Host Member Society: United Kingdom
Short name: Observational Method (TC206) - Terms of Reference - approved
Contact: TC206 Secretary, Alessandro Martucci
TC-206 External Website: tc206issmge
We are delighted to update you that the 1st #ObservationalMethodConference has been successfully held at Imperial College London on 17 March 2026.
If you missed the conference, feel free to explore TC206 webpage for the fantastic keynote speeches and pres
…We are thrilled to announce the upcoming 1st International Conference on Observational Method, set to take place at #Imperial College London, London, UK, on 17th March 2026!
This premier geotechnica
…Dear All
You are invited to attend the next TC206-220 Monitoring Group meeting, the 5th Technical Presentatoin.
We are pleased to welcome Dr Nader Saffari, Professional Head Earthwork Structures & Geotechnical, Transport for London, who will be presenting a talk t
…Dear colleagues,
Our upcoming technical presentation will be delivered by Dr. Truong Lee (Imperial College), Dr Ying Chen (Transport for London) and Ningxin Yang (Imperial College). Please feel free to share this invitation with anyone who may have an interest in the topic.
…WS8 workshop entitled Observational Method (OM): From Analysis to Data Interpretation and New Eurocodes. The workshop was split into four sessions, the first, was run by TC220 The Second Session was organised by TC206 and TC220. The third session was run by TC206 in conjunc
…Congratulations !!
Mr. Duncan Nicholson, from United Kingdom (UK) for being re-elected as Chair of TC206 for the second term, Calendar years "2023-2026"
From the entire team of TC206 and on behalf of members of ISSMGE.
British Geotechnical Association Event: Half-day Mini-Symposium on Observational Method (6th February 2024, London, UK)
The Observational Method (OM) in ground engineering is a continuous, managed, integrated process of design, construction control, monitoring and r
…In the year 2023, on 7th December, New Civil Engineer (NCE) conducted event that brought together the tunnelling community for an interactive and immersive day of case studies. Details can be accessed at (https://tunnelling.newcivilengineer.com/tunnelling2023/en/page/home).
Th
…In the year 2023, on 5th October, Ground Engineering (https://www.geplus.co.uk/) conducted 2nd Smart Geotechnics conference at Victoria Park Plaza, London. The main facus of the conference was to bring together experts working in the field of GE Instrumentation and Monitoring, ge
…In the year 2023, on 11th October 2023, the eleventh episode of International Interactive Technical Talk was launched by TC206. Duncan Nicholson, Tony O'Brien, Ying Chen and Anyang Yaw Michael with Dr. Marc Ballouz discussed about Observational Method. The recorded vide
…In the year 2023, dated 29th August 1st Sept., the 4th International Symposium of Machine Learning and Big Data in Geoscience & Geoengineering (ISMLG) was held at University College Cork, Ireland. The theme of the symposium was Data-centric solutions for reshaping the next ge
…The eleventh episode of International Interactive Technical Talk has just been launched and is supported by TC206. Duncan Nicholson, Tony O'Brien, Ying Chen and Anyang Yaw Michael are discussing with Dr. Marc Ballouz about Observational Method.
…To download full paper click here
There is a new book on the Observational Method by Alan Powderham and Tony O'Brien entitled The Observational Method in Civil Engineering, which may be of interest to members.
