CERIS researcher Professor José Nuno Varandas was distinguished with the SPG Research Award 2025 by the Portuguese Geotechnics Society (SPG). The award ceremony took place on 20 October, during the 1st Gala of the Portuguese Geotechnical Society, which celebrated leading figures and projects in the national geotechnical engineering community.
The SPG Research Award recognises the best scientific article published in a highly prestigious international journal in the field of Geotechnics during the previous year. The distinction was awarded for the article “Differential settlements monitoring in railway transition zones using satellite-based remote sensing techniques”, published in the renowned journal Computer-Aided Civil and Infrastructure Engineering. The article is co-authored by Y. Zhang and J. Shi from the School of Civil Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University (Beijing, China), and by S. Davies and A. Ferreira from Spotlite (Coimbra, Portugal).
The awarded study proposes a new hybrid PS-SBAS InSAR processing methodology, developed to monitor differential settlements in railway transition zones, such as bridge approaches and track switching devices. This method combines high spatial resolution with long-term coherence, enabling the derivation of detailed and robust displacement profiles. This approach demonstrates the potential of satellite remote sensing as a valuable complement to traditional railway inspection and maintenance strategies.
CERIS congratulates Professor José Nuno Varandas for this distinction, which highlights the excellence and international impact of CERIS research.
