Corporate Associates Presidential Group
June 2018 update, by Sukumar Pathmanandavel (Chair, CAPG)
Notes from Skopje, on the ISSMGE Board Meeting, 6 June 2018
The 1 day board meeting was a productive one, and included the highlight of attending the ceremony of awarding the Medal of Merit for Macedonia for Prof. Heinz Brandl.
CAPG progress, since Seoul September 2017 conference, was commented on very positively by the ISSMGE Board. Additionally, 4 new Corporate Associates have joined the ISSMGE in the past 9 months, through the efforts of the ISSMGE Board members. The members of the ISSMGE board are committed to helping the CAPG with securing additional Corporate Associates, now numbering 36.
The 2017 CAPG/TOC Global state of the art and state of practice in geotechnical engineering survey findings is now considered well disseminated, through, publication of the survey findings in the ISSMGE bulletin, Australian Geomechanics Journal, South African Institute of Civil Engineering Journal, enewsletter of the Ground Engineering magazine (UK), and in French language, in Revue Française de Géotechnique. We are pursuing other journals to publish this important paper. Please let us know if you can help us publishing in journals in your region.
The links below allow access pdf files of the presentations at the Seoul workshop, which contain both general and specific information about the global survey.
https://www.issmge.org/filemanager/article/17/CAPG_Seoul_Workshop_presentation.pdf
https://www.issmge.org/filemanager/article/17/Seoul_Survey_feedbackV1a.pdf
The CAPG plenary session at the ANZ Geomechanics Conference (April 2019) has been confirmed and accepted by the Conference Organising Committee. The title of the plenary session is “Collaboration in Geotechnical Engineering – Impact on Research and Project Delivery”. The structure of the plenary session will be similar to a panel discussion. We have approached a number of panellists who have tentatively accepted the invitation. We have also commenced contacting the local chapter chairs of the Australian Geomechanics Society and the New Zealand Geomechanics Society in order to encourage them to hold a discussion night at one of their local chapter meetings. The main intention is to collect ideas and comments from a wider audience who may not be attending the ANZ Conference. Organising the local discussion nights is in progress. For further information on this subject, please contact kim.chan@ghd.com
Work is continuing on the developments of the other CAPG 2019 workshops in Asia, Africa, Americas and Europe. In all this, CAPG is fortunate to be supported by members of the YMPG.
CAPG's proposal to make Feedback Forums the focus of future Regional Conferences was well recieved by the Board. We have been requested to prepare a specification for such forums, whose key feature would be to simulate debate and dialaouge between academia and practitioners for the benefit of the community.
Also well received by the Board was Peter Day's suggestion of conducting parallel sessions at international conferences for commercial organisations that focus on recent and developing innovations in geotechnical engineering. CAPG will further develop this idea.
Our next face to face board meeting is proposed to be in Mexico, in November 2018, where we hope to report on significant progress on all our workshops, as well as increased number of Corporate Associates.
Background Briefing
The Corporate Associates Presidential Group (CAPG) was established in 2011 to develop actions and activities to enhance the commercial sector of the ISSMGE. CAPG is a Board level committee of the ISSMGE and comprises representatives drawn from the Corporate Associates (CAs) of the ISSMGE. The Corporate Associates cover corporations, consultancies, contractors, equipment manufacturers, and product manufacturers. A full list of CAs, along with links to their company web sites are provided in the accompanying tab, List of CAs.
The December 2017 revised Terms of Reference of the CAPG can be viewed by clicking on to this link
https://www.issmge.org/filemanager/article/17/ISSMGE_CAPG_terms_of_reference_17-21_Rev2.pdf
In the 2013 - 2017 term, the CAPG in conjunction with the TOC and others, promoted awareness in the geotechnical community of the gap between state of art and state of practice in geotechnical engineering, through the mechanism of a global survey. Work on communicating the findings is continuing. In the 2017 – 2021 term, the CAPG intends to focus on providing a number of visible and prominent platforms to discuss, debate, and promote issues relating to geotechnical engineering, that have or are perceived to have a significant impact on the commercial sector of the ISSMGE. The five ISSMGE regional conferences in 2019, and the international conference in Sydney in 2021 have been chosen as suitable venues for creation of these platforms. It is intended that local issues are focussed on at the regional conferences, to ensure a higher level of relevance to the audience.
Increasing CA numbers to 60
The CAPG would like to increase the CA numbers from the current number of about 30 to 60. We have updated the benefits document for Corporate Associates to reflect all the progress made, see https://www.issmge.org/corporate-associates/why-how-to-join, If you can assist, please let us know.
In March 2018, we were pleased to welcome SRK Consulting and AOSA SA, both of Argentina as Corporate Associates of the ISSMGE.
CAPG Conference Calls
Please let Kim Chan (kim.chan@ghd.com) know your interest in joining in on the call, which are held at 6 weekly intervals.
Please contact the undersigned should you wish to learn more details about the Corporate Associates scheme.
Sukumar Pathmanandavel , Chair CAPG
Global Service Leader – Ground & Underground Engineering, Aurecon
T +61 2 9465 5289 M +61 413 941 487
au.linkedin.com/in/sukumarpathmanandavel
S.Pathmanandavel@aurecongroup.com
