ISSMGE Bulletin – Volume 6 Issue 1 February 2012

Message to ISSMGE Members

By Professor Michael C R Davies, Vice President for Australasia and First Vice President ISSMGE

It is a pleasure, through this article in the Bulletin, to be able to address members of the ISSMGE in order to provide some insight into the activities of the Australasia region of the ISSMGE. In terms of the number of member societies Australasia is the smallest of the six ISSMGE regions. However, if the numbers of individual members in the two societies that constitute the region are considered, the region is the fourth largest; with Australia and New Zealand having the fourth and eleventh largest number, respectively, of ISSMGE members of the 87 member societies. In his Message to ISSMGE Members, published in this bulletin last year¹, Professor Roberto Terzariol, Vice President for South America, presented an analysis of the ratio of numbers of ISSMGE members in each society to the number of millions of inhabitants of each country. From this analysis he demonstrated that the median value of this ratio for the Australasia region – at 64 ISSMGE members per million inhabitants – was some three times greater than that of the region with the next highest ratio, which was Europe with a median of 20. This analysis indicates that, relative to the other ISSMGE regions, in terms of attracting members to the ISSMGE the two societies in the Australasia region have been highly successful. Whilst I am sure that the strength of the Australian Geomechanics Society (AGS) and the New Zealand Geotechnical Society (NZGS) has been the result of the hard work and enthusiasm of the officers and members of the two societies over many years, it is also a reflection of the importance for the society in Australia and New Zealand of there being good practice in geotechnical engineering.

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