The Associação Portuguesa de Análise Experimental de Tensões (APAET) organized a session commemorating its 40th anniversary on Friday, March 22nd, in the small auditorium of Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil (LNEC).

In this session, three DECivil researchers were distinguished by awarding honorable mentions:

• David José Medeira Martins; with the doctoral thesis "Monotonic, cyclic and seismic behaviour of pultruded structures: from connections to full-scale frames".
• Inês Cruz Mina Rosa; with the doctoral thesis "Fire behaviour of concrete structures reinforced with GFRP bars".
• Beatriz Maria Martins Antunes Tavares da Silva, with her master's thesis "Durability of polymer composites reinforced with glass fibers produced by vacuum infusion for structural applications in civil engineering".

In the opening session of the ceremony, the President of APAET, Professor Mário Augusto Pires Vaz (Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto), the President of LNEC, Doctor Laura Maria Mello Saraiva Caldeira and the Coordinator of the Southern Regional Council of the College of Civil Engineering of the Order of Engineers, the Professor Fernando Fernando Pinho. This was followed by the lecture "Explorando as Fronteiras da Mecânica Experimental em Portugal: História e Impacto da APAET", given by Professor Joaquim Silva Gomes, Professor Emeritus at the University of Porto and president of the APAET General Assembly.

The awarding of APAET prizes and honorable mentions for the best doctoral theses and master's dissertations in Experimental Mechanics, was followed by the lecture "Aprimorando o rastreio de movimento aquático por meio da fusão de dados de múltiplos sensores buscando indicadores de performance" given by Dr. Márcio Borgonovo, Riedel Communicatlons - R&D Hub Portugal).

The session ended with a visit to some LNEC laboratories: Department of Hydraulics and Environment (Center for Water Resources and Hydraulic Structures and Center for Ports and Maritime Structures) and the Department of Structures (Center for Seismic Engineering and Structural Dynamics).

DECivil congratulates Doctor Inês Rosa, Doctor David Martins and Master Beatriz Silva, as well as their respective supervisors, for these honorable mentions and wishes them all the best.