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