| # | Type | Full Name | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chair | Duncan Nicholson | United Kingdom |
| 2 | Vice Chair | Ying Chen | United Kingdom |
| 3 | Secretary | Alessandro Martucci | Hong Kong Special Administrative Region |
| 4 | Nominated by TC Chair | Stuart Hardy | United Kingdom |
| 5 | Corresponding Member | Hock Liong Liew | United Kingdom |
| 6 | Nominated Member | Paweł Popielski | Poland |
| 7 | Nominated Member | Ravi Kiran Vaidya | India |
| 8 | Corresponding Member | B. Manna | India |
| 9 | Corresponding Member | Ankesh Kumar | India |
| 10 | Nominated Member | Christopher Menkiti | United Kingdom |
| 11 | Nominated Member | David Zhang | Australia |
| 12 | Nominated Member | Johan Spross | Sweden |
| 13 | Nominated Member | Tomasz Godlewski | Poland |
| 14 | Corresponding Member | Jinsong Huang | Australia |
| 15 | Corresponding Member | Andrew Ridley | United Kingdom |
| 16 | Nominated Member | Teoh Yaw Poh | Singapore |
| 17 | Nominated Member | B.K. Maheshwari | India |
| 18 | Nominated Member | Franz Tschuchnigg | Austria |
| 19 | Nominated Member | Miguel Conceição | Portugal |
| 20 | Nominated Member | Ayfer Erken | Turkey |
| 21 | Nominated Member | Sje Ting Tan | Singapore |
| 22 | Corresponding Member | Leen De Vos | Belgium |
| 23 | Nominated Member | Anil Yunatci | Turkey |
| 24 | Corresponding Member | Dorota Symonidou | Poland |
| 25 | Corresponding Member | Aliasger Haiderali | United Kingdom |
| 26 | Nominated Member | GUSTAVO ROCHA VIANNA | Brazil |
| 27 | Nominated Member | Habib Shahnazari | Iran |
| 28 | Corresponding Member | Truong Le | United Kingdom |
| 29 | Nominated Member | Zhiguo Yan | China |
| 30 | Corresponding Member | Gavin Toh | Hong Kong Special Administrative Region |
| 31 | Corresponding Member | Augus Maxwell | Hong Kong Special Administrative Region |
| 32 | Corresponding Member | James Sze | Hong Kong Special Administrative Region |
| 33 | Corresponding Member | Agustin Ruiz Lopez | United Kingdom |
| 34 | Nominated Member | Mehran Naghizadeh | Germany |
| 35 | Nominated Member | Tara Wood | Sweden |
| 36 | Nominated Member | Christian Moormann | Germany |
| 37 | Corresponding Member | Ki-Tae Chang | South Korea |
| 38 | Nominated Member | David Sullivan | New Zealand |
| 39 | Nominated Member | Antonio Cañavate Grimal | Spain |
| 40 | Nominated Member | Ignasi Aliguer Piferrer | Spain |
| 41 | Corresponding Member | Michael Williamson | Singapore |
| 42 | Corresponding Member | Alvin Lam | Hong Kong Special Administrative Region |
| 43 | Nominated Member | Helmut F. Schweiger | Austria |
| 44 | Nominated Member | Calogero Valore | Italy |
| 45 | Nominated Member | Mandy Korff | Netherlands |
| 46 | Nominated Member | Sebastiano Rampello | Italy |
| 47 | Nominated Member | Umur Salih OKYAY | France |
| 48 | Nominated Member | Tony O'Brien | United Kingdom |
The following “planned activities” are proposed by the TC206:-
The timeframe for this is 3 months
A developing area is real time back analysis using Bayesian methods to automate the redesign process. Procedures need to be developed and tested.
A reference list and comparisons will be made. The time frame for this is 6 months and parallels Eurocode updates.
The Objective 4 identifies some of the other TC’s to interact with.The Chair/members of TC206 are individually interacting with the relevant TC’s and report back to the whole TC. From those contacts a proposal for a joint meeting is developed taking place at a ISSMGE conference.
Deliverables
The deliverables include:-
Objective 1 deliverables - An active TC206 group and clarification on ID / OM with a web site. – 3 months
Objective 2 deliverables – A coordinated approach to OM through different guides and codes. The redrafting of the Eurocode is in progress. The OM aspects will be disseminated - 6 months.
Objective 3 deliverable - Joint ISSMGE Conferences with other TC particularly on back analysis. - The ISSMGE 2021 will be a key target to link with other TC’s.
Objective 4 deliverable – A contractual framework for the use of OM by industry. The first step in to identify key contractors and clients. 3 months – a contractual framework would take about a year.
