Dr. Matteo Salvalaggio completed his 5-year M.Sc. in Building-Architectural Engineering at the Univerisity of Padova in Italy. In the framework of his Master Thesis, he was Visiting Student in the Prof. Roca group at Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, focusing on finite element modeling of heritage masonry structures. He obtained his PhD in 2022 from the University of Padova under the supervision of Prof. Valluzzi. The doctoral activities concerned the experimental characterization of timber components and their use in the retrofitting and refurbishment of existing masonry buildings. Moreover, he worked on the numerical modeling of heritage masonry structures through distinct and continuous numerical tools. During this period, he was also Visiting Student Researcher in the research group of  Prof. DeJong at the University of California, Berkeley.

He served as teaching assistant for the courses of structural Restoration and Preservative Design for Monuments and Historic Buildings at the University of Padova, and supervised various Master students.

His research interests concern Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics, with a focus on numerical tools for the simulation of discrete and continuous means. Since June 2022, Dr. Salvalaggio joined the S4H team as Post-Doctoral Fellow. His contribution will focus on the prediction and assessment of the out-of-plane and rocking behavior of masonry structures (WP4).