WAVES Project (2015-2018)

The WAVES project aims at training young researchers to develop a deep understanding of wave propagation in complex media, and capable of exploiting this knowledge to develop imaging tools for seismology and acoustics.

Wave-based imaging serves to map spatial and temporal variations in the structure of the Earth's interior, of the oceans and atmosphere; it is used to monitor faults and volcanoes and detect natural-resource reservoirs. It is relevant to other disciplines, medical imaging being one of its most widespread applications.

Today’s Earth scientists are faced with a set of questions that require the application of wave-based imaging at unprecedented resolution.

WAVES aims at fostering scientific and technological advances in this context, stimulating knowledge exchange between seismologists and acousticians, and researchers in the public/private domains.

A unique strength of our network resides in the participation of novel physical acoustics laboratories, managed by beneficiaries/partners of WAVES, with a strong record of e A truly multidisciplinary network, WAVES will apply these new ideas in a number of contexts: medical elastography is used as a tool to implement novel analogue models of seismic faults; wave sources are localized by a bio-inspired system making use of very few receivers, etc. Through WAVES, a critical mass of expertise will consolidate, defining the study of acoustic/elastic wave propagation and wave.xperimental research on inter-disciplinary and seismology-related topics.

WAVES will provide a complete range of theoretical, practical and complementary training to 15 young scientists working in academia or industry in how to use this resource effectively, re-introducing the laboratory into the ideas-to-applications pipeline. Experimental work will serve to develop new theory, addressing topics of current interest such as acoustic time-reversal, scattering-based imaging.

Each fellow recruited within the network benefits from a multi-disciplinary programme based on an integrated scientific programme, secondments, regular meetings and active networking.

WAVES will trigger new cross-disciplinary research directions which in turn create new added value for the scientific community.

Through WAVES, a critical mass of expertise will consolidate, defining the study of acoustic/elastic wave propagation and wave-based imaging and monitoring as an independent discipline, rich in applications of both intellectual and societal relevance. The research carried out within WAVES may lead to important societal improvements, from the study of earthquakes to the medical applications of ultrasound.

Three work packages (WP1, WP2 and WP3) will coordinate research objectives.

WP4 will dedicate to training activities, and dissemination activities will be coordinated by WP5.