Corporate Associates Presidential Group
Update May 2020
This month we warmly welcome CCCC Fourth Harbor Engineering Institute Co. Ltd. of Guangzhou, China as a Corporate Associate of the ISSMGE, bringing the number of Corporate Associates to 43 (https://www.issmge.org/corporate-associates/listing). By providing outstanding and unique opportunities for the Corporate Associates to work with the ISSMGE and the global geotechnical community, the Corporate Associates Presidential Group (CAPG) aims to grow the number of Corporate Associates to 60 in this ISSMGE Presidential Term (2017 to 2021). Details of why and how to join are provided on this link https://www.issmge.org/corporate-associates/why-how-to-join.
All Corporate Associates are welcome to call in and participate in the CAPG Core Team scheduled six weekly teleconferences of 1- hour duration. Our next call is on Wednesday 15th July 2020, starting at 9.45 PM Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST). Further details can be obtained from Sam Mackenzie (GHD), Sam.Mackenzie@ghd.com.
Wrap up of 2019 CAPG activities
New – Report on the ‘Geo-education for the Future’ – XVI Pan-American Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Cancún, México, November 2019 is now published on the ISSMGE Bulletin, 2020, Volume 14 Issue 2, pages 15 to 19, http://issmge2014.ust.hk/apr2020/3.CAPGmessage.pdf.
Companion reports and information on other 2019 CAPG sessions are as follows:
- Collaboration in geotechnical engineering – Impact on research and project delivery (Plenary session, April 2019, Perth, Australia), Volume 13, Issue 3, pages 25 to 29, http://issmge2014.ust.hk/jun2019/3b.Conference_report
- Bridging the gap between designers and constructors: how do we ensure effective ‘transfer’ of design into construction? (Plenary session, September 2019, Reykjavik, Iceland), Volume 13, Issue 3, pages 25 to 29, http://issmge2014.ust.hk/oct2019/2.CAPG.pdf
- Geotechnical innovation (Plenary session, October 2019, Cape Town, South Africa), 8 Papers on innovation from Corporate Associates for the Africa session are available open source at https://www.issmge.org/publications/online-library. Search under Regional Conferences tab, then the 17th African Regional conference, and then CAPG session.
- Are we overdesigning? (Theme session, October 2019, Taipei, Taiwan), Volume 13, Issue 5, pages 14 to 18, (http://issmge2014.ust.hk/feb2020/2.Message.pdf)
2020/ 2021 CAPG Activities
Focussed on making ICSMGE 2021 in Sydney, Australia (12- 17 September 2021) a great outcome for our Corporate Associates; Making a significant presence by the Corporate Associates at the International Foundations Conference and Equipment Expo (IFCEE 2021), May 10-14, 2021, Dallas, Texas; Making a great contribution to the understanding of geotechnical engineering practice through “Are we overdesigning survey?; Supporting ISSMGE Virtual University through promotion of short videos on geotechnical engineering created by Corporate Associates. Details below.
20th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Sydney, 12 - 17 September 2021 (ICSMGE 2021)
There will be a very high Corporate Associate involvement and profile in the conference, including we hope strong support to the sponsorship and exhibition opportunities for this highly prestigious conference, to be held for the very first time in Australasia. This conference will be a showcase for excellence in technical conferences post COVID -19. Details of the work CAPG are undertaking for this conference includes,
- ISSMGE Plenary Session presenting the results of the "are we overdesigning?" survey
- ISSMGE parallel session. CAPG has invited technical abstracts from the Corporate Associates, with an allocation of 15 papers; Dr Peter Day (CAPG Chair) has secured this important opportunity for Corporate Associates. Submissions are to be on innovation in research, investigation, design, construction, products and materials. Please look out for this email, already sent to Corporate Associates
- ISSMGE CAPG Dinner (Wednesday 15th September 2021), to have all the Corporate Associates in one gathering to celebrate the CAPG achievements of the current presidential term. Yuli (Chaido) Doulala-Rigby (Tensar) is the CAPG Social Event Organiser and is contacting each Corporate Associate, to SAVE THE DATE. Please keep a look out for this email
- Powerful, Informative Talks (PITs) – CAPG is supporting the Technical Program Committee of the ICSMGE 2021 to develop guidelines for inviting and conducting of these innovative short duration talks, modelled from similar initiative at the recent Geo-Congress, USA, to inspire and inform the geotechnical and broader world. Dr Hugo Acosta-Martinez (Aurecon) is contributing to the development of the guidelines.
