The 4th International Young Geotechnical Engineers Conference (4iYGEC) was held at the Hotel El Mahrousa on the sea front in Alexandria on the 3 and 4 October 2009. The organizing committee was chaired by Prof. Fatma Baligh. The event gathered 89 papers, and 83 of the authors – representing 42 countries on five continents ‐ travelled to Alexandria to present their papers. Eleven participants came from Africa, 7 from the Americas, 21 from Asia, 2 from Australia and 42 from Europe. The conference began with an opening ceremony where Prof. Fatma Baligh, Prof. Mamdouh Hamza, Prof. Neil Taylor and Prof. Pedro Seco e Pinto welcomed the participants.

Delegates and organizing committee of the 4th International Young Geotechnical Engineering Conference.

Following the opening ceremony, a plenary lecture presented by Prof. Ahmed Elgamal (University of California, San Diego, USA) preceded the technical sessions that addressed these themes:
‐ Soil Behaviour and Properties, New Concepts and Correlations
‐ Ground Improvement: Chemical, Mechanical and Reinforcement
‐ Seepage Flow, Contaminated Soil Treatment and Response
‐ Landslide and Slope Stability, Case Studies
‐ Deep Foundation Design and Practice
‐ Performance of Different Types of Earth Retaining Structures
‐ Soil Structure Interaction, Risk Management
‐ Underground Construction

At the end of each session, a symbolic prize was awarded for the best presentation.

Delegates and organizing committee of the 4th International Young Geotechnical Engineering Conference.

As the 4iYGEC is held within the framework of the 17th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (17th ICSMGE), all of the young participants of 4iYGEC were invited to attend the 17th ICSMGE held in the Library of Alexandria (Bibliotheca Alexandrina). During the two first days of the 17th ICSGME (5‐6 October 2009) the participants attended five State‐of‐The‐Art lectures, a Heritage Lecture and two lectures on Great Projects. On 6 October in the session “Thoughts and Observations,” the 4iYGEC conference chairperson and three chosen participants presented a briefing of what had taken place at the 4iYGEC. An optional Technical Visit to the San‐Stefano Hotel Harbour was also scheduled this day.

A Cultural Evening of Egyptian Folk Dancing was held around the swimming pool at El‐Mahrousa Hotel where traditional oriental food and beverages were served to the 4iYGEC participants.

The 4iYGEC was a great contribution to the sharing of scientific knowledge in the field of soil mechanics and geotechnical engineering.

Reported by Prof. Fatma Baligh

Read more from ISSMGE Bulletin – Volume 3 Issue 4 December 2009 (pp.22-24)
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The 2nd Thai Young Geotechnical Engineers Meeting

Following on the success of the 1st Thai Young Geotechnical Engineers Meeting (tYGEM) held at Khon Kaen City in 2006, the 2nd tYGEM was held in Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand from 20 to 21 October 2007. The venue was at Srinagarind Dam, located 120 km west side from the capital Bangkok. The meeting was organized by the Geotechnical Engineering Subcommittee, the Engineering Institute of Thailand under H.M. the King’s Patronage (EIT), in cooperation with the Geotechnical Engineering Research and Development Center of the Kasetsart University. 130 delegates from Universities in Thailand registered for this meeting.

The purpose and objective of this meeting was to bring together both senior and young geotechnical engineers from various universities to stay together so that they could meet and interchange ideas in an informal atmosphere. The organizing committee would like to encourage the young geotechnical delegates to develop a wider scope of thinking in the geotechnical engineering field. Attendees will not only be comfortable in exchanging technical leanings, but the organizing committee wishes to form personal linkages with peers across universities.

In the opening ceremony, the Chairman of the Geotechnical Engineering Subcommittee Dr.Watcharin Gasaluck described the significance and aims of this meeting and then the Chairman expressed that the Geotechnical Engineering Subcommittee of EIT is always supporting the activity of younger generations who will bear the future of the geotechnical engineering in Thailand.

The meeting was started with the technical sessions. In 5 technical sessions chaired by junior lecturers from various universities, each participant had the opportunity to make a 10 minutes presentation on a project or research topic which they were currently or had been recently involved in the graduate study. The fruitful discussions and comments from the senior members give a good idea and encourage the younger members in continuing a good research work. The summary session was conducted in the main conference room after a whole day and long presentations by a senior geotechnical engineer, Dr.Warakorn Mai-Rieng, the Head of Civil Engineering Department, Kasetsart University. Dr. Warakorn stated the high success of this meeting with the full achievement of the objective.

All audiences agreed that this kind of meeting should be continued as long as possible under the support from EIT and from the local universities. The next meeting will tentatively be organized next year by the Ubonratchatani University which is located in the Northeastern part of Thailand and located about 500 km from Bangkok. The academic part of the meeting was completed by the official dinner with a variety of local foods and drinks. The 2nd tYGEM has finally finished with a technical excursion. A technical visit to the Srinagarind Dam– One of major dams in Thailand which is located on the active faults and with many geotechnical works, was organized for the conference delegates.

