Biography

Eliz-Mari Lourens is Associate Professor in the Dynamics of Solids and Structures and Offshore Engineering sections. She obtained her MSc in Civil Engineering from Stellenbosch University (South Africa) in 2007 and her PhD from KU Leuven in 2012.

Her research focuses on data-driven assessment and diagnostics of structures, bridging the gap between sensor data and trustworthy knowledge for engineering applications. She develops integrated analytics frameworks that combine physics-based modelling, probabilistic inference, and heterogeneous monitoring data to enable structural health monitoring, parameter identification, lifetime prediction, and structural performance assessment. Her work is characterized by a strong focus on validation in real-world settings, ensuring that methodological advances translate into reliable approaches for structural monitoring, assessment and prediction.