The International Forum on Reliability Engineering and Risk Management 2023 (IFRERM 2023) was held in Kanagawa, Japan from February 23 to 26, 2023. IFRERM 2023 was jointly organized by Kanagawa University and the International Association on Reliability Engineering and Risk Management (IARERM), and sponsored by BJUT. Professor Haizhong Zhang from Kanagawa University and Professor Lu Zhaohui from FACTE served as co-chairs and took charge of the arrangements of IFRERM 2023.

The opening ceremony took place at Kanagawa University and moderated by Professor Haizhong Zhang. Professor Makoto Oguma, President of Kanagawa University, delivered welcoming remarks. Professor Zhaohui Lu from FACTE, who served as Chair of IARERM, extended his sincere gratitude and a warm welcome to all the participants. Professor Lu also introduced the research background, objectives and significance of reliability engineering and risk management, reviewed IFRERM’s journey since its inception, relived the memorable moments of the past forums, and called upon more people to conduct research in reliability engineering.

Preparations for IFRERM 2023 began in 2022 and received strong support and feedback from scholars and experts at home and abroad. IFRERM 2023 gathered participants from China, Singapore, Germany, and Japan. Eleven internationally recognized scholars gave invited lectures. They were Professor Kok-Kwang Phoon from National University of Singapore (Academician at the Academy of Engineering Singapore); Professor Michael Beer from Leibniz University Hannover; Professor Yasuhiro Mori from Nagoya University; Professor Takeshi Kitahara from Kanto Gakuin University; Professor Haizhong Zhang from Kanagawa University; Professor Jianbing Chen from Tongji University; Professor Chien-Kuo Chiu from National Taiwan University of Science and Technology; Professor Li Xiaojun from BJUT; Professor Xu Chengshun; Professor Lu Zhaohui; and Associate Professor Zhang Xuanyi.

IFRERM 2023 leveraged Internet technologies and provided virtual and in-person meeting formats. There were four sub-forums that focused on eleven topics. Fifty academic presentations were held. Participants exchanged their views and ideas on the following topics: lifetime reliability assessment of railroads; seismic resilience analysis of infrastructure systems; evaluation and management of wind induced vibrations; uncertainty analysis of geotechnical engineering data; lifetime risk and resilience assessment of engineering structures under the conditions of uncertain natural disasters; seismic risk and resilience analysis; structural attenuation models and time-varying reliability under uncertain conditions; and real-world uncertainty quantification and data-driven decision-making. Participants also shared the latest developments in the field of reliability engineering and risk management and gained valuable insights from the discussions.