In memoriam Professor Emerita Dubravka Bjegović

It is with sadness that we inform members that on Sunday, April 23, 2023, Professor Emeritus Dubravka Bjegović has passed away. In many ways, Professor Bjegović was an exceptional person, a person of inexhaustible energy, great knowledge, will to live, a person who had a lot more to give. She was an excellent motivator, she knew how to recognize the potential of students, and some of them later became her close colleagues. Those who had the opportunity to work with her know that she selflessly spread her knowledge and ideas, encouraged various activities and always reminded to maintain international contacts. She connected her associates with other colleagues, professors and researchers who are still successfully collaborating on various projects today.

Dubravka Bjegović was born in Nova Gradiška on March 31, 1945. After primary and secondary education in Nova Gradiška, she enrolled at the Faculty of Civil Engineering at the University of Zagreb, where she graduated in 1968. She received her master's degree in 1978 with the subject "Measurement of corrosion of reinforcement in concrete with embedded electrodes" from the discipline Corrosion and protection of materials at the joint study of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and the Faculty of Chemical Engineering of the University of Zagreb. She defended her doctoral thesis entitled "Design of reinforced concrete structures in a chemically aggressive environment" in 1991 at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Zagreb.

Professor Emerita Dubravka Bjegović has been active in the field of durability of construction materials for over 40 years. From early in her scientific carrier, she started actively participating in numerous scientific and educational committees, realising importance of networking and knowledge transfer. Her most exceptional contribution was in RILEM TC PSC Performance based design of concrete structures, chaired by Professor Hans Beushausen. Owning to her efforts and active participation the final workshop of this committee, RILEM International Workshop on Performance-based Specification and Control of Concrete Durability, was organised in Zagreb, Croatia in June 2014. This workshop hosted over 120 scientists and practitioners in concrete technology, among which were some of the most prominent researchers from RILEM community. Next, she gave the idea and was the main organiser for the organisation of the 1st International conference on construction materials, COMS, organised in Zadar, Croatia in 2017. Finally, she was also a driving force in Croatian application for hosting RILEM Spring Convention 2019 in Croatia. It is mostly based on her hard work, motivation and never-ending optimism that the RILEM Spring Convention in Rovinj in 2019 attracted more than 450 people and yield such a great success.

During her carrier, Professor Bjegović was always motivated to improve things and to take responsibility. From 1998 to 2002, she was Vice Dean for teaching, and from 2002 to 2006, she held the position of Dean. She was the first woman to hold such a high position in the history of the Faculty of Civil Engineering.

Mostly of all, Professor Bjegović has always strongly supported young researchers and their active inclusion in international research area. With her engagement and support, she opened a way for many young scientists and helped them to establish their scientific collaboration. As a female scientist, she has always been a model example for generations of students, PhD candidates and young scientists.