One of the many drivers for research in structural engineering is that it should ultimately be of value to practising engineers. This is reflected to a large extent by the type of papers published in Structures and Buildings. Unfortunately it is often difficult to determine exactly what the medium- to long-term requirements of industry are. Bodies like the Standing Committee on Structural Safety (SCOSS—www.scoss.org.uk), an independent body established by ICE and IStructE often identify areas usually of immediate interest.
Recently, however, I have been made aware of the results of a study, FENet, which was a Thematic Network, funded by the European Commission for four years from August 2001. One of the aims of the study was to improve the quality of industrial applications of finite element technology. On the website, www.fe-net.org, there is a number of papers including one on the requirements of the construction industry, which not only indicates areas where further research may be required but also addresses the areas of technology transfer, and education and training for those carrying out analysis using finite elements.1 I would suggest that anyone with an interest in this area should visit the website.
The papers in this issue again reflect the wide range of problems being addressed within structural engineering. In particular the two papers by Willford et al. on predicting footfall-induced vibrations continues the flow of papers on vibration serviceability loads which started with a the special issue published in October 2006. We would welcome more papers and discussion given the current interest in this topic.
