In Memoriam

ICTP is mourning the sudden passing of Abdelkrim (Karim) Aoudia, a geophysicist and seismologist in the Centre's Earth System Physics (ESP) section.

He was acting head of ESP and coordinator of that section's Solid-Earth Geophysics Research Group, leading a team of researchers using seismology, space geodesy, tectonics and numerical experiments to understand such topics as the mechanics of earthquakes and faulting and the structure and fluid dynamics of the Earth's crust and upper mantle in active earthquake and volcanic regions.

Aoudia was also a faculty member of the Earth Science, Fluid-Dynamics, and Mathematics - Interactions and Methods (ESFM) PhD programme at the University of Trieste.

He earned a PhD in geophysics and geodynamics from the University of Trieste in 1997. He first arrived at ICTP in 1995 as a fellow of the Centre's Training and Research in Italian Laboratories (TRIL) programme, eventually joining the ESP section in 2007.

He founded the ICTP Earth System Physics pre-PhD Diploma, a one-year educational programme for students from developing countries. Over the years he supervised and co-supervised more than 20 PhD students and organised more than 40 international summer schools, conferences and advanced workshops at ICTP and in developing countries.

He was the ICTP focal point for a number of international associations and funding agencies, such as the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG), The Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS), the Arab Fund, and insurance companies Generali and Zurich Insurance Group, as well as national development agencies. He oversaw ICTP's Memorandum of Understanding with the African Union to promote advanced studies and research across the African continent.

A more detailed tribute to Aoudia is forthcoming.