International Foundations Conference and Equipment Expo (IFCEE), May 10-14, 2021, Dallas, Texas, USA
This is an important event in the geotechnical calendar, and it is organised by and has strong participation of members from ADSC – The International Association of Foundation Drilling, DFI (Deep Foundations Institute), G-I (Geo-Institute of American Society of Civil Engineers), and PDCA (Pile Driving Contractors Association). CAPG is very fortunate to be supported in our initiative for securing a speciality session by the ASCE G-I International Activities Council.
Dr Mark H Wayne (Tensar) will be our USA based Champion/ Anchor person for our work on this, supported by Dr Aly M. Mohammad (AECOM) also of USA. In May 2020, an immense amount of effort has been made by Dr Tim Newson (Vice President North America), Dr Jennifer Nicks (member of the ASCE G-I International Activities Council), Dr Hugo Acosta-Martinez (Aurecon), Ms Lucy Wu (Chair YMPG), and Dr Dimitrios Zekkos (Chair Innovation Development Committee) to deliver a proposal to the IFCEE 2021 organising committee. We expect a decision in June 2020.
“Are we overdesigning?” Survey
Complete details of how to undertake and submit the survey can be found both on the ISSMGE website (https://www.issmge.org/news/are-we-overdesigning-a-survey-of-international-practice). In addition to providing valuable insight into the practice of design across various countries in the world, the survey is also a great opportunity to benchmark companies approach to design of relatively simple geotechnical problems.
Lucy Wu (Chair YMPG) and YMPG team have proposed an exciting initiative to hold “virtual conferences” at regular intervals in the coming months to encourage greater participation and completion of this survey. We anticipate the first of these “virtual conferences” to be held before end of July 2020 for Africa, followed by other regions as practicable between July and December 2020. These "virtual conferences" will ideally be hosted by Corporate Associates, with introduction and guidance through the session by a prominent geotechnical person in the region, and an easy to use and on time display of answers interface created by the YMPG. Consideration is also being given to holding these “virtual conferences” in languages other than English. Further details including how to join these "virtual conferences" will be announced in due course.
Contributing to the ISSMGE Virtual University through short videos on geotechnical engineering
The Innovation and Development Committee (IDC) of the ISSMGE has developed the Virtual University webpage (https://www.issmge.org/news/announcing-the-issmge-virtual-university-an-open-access-global-educational-initiative) which is gathering multiple videos relevant to our profession. The IDC is seeking the support from all TCs and the CAPG to provide a 10 min short video on “How to…”… e.g. TC304 (Prof Andy Leung and Prof KK Phoon) prepared 15-min video on “How to perform reliability analyses with a spreadsheet”.
The Contribution from Corporate Associates would be more related to activities from geotechnical engineering practice. The videos are meant for undergraduate students. It is a norm that many do not have a chance to see any real equipment or site activities in action. A picture is better than a 1000 words as the saying goes. The IDC has informed CAPG that this kind of videos will be hard for academics to produce – not impossible, but hard. The IDC do not need sophisticated video editing.
Thank you for your continued support of the ISSMGE. Your participation and/or feedback is always appreciated.
Peter Day, Chair CAPG, & Sukumar Pathmanandavel, Co-Chair CAPG
Uploaded on to ISSMGE page post 27 May 2020 CAPG Core Team Conference Call
