the fragility of non‐structural elements in loss and recovery: Field observations from Japan" [Paper][Link]
01/12/2023 - Gerard has been promoted to the rank of Associate Professor of Structural Engineering at IUSS Pavia, Italy
10/11/2023 - Gerard finalised the second edition of the course on "Performance-based Earthquake Engineering" as part of the ROSE PhD programme at IUSS Pavia. [Syllabus][Photo 1][Photo 2]
07/11/2023 - Al Mouayed Bellah Nafeh gave a presentation on "Fragility functions for regional assessment of infilled RC buildings: analytical derivation and empirical validation" as part of the ROSE Online Seminars organised at IUSS Pavia. [Photo 1][Video]
02/11/2023 - New paper published in Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering on "Simplified pushover-based seismic loss assessment for existing infilled frame structuress" [Paper][Link]
29/09/2023 - Gerard gave a keynote lecture on "European Research Synergies Towards Loss and Risk-Driven Mitigation Approaches" at the 20th International Symposium of the Macedonian Association of Structural Engineers in Skopje, North Macedonia [Presentation] [Photo 1] [Photo 2]
14/09/2023 - Savvinos Aristeidou presented his work at the Society for Earthquake and Civil Engineering Dynamics (SECED) 2023 Conference in Cambridge, UK. Check out the paper and poster here: [Paper][Poster]
09/07/2023 - Gerard and Savvinos Aristeidou gave several presentations at ICASP14 - 14th International Conference on Applications of Statistics and Probability in Civil Engineering in Dublin, Ireland. Check out the publications sections for the full papers and presentations.[Photo 1][Photo 2][Photo 3][Photo 4]
16/06/2023 - Gerard gave a presentation on "Myths and fallacies in performance-based earthquake engineering: Ode to Nigel" at the 49th Risk, Hazard and Uncertainty Workshop in Hydra, Greece [Presentation][Photo 1] [Photo 2][Photo 3]
15/06/2023 - New paper published in Earthquake Spectra on "A ground motion model for orientation-independent inelastic spectral displacements from shallow crustal earthquakes" [Paper][Link]
12/06/2023 - Al Mouayed Bellah Nafeh gave a presentation on "Fragility function uncertainty quantification in infilled RC frame buildings" as part of his PhD thesis work at COMPDYN 2023 - 9th ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Computational Methods in Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, Athens, Greece [Paper][Presentation]
25/05/2023 - Gerard organised and chaired the 2023 General Assembly meeting of the ERIES project in Thessaloniki, Greece. For more information about the meeting and the project activities, see the project website and the LinkedIn page [Photo]
22/05/2023 - Gerard gave a presentation at the seminar on "Valutazione e gestione del rischio NaTech negli stabilimenti PIR" organised by INAIL in Rome, Italy on the topic of "La ricerca nel campo della gestione del rischio NaTech da sisma" [Flyer] [Presentation]
27/04/2023 - Gerard gave a webinar to the 2nd RICH Europe Webinar on Transnational and Virtual Access Opportunities on the topic of "ERIES – Engineering Research Infrastructures for European Synergies" [Flyer] [Link]
20/04/2023 - Gerard has been announced as a keynote speaker at the 20th International Symposium of the Macedonian Association of Structural Engineers from 28-29 September 2023 in Skopje, North Macedonia. He will give a talk on "European Research Synergies Towards Loss and Risk-Driven Mitigation Approaches"
13/04/2023 - Gerard was presented with the 2022 Shah Family Innovation Prize from the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute at the Annual Meeting in San Francisco, California [Twitter][Photo 1][Photo 2][Photo 3][Photo 4]
09/03/2023 - New paper published in Structure and Infrastructure Engineering on "Seismic risk prioritisation schemes for reinforced concrete bridge portfolios" [Paper][Link]
03/03/2023 - New paper published in the International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction on "Risk-aware navigation in industrial plants at risk of NaTech accidents" [Paper][Link]
10/02/2023 - New paper published in Procedia Structural Integrity on "Simplified tools for the risk assessment and classification of existing buildings" [Paper][Link]
09/01/2023 - New paper by Al Mouayed Bellah Nafeh published in the Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering on "Simplified pushover-based seismic risk assessment methodology for existing infilled frame structures" [Paper][Link]
12/12/2022 - New paper with Matt Fox from the University of Pavia published in Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics on the topic of "Exploring the site dependency of fragility functions in risk-targeted design" [Paper][Link]
02/12/2022 - Gerard is the 2022 recipient of the Shah Family Innovation Prize by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute [Link]
16/11/2022 - Gerard gave a webinar to the Italian Association for Wind Engineering Young (ANIV - Associazione Nazionale per Ingegneria del Vento - Giovani) on the topic of "ERIES research infrastructure network: how to apply for transnational access grants" [Flyer] [Link]
19/10/2022 - New paper by Nic Clemett and others from the Reluis 2019-2021 working group in Pavia published in the ASCE Journal of Structural Engineering on the topic of "Optimal Combined Seismic and Energy Efficiency Retrofitting for Existing Buildings in Italy" [Paper][Link]
12/10/2022 - Al Mouayed Bellah Nafeh gave a seminar on "Simplified Approaches for the Risk Assessment of Non-Ductile Infilled RC Structures" at the ROSE Centre's seminar series in Pavia, Italy [Video]
14/9/2022 - Gerard gave a presentation on "Simplified tools for the risk assessment and classification of existing buildings" at ANIDIS - Associazione Nazionale Italiana di Ingegneria Sismica 2022, Turin, Italy [Paper][Presentation]
