The phenomenon of scouring represents a significant contributing factor in the destabilizing and destruction of civil structures (bridges, earth embankments and buildings) during major flood events, yet our understanding of the mechanisms involved remains highly empirical. These erosive processes are complex and involve many disciplines including soil, fluid and structural mechanics. To overcome the reliance on empiricism, while building general knowledge and proposing optimized methods aimed at diagnostics, advanced warning procedures and infrastructure management, a consortium comprising six complementary partners has been formed within the project SSHEAR (?Soils, Structures and Hydraulics: Expertise and Applied Research?) financially supported by the French National Research Agency (ANR). After a presentation of the project, a first assessment of the achieved results is proposed: experimental developments; numerical modelling; feedback in the field.