The purpose of the proposed EUROMECH Colloquium is to assess the future of theoretical, experimental and computational nonlocal/gradient mechanics and its potential to resolve a number of outstanding or emerging issues in a wide range of interdisciplinary research domains, varying from engineering and materials science to geology and biology. Participants will be selected from senior scientists who have brought the field in its current status, as well as from eminent younger contributors who are bringing in new ideas for further advancing it. In addition to European participants, a number of international contributors will also be invited.

The Invited Lectures of the proposed 3-day colloquium will be organized in 18 different sessions, the content of which will be briefly described during the Introductory Lectures of the chair and the co-chairs, to be delivered at the opening in the first day. To set up the stage, the introductory lectures will also address the following 3 key-questions: (i) Where we Stand Now; (ii) What we have Missed; (iii) Where we Go from Here.

The invited lecturers will be selected from List A below. In addition, 3 Panel Sessions (of 5-members each) will be held during the last day with a discussion on conclusions and future directions. The panelists will be selected from List B below. Finally, 4 Poster Sessions will be held during the afternoons of the first two days.

The colloquium will be structured around 3 major Units as follows:

Unit 1 will provide an account of current developments on gradient-enhanced elasticity, viscoelasticity, plasticity, damage and fracture approaches with emphasis on unresolved fundamental theoretical, computational and experimental issues. Implications to the mechanics, physics and science of materials, along with emerging applications to mechanical, civil, electrical, chemical and environmental engineering will be discussed. Possible unexplored applications to mechanics-inspired models in biomedicine (biomechanics) and finance (economechanics) will also be outlined.

In Unit 2, specific topics of current interest and active interdisciplinary research in metals, polymers, geomaterials, concrete and tissues will be considered. Key questions on the origin, nature and experimental determination of internal lengths associated with the gradient terms will be considered. Computational aspects concerning the bridging of scales through gradient terms and associated machine learning (ML) techniques will be discussed. Stochasticity and non-equilibrium statistical thermodynamics aspects – not accounted yet within the gradient mechanics approach – will be pursued. The role and relevance of fractional/fractal considerations will be explored and evaluated. The potential of these novel developments and new techniques in furthering our understanding and predictive modeling in a number of areas of physical sciences, life sciences and mathematical finance will be examined.

Unit 3 will assess future directions on theoretical, experimental and computational interdisciplinary gradient mechanics research: Possible extensions to include electro-chemo-thermo-mechanical couplings. The need for a systematic elaboration on such couplings has emerged recently in various fields: e.g. high density energy storage materials and Li-ion batteries; biomedical processes and neural transmission; industrial failures (structural, chemical/nuclear reactors) and natural hazards (land/ice slides, earthquakes).