9/9/2022 - Davit Shahnazaryan gave a presentation on "Integrating multiple risks to aid the navigation of industrial plant workers during seismic events" which forms part of the ROSSINI project at the 3rd European Conference on Earthquake Engineering & Seismology, Bucharest, Romania [Paper]
9/9/2022 - Davit Shahnazaryan gave a presentation on "Current and contemporary seismic design methods: a comparative review" at the 3rd European Conference on Earthquake Engineering & Seismology, Bucharest, Romania [Paper][Presentation]
5/9/2022 - Al Mouayed Bellah Nafeh gave a presentation on "Simplified Seismic Risk Assessment of Non-Ductile Infilled RC Frame Buildings" as part of his PhD thesis work at the 3rd European Conference on Earthquake Engineering & Seismology, Bucharest, Romania [Paper][Presentation]
5/9/2022 - Gerard gave a presentation on "Towards improved response quantification of existing infilled RC frames" at the 3rd European Conference on Earthquake Engineering & Seismology, Bucharest, Romania [Paper][Presentation]
5/9/2022 - Savvinos Aristeidou gave a presentation on "Ground motion directionality effects on inelastic spectral displacements" as part of his PhD thesis work at the 3rd European Conference on Earthquake Engineering & Seismology, Bucharest, Romania [Paper][Presentation]
18/7/2022 - Gerard gave a presentation on "Integrating multiple risks to aid the navigation of industrial plant workers during seismic events" at the ASME 2022 Pressure Vessels & Piping Conference, Las Vegas, USA [Paper][Presentation][Video]
6/7/2022 - Gerard gave a presentation on "Risk and loss mitigation in seismic design: a review of current methods and future direction" at ICONHIC 2022 - 3rd International Conference on Natural Hazards & Infrastructure, 22 – 24 June 2021, Athens, Greece. [Paper][Presentation]
9/6/2022 - After a 2 year hiatus, the International Nigel Priestley Seminar is back in Pavia, Italy!
8/6/2022 - The ERIES project was kicked off in Pavia, Italy [See more]
13/9/2021 - Gerard gave a presentation on "Seismic Risk Classification of Non-Structural Elements" at the 17th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Sendai, Japan [Paper][Presentation][Video]
13/12/2019 - Gerard gave a presentation on the Joint Research carried out at the Kobori Research Complex in Tokyo, Japan [Presentation]
2019 - Gerard gave a presentation on "Characterising Seismic Vulnerability of Bridge Structures and Infrastructure Vulnerability Assessment" as part of the INFRA-NAT Platform Workshop in Ohrid, North Macedonia [Presentation]
3/10/2019 - Gerard gave an invited talk on "Developments in performance-based seismic design and assessment: an Italian perspective" at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand.
24/6/2019 - Gerard gave a presentation on "On the Efficient Risk Assessment of Bridge Structures" at COMPDYN 2019 - 7th ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Computational Methods in Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, Hersonissos, Greece. [Paper][Presentation]
27/5/2019 - Gerard gave a presentation on "Towards Regional Safety Assessment of Bridge Infrastructure" at the 13th International Conference on Applications of Statistics and Probability in Civil Engineering, Seoul, South Korea. [Paper][Presentation]
19/6/2018 - Gerard gave a presentation on "On the seismic assessment and retrofit of infilled RC frames structures" at the 16th European Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Thessaloniki, Greece. [Paper]
19/6/2018 - Gerard gave a presentation on "Intensity Measures for the Collapse Assessment of Infilled RC Frames" at the 16th European Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Thessaloniki, Greece. [Paper][Presentation]
2017 - Gerard gave a presentation on "Modelling Uncertainty in Existing Italian RC Frames" at COMPDYN 2017 - 6th International Conference on Computational Methods in Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, Rhodes, Greece. [Paper][Presentation]
2017 - Gerard gave a presentation on "System Identification and Structural Modelling of Italian School Buildings" at the IMAC-XXXV Conference & Exposition on Structural Dynamics, Orange County, USA. [Paper][Presentation]
2017 - Gerard gave a presentation on "Implications of a More Refined Damage Estimation Approach in the Assessment of RC Frames" at the 16th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Santiago, Chile. [Paper][Presentation]
2015 - Gerard gave a presentation on "Influence of Modelling Parameters on the Fragility Assessment of pre-1970 Italian RC Structures" at COMPDYN 2015 - 5th ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Computational Methods in Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, Hersonissos, Greece. [Paper][Presentation]
2013 - Gerard gave a presentation on "Comparing the seismic performance of concentrically braced frames with and without self-centering behaviour" at the 2nd International Conference on Structures and Architecture, Guimaraes, Portugal. [Paper]
2012 - Gerard gave a presentation on "Performance-Based Design of a Self-Centering Concentrically Braced Frame using the Direct Displacement-Based Design Procedure" at the 15th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Lisbon, Portugal. [Paper]
2012 - Gerard gave a presentation on "Behaviour and Design of a Self-Centering Concentrically Braced Steel Frame System" at the 15th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Lisbon, Portugal. [Paper]
2012 - Gerard won “Best Structures Paper” for his paper presented at the BCRI2012 conference in Dublin, Ireland
2012 - Gerard gave a presentation on "Development of a Novel Self-Centering Concentrically Braced Frame System for Deployment in Seismically Active Regions" at the Bridge and Concrete Research in Ireland, Dublin, Ireland. [Paper]