The ninth Kwang-Hua forum was successfully held in Tongji University on December 10-12, 2021. The forum was jointly hosted by College of Civil Engineering of Tongji University, State Key Laboratory of Disaster Reduction in Civil Engineering, International Joint Research Laboratory of Earthquake Engineering, Earthquake Resiliency Committee of Seismological Society of China and Shanghai Engineering Research Center for Resilient Cities and Intelligent Disaster Mitigation. Twenty-four well-known experts in the field of earthquake engineering including 15 from foreign countries and 9 from China were invited to give plenary speeches during the forum. Due to the Covid-19 epidemic, the forum combined an on-site forum with a virtual forum.

The theme of the forum is “Innovations and Implementations in Earthquake Engineering Research: Engineering Resilience”. Twenty-four experts presented their research, covering the topics of seismic resilient structures, base-isolation, structural health monitoring, performance-based seismic design and evaluation, seismic resilient bridge structures, seismic design of non-structural components, etc. The forum conducted a free discussion after the plenary speeches. The topics of resilient city, seismic low-damage structures, seismic structural controlling, resilient materials, technologies and systems were discussed profoundly and extensively. More than 120 scholars and students participated the forum on site and the live forum attracted more than 6000 visits during the plenary speeches and the free discussion.

Welcome remarks were delivered in the opening ceremony by Prof. Xianglin Gu, Vice President of Tongji University. Prof. Xilin Lu, member of Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) and chair of the Scientific Committee of the Forum, reviewed the development and achievements of the previous Kwang-Hua forums. Prof. Fulin Zhou, member of CAE, Prof. Jinping Ou, member of CAE, Prof. Jie Li, member of the Chinese Academy of Science, Prof. Xiuli Du, member of CAE, Prof. Billie F. Spencer, foreign member of CAE, Prof. Guoqiang Li, foreign member of the Belgian Royal Flemish Academy of Sciences and Arts, Prof. Carlos Ventura, member of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, Prof. Hong Hao, member of the Australian Academy of Engineering, and other world well-known experts in earthquake engineering attended the forum either on site or online. Prof. Ying Zhou, Dean of the College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University, served as the chair of the Organizing Committee of the Forum.

Since 2008, eight Kwang-Hua Forums have been successfully held at Tongji University. The themes of the forums have been carefully selected to match the state-of-the-art earthquake engineering research around the world, including Wenchuan Earthquake and its Post-Earthquake Reconstruction in 2008, Performance-based Design Theory and Code Development for Civil and Structural Engineering in 2009, Sustainable Civil Engineering in 2010, New Challenges of Earthquake Resilient and Sustainable Society in 2011, and Innovations and Implementations in Earthquake Engineering in 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018. The objective of the forum is to provide a platform for experts around the world to present and exchange recent progress and implementation of earthquake engineering research. The forum also aims to promote international collaboration on how to achieve practical implementation of earthquake engineering research through planning, design, construction and maintenance.