On August 16, 2025, hosted by the Engineering Risk and Insurance Research Branch of the Chinese Society of Civil Engineers, organized by the National Key Laboratory of Extreme Environment Geotechnical and Tunnel Engineering Intelligent Construction and Maintenance of Shenzhen University and the National Engineering Research Center of Mining Deep Shaft Construction Technology, and co-sponsored by the School of Civil and Transportation Engineering of Shenzhen University, the Research Institute of the Future Underground City of Shenzhen University, and the School of Civil Engineering of Tongji University, and a number of other units. The 8th Engineering Risk and Insurance Research Symposium was grandly opened in Shenzhen.

The conference focuses on the frontier of construction risk management and discusses the new challenges of risk prevention and control and the new path of resilience enhancement, attracting more than 300 experts, scholars and industry elites from universities, research institutes, design and construction enterprises, insurance companies and other organizations across the country to gather together.

(Group photo at the site)

The opening ceremony began with a speech by Prof. Li Yonghua, Vice President of Shenzhen University. On behalf of the university, he warmly welcomed the leaders, experts and guests, and pointed out that SZU attaches great importance to the development of civil and transportation engineering disciplines, which will provide new theoretical achievements and practical paths for engineering risk prevention and control and insurance innovation. Vice President Li Yonghua's enthusiastic speech won a warm applause from the audience.

(Mr. Li Yonghua, Vice President, Shenzhen University)

Afterwards, Prof. Chen Xiangsheng, Honorary Chairman of the Academic Committee of the Conference and Dean of the School of Civil and Transportation Engineering and the Institute of Future Underground Cities of Shenzhen University, delivered a speech. He emphasized that in the face of the current complex and changing engineering environment and frequent occurrence of extreme natural disasters, civil engineering resilience construction and risk insurance research shoulders new missions and challenges. This conference will promote the deep development of risk management and insurance research, and further promote the deep integration and collaborative innovation between industry, academia and research.

(Prof. Chen Xiangsheng, Dean of the School of Civil and Transportation Engineering and the Future Underground City Research Institute, Shenzhen University)

Then Prof. Zhang Dongmei, Chairman of Engineering Risk and Insurance Research Branch of China Civil Engineering Society, delivered a speech. She expressed her warm congratulations on the successful convening of the conference and pointed out that the branch attaches great importance to the cooperation with domestic and foreign universities and research institutions. The success of this conference could not be separated from the careful preparation and strong support of Shenzhen University and all the organizers and co-organizers.

(Prof. Zhang Dongmei, Chairman, Engineering Risk and Insurance Research Branch, China Civil Engineering Society)

At the end of the opening ceremony of the conference, the release ceremony of China Construction Engineering Risk Survey and Process Control Standard was held. The official release of the standard marks that China's construction risk management has entered a new stage of standardization and refinement. By unifying the content, method and process of risk investigation, the standard provides a scientific basis for the identification and assessment of complex engineering risks, and significantly improves the systematic, comprehensive and accurate risk management.

(Launching Ceremony of the Standard for Risk Survey and Process Control of Construction Works)

After the opening ceremony, the conference entered into a wonderful conference report session. Prof. Zhang Limin of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Prof. Hong Kairong, Chief Engineer of China Railway Tunnel Bureau Group, Mr. Li Shangli, General Manager of Century Insurance Brokerage Co. investigation standard compilation, insurance risk control service of Guangfo Ring Road project, geotechnical engineering analysis of non-stationary environment and data-driven soil parameter modeling and other topics were discussed in depth.

(Prof. Limin Zhang, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology)

(Chief Engineer of China Railway Tunnel Bureau Group, Mr. Hong Kai Rong, teaches high)

(General Manager Shang Li, Century Insurance Brokerage Co. Ltd.)

(Prof. Zhou Xiaowen, South China University of Technology)

(Prof. Lu Dechun, Beijing Institute of Technology)

(Prof. C.Y. Wan, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University)

This 2-day symposium will focus on the topics of risk assessment and resilience enhancement of tunnels and underground engineering, engineering risk of geotechnical foundation structures, new theories and methods of risk and whole life cycle insurance, etc. In addition, the conference also specially set up the Graduate Student Innovation Forum, which arranges for more than 80 academic reports to comprehensively display the innovative achievements of young scholars.

The success of the 8th Engineering Risk and Insurance Research Symposium has set up a high-level exchange platform for experts, scholars and practitioners in the field of engineering risk and insurance, focusing on displaying the latest research results and practical experience in the field, which is of far-reaching significance in promoting risk management theoretical innovations, enhancing the resilience of major infrastructures, facilitating the development of new engineering insurance industry, and safeguarding the safety of national engineering construction.

This conference could not be held successfully without the careful preparation of the team of Future Underground City Research Institute of Shenzhen University and the hard work of graduate student volunteers, who provided thoughtful and meticulous services for all participants, and won the unanimous praise of the experts and scholars attending the conference.

Acknowledgements: Sincere thanks to all the staff and graduate student volunteers who assisted in the organization of this conference, your dedication provided strong support for the smooth running of this conference.