We are delighted to announce the approval of the European project OCTAGON (HORIZON-MSCA-2025-DN), which aims to accelerate the development of innovative composite materials for aerospace applications.

Coordinated by IMDEA Materials Institute, the project will train 12 PhD candidates to investigate the scientific mechanisms governing the behaviour of carbon-fibre reinforced composites during manufacturing and environmental exposure.

Reducing Product Development Lead Time (PDLT) is essential to meet the EU’s ambitious CO₂ and NOx emission targets. Yet progress is limited by two related challenges: long characterization times under hot and humid conditions, and the limited ability to predict Process-Induced Deformations (PIDs).

Although these issues appear distinct, both stem from the lack of fast, reproducible experimental methods and predictive models that can capture the coupled effects of moisture, curing, temperature, and stress across multiple scales.

OCTAGON will address these bottlenecks through a unified scientific strategy. It will develop miniaturized, rapid, and standardized experimental methods to quantify moisture uptake, cure evolution, and residual stress development in small material volumes, thereby reducing testing time and generating high-quality datasets for modelling. UCLouvain will focus on micro and nanomechanical methods as well as on integrating original MEMS-based sensors to extract data at local scales. These data will inform advanced multiscale models that link microscopic behaviors with macroscopic structural responses, providing a robust scientific basis for understanding environmental effects and PIDs. Artificial intelligence (AI) plays a central role in this approach. By integrating physics-informed AI and uncertainty quantification with an Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) framework- connecting materials, processes and structural performance - OCTAGON will create surrogates that learn from experiments and high-fidelity simulations, enabling fast, accurate and uncertainty-aware predictions under manufacturing and service conditions.

Through a multidisciplinary training programme, OCTAGON will prepare researchers capable of advancing the scientific foundations needed to accelerate the reliable introduction of innovative composite materials into engineering applications.

For more information: Website

Funding: HORIZON-MSCA-2025-DN

Beneficiaries: IMDEA Materials (coordinator), CENAERO, KIT, DLR, UCLouvain (Prof. Thomas Pardoen, IMAP), UPORTO, NU, RISE

Associated partners: AIRBUS, HEXCEL, MSC, LIU, UC3M

Alongside CNR-ITM (Italy) and the Lahore University of Management Sciences (Pakistan), UCLouvain was selected among 26 participating groups from 19 countries across 5 continents. This recognition highlights the commitment and enthusiasm of researchers, students, and professionals worldwide who are advancing membrane science and technology.

The "Membrane Technology for a Sustainable World" group’s research activities cover a wide range of topics, including :

• CO₂ capture and conversion, 
• pervaporation, 
• ion exchange, 
• lithium recovery, 
• PFAS removal, 
• and sustainable membrane fabrication. 

Through these research areas, the team aims to contribute to cleaner processes and to the development of more sustainable technologies.

On April 14, the team organized a Membrane Day event, an initiative launched by the European Membrane Society in 2025 to celebrate the importance of membrane science and technology. The date was chosen in honor of Prof. Enrico Drioli, one of the pioneers of membrane science, whose birthday is on April 14.

During the event, the group shared its latest research achievements with the UCLouvain community and highlighted how membrane technologies can contribute to a more sustainable society, while also improving the sustainability of membrane processes themselves.

Discover the highlights of the UCLouvain Membrane Day event here: 

Congratulations to Prof. Patricia Luis Alconero and the entire membrane research group for this well-deserved recognition and for their outstanding contribution to the future of sustainable technologies!

Au-delà des approches classiques centrées sur le calcul de structure, ce projet met l’accent sur une dimension essentielle du métier d’ingénieur en construction : la conception structurale. Les étudiants sont amenés à imaginer, comparer et défendre des solutions techniques, tout en intégrant des contraintes concrètes liées au chantier, aux matériaux et à l’exécution.

Les enseignants accompagnent les étudiants dans toutes les étapes du projet, depuis les premières esquisses jusqu’aux essais expérimentaux.  

Ce défi pédagogique mobilise donc largement les compétences scientifiques et l’expertise des membres de l’institut iMMC. Un rôle clé est joué par les techniciens de la plateforme technologique LEMSC (Laboratoire Essais Mécaniques, Structures et génie Civil). Grâce à ses équipements, les étudiants peuvent en effet :

• caractériser les matériaux à petite échelle,  
• réaliser des essais structuraux dans des conditions proches de la réalité.
• confronter leurs modèles numériques au comportement réel de la structure,  

L’utilisation de logiciels de calculs professionnels, tels que le logiciel SCIA et ISSD, renforce encore l’ancrage du projet dans la pratique de leur futur métier.

Enfin, le “Défi Structure” introduit une dimension stimulante de mise en concurrence : les projets sont évalués selon des critères variés, allant des performances techniques (poids, déformabilité, résistance) à la qualité de réalisation, en passant par la facilité de montage… et même l’esthétique de l’ouvrage.

Le « Défi structure » se termine chaque année par une compétition entre 5 institutions académiques (KUL, UMons, ECAM, HEH, HEPL) qui font travailler leurs étudiants sur le cahier des charges UCLouvain.

Ce projet illustre pleinement la volonté de l’EPL de former des ingénieurs capables de relier théorie, conception et réalisation, tout en favorisant la collaboration entre les différents acteurs du monde de la construction.