Simona Bianchi, Ph.D., P.E. is an Assistant Professor in the ReStruct Group within the Faculty of Architecture and The Built Environment at TU Delft. Her research focuses on climate and disaster resilience, risk assessment, multi-criteria decision-making and the development of low-damage low-carbon technologies for buildings. With a background in structural engineering, she specializes in structural / seismic analysis, performance-based design, resilience assessment and probabilistic vulnerability modelling under climate and natural hazard scenarios.

Simona Bianchi earned her Master’s degree in Civil Engineering (2015) and her Ph.D. in Structural and Geotechnical Engineering (2020) from Sapienza University of Rome. During her academic journey, she has been recognized with several prestigious awards, including a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship and the NWO 2023 Veni grant, supporting her pioneering work in multi-hazard resilience. She currently serves as Technical Lead for the €7.5M Horizon Europe MULTICARE project, which is dedicated to advancing technologies and digital tools for low-carbon resilient buildings. Throughout her career, Simona Bianchi has actively contributed to and coordinated numerous international research initiatives, fostering strong collaborations with both public and private sectors. These efforts have also deepened her expertise in large-scale experimental testing and applied research.

Selected Publications ​

• Bianchi S., Lori G., Hayez V., Manara G., Schipper R., Pampanin S. Overend M. (2025) Seismic Testing and Performance Evaluation of Unitized Curtain Walls, Earthquake Engineering & Structural Dynamics, 0: 1–18, https://doi.org/10.1002/eqe.70017

• Kim K., Luna-Navarro A., Ciurlanti J., Bianchi S. (2024) A multi-criteria decision support framework for designing seismic and thermal resilient facades, Architecture, Structures and Construction, 4: 195-210, doi.org/10.1007/s44150-024-00116-0

• Bianchi S., Andriotis C., Klein T., Overend M. (2024) Multi-criteria design methods in façade engineering: State-of-the-art and future trends, Building and Environment, 250, doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2024.111184

• Bianchi S. (2023) Integrating resilience in the multi-hazard sustainable design of buildings. Disaster Prevention and Resilience, 2(3), doi.org/10.20517/dpr.2023.16

• Ciurlanti J., Bianchi S., Pampanin S. (2023) Raising the bar in seismic design: cost–benefit analysis of alternative design methodologies and earthquake-resistant technologies. Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering (2023), doi.org/10.1007/s10518-023-01625-x

• D’Amore S., Bianchi S., Ciurlanti J., Pampanin S. (2023) Seismic assessment and finite element modeling of traditional vs innovative point fixed glass facade systems (PFGFS). Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering (2023), doi.org/10.1007/s10518-023-01622-0

• Bianchi S., Ciurlanti J., Overend M., Pampanin S. (2022) A probabilistic-based framework for the integrated assessment of seismic and energy economic losses of buildings. Engineering Structures, 269 (4), doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2022.114852

• Bianchi S., Pampanin S. (2022) Fragility Functions for Architectural Nonstructural Components. ASCE, Journal of Structural Engineering, 148 (10), doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)ST.1943-541X.0003352

• Bianchi S., Ciurlanti J., Perrone D. et al. (2021) Shake-table tests of innovative drift-sensitive non-structural elements in a low-damage structural system. Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics, 50 (9): 2398-2420, doi.org/10.1002/eqe.3452

• Bianchi S., Ciurlanti J., Pampanin S. (2021) Comparison of traditional vs. low-damage structural & non-structural building systems through a cost/performance-based evaluation. Earthquake Spectra, 1-20, doi.org/10.1177/8755293020952445e

​

TU Delft Research Profile

Selected Research Projects ​

-2025-2026. BIOFACE Project, “Towards Low-Carbon Resilient Building Envelopes: Development and Seismic Testing of Bio-based Facade solutions”, funded by ERIES Horizon Europe Project (PI)

-2024-2028. RECLIMATE Project, “Resource-efficient climate-resilient buildings by multi-hazard risk modelling and resilience-oriented decision-making”, funded by NWO Veni TTW 2023 (PI)

-2024-2026. SHAKE-UP Project, “Shake Up Your Skills: Seismic and Energy Retrofitting for Building Resilience”, funded by KA220-VET Erasmus+ (PI)

-2023-2027. MULTICARE Project, “Multi-hazard low-carbon resilient technologies and multi-scale digital services for a future-proof, sustainable & user-centred built environment”, funded by Horizon Europe (Co-PI)

- 2021-2023. SAFE-FACE Project, “Seismic SAFety and Energy efficiency: Integrated technologies and multi-criteria performance based design for building FACadEs”, funded by the European H2020 MSCA-IF-2020 (PI)

-2020-2021. PELL Project, “WP: Building seismic response”, funded within the Public Energy Living Lab (PELL) Project between ENEA and AgID (P)

-2019-2020. UEFA ELENA Project, “Seismic and energy efficiency analysis and integrated retrofitting solutions of school buildings in the province of Foggia”, funded within the “European Local Energy Assistance. UEFA Project (European Union ELENA Foggia Facility Assistance) (P)

-2017-2019. SERA Project, “(Towards the) Ultimate Earthquake proof Building System: development and testing of integrated low-damage technologies for structural and non- structural elements”, funded by the European H2020 SERA (P)

-2016-2017. Industry-funded Project (Fischer) on “EQ-Rod 2.0: The next generation of Earthquake-Resistant Fastener” (P)

Workshops​ ​

2021-2025, PhD Symposium on Concrete and Concrete Structures at fib, CTE, aicap - Organizing committee

2021, C.A. Concrete Affairs Webinar Series at fib YMG Italy - Organizer, Instructor  ​

Professional Memberships & Affiliations​ ​

- Italian Association of Civil and Environmental Engineers

- SPONSE, International Association for the seismic performance of non-structural elements 

- fib Italia Young Members Group YMG (Board Member 2021-2022) 

- aicap, Italian Association for Structural Concrete 

- CTE, College of Building Industrialization Technicians