The Winter School intends to promote the scientific competencies of Egyptian students, professors, scientists, and practitioners in the field of Rock Mechanics applied to the Preservation of Cultural Heritage. Egypt is one of several countries worldwide, which has many famous monuments and cultural sites excavated in rock-masses or build in or on or with rock materials whose characteristics, mechanical behaviour and long-term properties should be thoroughly investigated to analyse their current stability conditions and the state of conservation and to design the suitable mitigation measures to be adopted in the respect of site unicity and integrity.

The Winter School is organized jointly by Cairo University, Academy of Science and Technology, Egypt, Sapienza University of Rome, and Italian Institute for Culture in Cairo. It will be held at Faculty of Engineering – Cairo University. The school is directed by Prof. Daniela Boldini and Prof. Heny Halal. Invited speakers are Daniela Boldini (Sapienza University in Rome), Mohamed Elkarmoty (Cairo University), Yasser El Shayeb ( Cairo University and American University in Cairo), Josè Antonio Fernandez Merodo (Geological Survey of Spain), William Frodella (University of Florence), Giovanni Gigli (University of Florence), Christian Grosse (Technical University of Munich), Edoardo Lusini (University of Bologna), Claudio Margottini (UNESCO Chair in Florence University), Daniele Spizzichino (ISPRA Dept. of Geological Survey of Italy) and Paolo Tommasi (Italian National Research Council).

The total number of participants is 30. Twelve scholarships, covering living and transportation costs, are available for scholars living outside Cairo and Giza. Candidature for participation should be sent by email (rocklab@eng.cu.edu.eg) with subject: ROCK MECHANICS WINTER SCHOOL.

Three scholarships will be assigned to female candidates if present. All applications will be fairely treated and the top 12 candidates living outside Cairo and Giza will be granted the scholarships.

The deadline of application submission is 10^th December 2021.