In times where international conflicts keep dictating the headlines of news outlets, we take comfort in the spirit of RILEM: our multi-cultural, multi-language, multi-ethnic, and multi-disciplinary family, where members work together in harmony to advance scientific knowledge:

• RILEM members (and not only!) gathered during two official events in 2024: in April, at the RILEM Spring Convention, organised by Liberato Ferrara and his team and colleagues, in the fashionable Milan, Italy; and in August at the 78^th RILEM Annual Week, in Toulouse, France, where Prof. Alexandra Bertron welcomed the delegates to an exceptional conference, to be remembered in years to come. In this occasion, RILEM paid tribute to Prof. Ravindra Gettu, after 9 years in the RILEM Presidency (and many more as RILEM officer) and welcomed Prof. Hans Beushausen as new RILEM Vice-President. In Toulouse, the workshop “Imagine – RILEM and the climate change” was the opportunity to discuss important issues around our commitment to sustainability in our operations and strategies.
• In 2024, TAC members have been busy with reviewing the proposals of new Technical Committees: 3 new TCs were established in April and 4 in August. You can check the last updates on the progress of the existing TCs in the last issue of the RILEM Technical Report. TAC members also approved the co-sponsorship of 34 events! Stay tuned as the 2025 calendar is already busy with many more events!
• The members of EAC have been active too! In 2024, they have organised 9 ROC&TOK webinars (all available to be rewatched for free on the RILEM YouTube channel), co-sponsored 16 PhD courses, and continued to feed the list of free educational materials in EPON.
• In 2024, RILEM announced the publication of 9 Proceedings published by Springer, and 1 by RILEM Publications. It also promoted 3 recommendations, in the format of free-access papers, available with all the other recommendations here. An endless list of TC papers and TC reports have been published in Materials and Structures and RILEM Technical Letters. These publications represent the work of the members of the RILEM Technical Committees, the cornerstone of the association!
• Maybe the busiest of the RILEM officers have been the members of the RILEM Youth Council! Besides 7 Peer-to-Peer webinars organised in 2024, they have also launched the first RILEM Youth Symposium, that will take place in October next year!
• RILEM established 8 new partnerships in 2024, all of them characterised by a priority collaborative effort: reducing the carbon footprint of the construction industry. On this matter… the new Chair and Senior Advisor of GLOBE invite you to join in!
• We will meet again in 2025, at the Spring Convention in March in Mendrisio, Switzerland, and at the 79^th Annual Week in Hanoi, Vietnam, in August. Happy festive seasons and see you in the new year!