Jan Elsen studied geology at the K. U. Leuven where he obtained, as assistant, a Ph.D. in 1988 on the ‘Cation distribution in calcium mordenite and fluorphlogopite’. From 1989 to 2000 he was head of the Laboratory of Microscopy at the Belgian Building Research Institute. In 2000 he became Senior Lecturer at the K. U. Leuven. The main research effort of this laboratory lies in the field of porous building materials.
He is now an Associate Professor at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences of K. U. Leuven, Belgium.
He is in charge of the Research Group Applied Geology and Mineralogy.
He is the promoter of several research projects.
He is the author of several publications for scientific international journals.
Doctor Vlatko Bosiljkov was born on 05.12.1964 in Belgrade. He has a degree B.Sc. with diploma at the University of Belgrade, Faculty for Civil engineering in Belgrade, since 1991, M.Sc. at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of civil and geodetic engineering in Ljubljana since 1997 and Ph.D. at the same Faculty since 2000.
In the period 1994 - 2000 he was a Research assistant at the Faculty of civil and geodetic engineering in Ljubljana; in 2000-2006 he was fully employed at Slovenian National Building and Civil engineering Institute, Department of Structures, Section of Earthquake engineering. From 01.01.2007 he is an Assistant Professor at UL FGG, Chair for research in materials and structures.
He has been a visiting researcher at University of Wales, UK (April-July 1997), at University of Colorado, U.S.A. (November-December 1998) and at University of Newcastle, Australia (June 2002- January 2003).
He is a member of RILEM, of IMS (Int. Masonry Society), of the Society for Earthquake Engineering and of Slovenian society of structural engineers. He has participated in several working groups and committees, at national and international levels.
He is the author of several scientific publications: 8 papers in journals; 3 Chapters in books; 40 papers at conferences and workshops; 2 books.
José Aguiar (Degree in Arquitecture ‘86, FAUTL; Ph.D. ’99, UE) is Associate Professor at the Technical University of Lisbon, School of Architecture (jaguiar@fa.utl.pt) and President of ICOMOS-Portugal.
He was a Researcher at LNEC during almost 20 years, working on Architectonic Conservation and Urban Rehabilitation, and member of several national and international research teams (like: 1999-02, LABSTECH; 1999-03, OLDRENDERS; 2006-07, Cesare Brandi (1906-1988) Il suo pensiero ed il dibattito in Europa nel XX secolo, 2006-07).
He has authored several conference papers and journal articles on those topics. He was also the author of “Color and Historical City” (Cor e cidade histórica. Porto: Edições FAUP, 2003), co-author of the Portuguese “Technical Guide on Dwelling Rehabilitation” (with J. Paiva, and A. Pinho, Guia Técnico de Reabilitação Habitacional. Lisboa: LNEC-INH, 2006), and translated to Portuguese Cesare Brandi master piece Teoria del Restauro, and other works (with D. Rodrigues, N. Proença, C. Prats, Teoria do Restauro. Lisboa: Orion, 2006).
He is co-coordinator of the “6th and 7th Master Courses on Architectonic and Urban Rehabilitation”, FAUTL, Lisbon, from 2006 to 2008, and is an Invited Professor in several postgraduate courses (FAUP Oporto; U. Coimbra; U. Évora; ISCTE, Lisbon; IST, Lisbon; Universidade de Sevilha; Complutense de Madrid; Centro de Restauro San Servolo - Veneza; UFRGS-Brasil, etc.). He was an invited speaker at several research and excellence centers of architecture and conservation, like Centre de Recherche du Château de Versailles; CERR Siena, TU Eindhoven; etc.
Thorborg von Konow is a consultant and a researcher with a degree in physical and inorganic chemistry (1971), a doctorate on deterioration in bricks due to salts (1984), and a doctorate (PhD) on mortar restoration (1997) from Åbo Akademi University. She has 30 years’ experience of weathering problems with building materials, and specialised in old historic buildings. She has worked as a research scientist at the Technical Research Centre of Finland (1972-85), and as director of product development in a building technology company (1985-1992). From 1993 to 1997 she worked as a researcher at Åbo Akademi University/The Academy of Finland. She lectures at conservation and architectural schools in Scandinavia and Estonia. In 1994 she started her own consulting firm TUREIDA.
In the last years, several notable analysis and research projects have been launched in important historic buildings such as the Dome Church of Helsinki, the Dome Church of Trondheim (Norway), the National Theatre in Helsinki, and several medieval churches in Finland, Norway and Estonia. She worked on the excavations in the region of Petra, Jordanian. Currently the most important project concerns the Fortress of Suomenlinna (UNESCO World Heritage List).
International cooperation: Member of Eurolime (Eurocare project EU 791) since 1991. Member of Nordisk Kalkforum (Nordic Lime Forum) since 1999. Research participant as researcher in the field of historic mortars and salt problems in the European Heritage Laboratories Project: Nidaros Cathedral Restoration, Norway (1999-2001). Participant in the International committee RILEM TC "Repair Mortars for Historic Masonry" since September 2003.
She is the author of 4 scientific monographies and several papers in international journals.