EPRUG Scholarship 2023

Background
The European Road Profile Users' Group, ERPUG, is a non-profit association established in 2012. The Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI) in Linköping, Sweden is hosting the administration of ERPUG.
ERPUG is about road condition monitoring for safe, smooth, environmentally friendly, and long-lasting roads.
To accomplish this ERPUG serve as a forum for exchanging information in an informal way. The target groups are road owners, road authorities, researchers, equipment and data providers, and other stakeholders who have an interest in collecting and using road condition data.
The aim is to be a knowledge bridge between road planning, management, and maintenance and the state-of-the-art techniques including assessment and analysis tools that support this.
Initially, the focus of ERPUG was on profilometers and road surface characteristics but is broadened to include road construction and the environmental aspects e.g., by including high-speed deflection measurements, lidar solutions for the road surface and nearby surroundings, and data sharing from connected vehicles and big data management.

The ERPUG mottos are:
Motto #1. An open-minded association where everyone in an easy and friendly atmosphere can share experiences and ideas and find relevant information supporting improvements and development within the area.

Motto #2. To disseminate and discuss the latest features and solutions to measure and assess data that in turn improves maintenance and operations alternatives, independent if you are a road owner, road authority, researcher, equipment and data provider, or relevant stakeholder.

ERPUG scholarship
An important part of ERPUG's and the industry's future development is young promising students. In connection with the tenth anniversary of ERPUG, we have therefore decided to establish an ERPUG scholarship to reward a well-executed and innovative degree project within the master's education of new engineers that have a focus on the road sector. The first ERPUG scholarship will have the theme "Smart analysis to determine maintenance needs on paved roads".

The 2023 scholarship will be announced at the ERPUG 2023 meeting.

The scholarship gives you the opportunity to travel to and stay in Greece during the ERPUG meeting in Athens 25-27 October 2023. You (one person) will receive a free return ticket in economy class and free participation including hotel costs for the conference days and a sum of 3000 Euro. It is appreciated if you present your project at the meeting.

Formal requirements for applying for the scholarship

• The work must be part of your Master's education and have to be confirmed by the university.
• The work should be presented as an essay/report with not less than 10 and maximum 15 A4 pages. The documentation must be in English and ERPUG will have the right to publish the document on the homepage.
• The work must include a demonstration using data from one or several of the ERPUG focus areas. The work must have been done between 1 July 2021 and 30 June 2023.
• Together with the report a short bios should be submitted.
• The application, bios and report shall be sent to thomas.lundberg@vti.se no later than June 30, 2023. Use "ERPUG Scholarship" in the e-mail subject field.

Evaluation criteria.

• Fulfilled formal requirements as above.
• The benefit for the paving industry.
• The uniqueness of suggested solutions.
• Degree of innovative methods
• Meeting new challenges such as environmental issues.