"This Career Integration Grant will support me during my transition from a postdoctoral scientist in Columbia University in NYC to a University Lecturer at the University of Oxford. It will allow my proper reintegration to Europe, since I originally come from Greece but have been studying in the US for the last 5 years (4 years PhD -1 year Postdoc). Success within the targets of this CIG project will allow me to become a permanent Lecturer at the University of Oxford after 5 years and hence a permanent member of the ERA. The CIG will provide me with substantial research budget that will also allow me to attend several conference and disseminate my work as well as creating collaborations within the European and international research communities. Below follows a short description of the project:A wide range of structural and non-structural elements are not tied or bolted to their support medium and thus are free to experience large displacements and rotations when subjected to ground motions. Their response is in general a three dimensional motion where rigid body modes such as: sliding, bouncing, spinning and swiveling (when casters are used) and rotating with respect to a vertex of the body may dominate the response to a lesser or greater extent, depending on the properties of the body, its support medium and the ground motions characteristics. This rich non-linear 3D response may overall be characterized as rocking. This research will develop new models that accurately describe the behavior of rocking objects, quantify the associated risk and suggest solutions to minimize it."