Reported by Dr.Pongsakorn Punrattanasin, the Engineering Institute of Thailand

From ISSMGE Bulletin: Volume 1 Issue 4 (p.2)
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Report of the Second Young African Geotechnical Engineering Conference (2nd YAGEC)

The venue of the 2nd YAGEC was at Yasmine Hammamet located 60 km from the capital Tunis. This conference, co-organized by the International Society of Soil Mechanics (ISSMGE) and Geotechnical Engineering and the Tunisian Society of Soil Mechanics (ATMS), was preceded by the board meeting of ISSMGE held March 15th 2007 at National Engineering School of Tunis (ENIT).

About seventy (70) participants, from nineteen (19) countries, attended the 2nd YAGEC. Five industrial institutions exhibited their products in geotechnical field. In the opening ceremony, after welcome by the ATMS president, the president PS Pinto briefly exposed the activities of ISSMGE and expressed his support for a better emancipation of geotechnical engineering in Africa.

Site Visit to Radès La Goulette Bridge

The proceedings of 2nd YAGEC included thirty six (36) papers among which twenty eight (28) oral presentations were given by young geotechnical engineers from seven countries (Algeria, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Libya, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia). For several reasons some young geotechnical engineers from Egypt, Nigeria and Sudan were unable to attend the 2nd YAGEC.

Board ISSMGE members contributed in this event by five keynote lectures presented by professors and chairing sessions for oral presentations (PS Pinto, N. Taylor, W. Van Impe, O. Kusakabe and M. Bouassida). The jury composed by the presidents of sessions selected the two best oral presentations for each ATMS awarded 250 Tunisian dinars.

The 2nd YAGEC ended by a technical excursion, the participants visited the project in progress “Radès La Goulette Bridge” and have been informed about soft soil improvement by geodrains.

All participants warmly expressed the good organization as well as well quality of papers presented in the 2nd YAGEC. This successful achievement greatly benefited the supports from the presidency of Tunisian Republic and the Ministry of High Education, Scientific Research and Technology.

Reported by M. Bouassida, Vice President of International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering for Africa

From ISSMGE Bulletin: Volume 1 Issue 2 (p.2)
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3rd iYGEC International Young Geotechnical Engineers’ Conference (iYGEC) 2005
Osaka, Japan / 12–16 September 2005

sponsored by the ISSMGE and the Japanese Geotechnical Society (JGS)

The International Young Geotechnical Engineer Conference (iYGEC) is an official conference, which has been held under the auspices of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE). The aim of the conference is to encourage the young geotechnical engineers to develop a broader scope in geotechnical engineering than the conventional one. This is because the world is now faced by new important problems as those related with environmental issues, mega cities, food and energy supply. The first conference took place in Southampton, U.K. in 2000 and was followed by Constanza-Mamaia of Romania in 2003.

The 3rd iYGEC was recently held in Osaka, Japan from the 12th – 16th of September 2005 and was sponsored by the ISSMGE and the Japanese Geotechnical Society (JGS). The 88 attendees of iYGEC who are 35 years old or less were chosen from 45 countries with usually 2 delegates coming from each country. All delegates were divided into four groups in which research topics would fall into three themes: environment & disaster prevention, frontiers in geotechnical engineering and engineering practice. By the third day of the conference each group prepared a summary on the common issue that came from their presentations and put forward proposals for the future of geotechnical engineering to the delegates of the 16th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering. In additional to the seminars a technical visit was made to a subway construction site in the heart of Osaka’s business district. On the social side, the iYGEC was concluded in the evening on the fourth day with a farewell party, which had been organized with an impressive mouth-watering selection of Japanese cuisine.

The delegates wish to express their commitment to face the challenges of the 21st century, which are numerous and varied. Challenges such as the rapid increase in population, demands for future provision of infrastructure, major natural disasters, and the need to protect and improve our environment have strained resources and increased social problems. The participants of the 3rd iYGEC present the following Appeals to the international geotechnical community:

A. Worldwide, the volume of information relevant to geotechnical engineers is enormous, and yet much of this information is out of reach or difficult to access, especially for those in developing nations. The following are suggested to resolve this situation:

a. Consolidate information into international database- including journals, conference proceedings, past and present research, laboratory methods, data, practical guidelines, project experience, and government sponsored reports.
b. Reduce and ultimately remove the linguistic and financial barriers to obtaining this information.

B. Promote interdisciplinary collaboration and improve communication between academics and practitioners.

C. The quantity of site investigation, instrumentation, laboratory testing and experimental wore is constantly being influenced by political and financial constrains. We should continue to resist this trend.

D. Reach out to international, national and local media and policy-makers. Promote the important contribution of geotechnical engineering and raise the profile and standing of the profession in society.

E. Provide developing nations with engineering assistance, support and solutions that are sustainable at the local level. Create research partnerships between developed and developing countries to solve regional problems in a locally achievable manner.

F. Encourage the development of open-source engineering software applications, to be distributed via international database.

G. The knowledge and experience of our senior colleagues is invaluable. Experienced engineers should be encouraged to pass their knowledge to the next generation of engineers.

H. Encourage every engineer to provide feedback from project experience to the geotechnical communication.

Edited from the Report by Keith Emmett, Sheffield University and Kenny Sorensen, University College London and from the paper by I.Tawhata, University of Tokyo

From ISSMGE Bulletin: Volume 1 Issue 1 (p.3)
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