The scientific group of Engineering Seismology deals with the study of hazard and risk related to seismic events, landslides and tsunamis, local seismic response and soil-structure interaction, with a focus on real-time or near real-time analysis.

The research activities concern the estimation of seismic hazard at both local and regional scales with both deterministic and probabilistic approaches, and with particular attention to their application for better land use planning and safety estimation of critical infrastructures. Hazard and risk studies are also aimed at supporting international institutions such as the World Bank.

The group's expertise also includes the development of hazard and tsunami risk scenarios in the Adriatic area, as well as the monitoring and assessment of landslide hazard.

The group’s specialist fields include the use of gravimetric methods for the characterisation of subsoil structure, the characterisation of local seismic response with experimental methods and numerical modelling, and the development of innovative methodologies for the study of wave propagation. Of particular note are the development and application of methodologies applied to earthquake and seismic noise recordings. The use of numerical modelling to study the propagation of seismic waves in three-dimensional systems completes the group's expertise.

The research activity is also aimed at the study and application of methodologies for the rapid assessment of damage to buildings, infrastructures and early warning systems in case of earthquakes through the use of data provided by seismometric and accelerometric networks. In particular, the studies draw on the data provided by the SMINO infrastructure. In addition, the research activities focus on the development of exposure models that can be used in a multi-hazard context.

The group develops systems for collecting, analysing and integrating with instrumental measurements, preliminary information on earthquake effects through crowd sourcing techniques (e.g. involving Civil Protection volunteers) and defining systems and protocols for exchanging information during emergencies with the Civil Protection by means of GIS systems.