18SEAGC & 1AGSSEAC, May 2013, Singapore

By Dr. Ooi Teik Aun, President SEAGS June 1, 2013

The 18SEAGC & 1AGSSEAC was successfully held on 29 – 31 May 2013 in Singapore with more than 350 participants. The conference was organized by the Geotechnical Society of Singapore (GeoSS) under the auspices of the Southeast Asian Geotechnical Society (SEAGS) and the Association of Geotechnical Societies in Southeast Asia (AGSSEA) and co-organized by the Society for Rock Mechanics & Engineering Geology (Singapore) (SRMEG) and supported by the SIMSG and ISSMGE.

The Organizing Chairman Prof. C. F. Leung with S. H. Goh as Secretary and R. F. Shen as Treasurer and other committee members did an excellent job to bring about a very successful conference.

There were 7 Keynote Lectures namely:-
Keynote 1 (Z. C. Moh Lecture) “Use of Numerical Analysis with Eurocode 7” delivered by Prof Brian Simpson.
Keynote 2 (Chin Fung Kee Lecture) “Drafting a National Annex to Eurocode 7 – The Malaysia Experience” delivered by Mr. Tan Yang Kheng.
Keynote 3 (S. L. Lee Lecture) “Is Site Investigation an Investment or Expense? – A Reliability Perspective” delivered by Prof K K Phoon.
Keynote 4 “Study of Negative Skin Friction on Pile Subject to Surcharge and Ground Subsidence” delivered by Dr. S. M. Woo
Keynote 5 “Strength and Durability of Calcium Carbide Residue Stabilized Clay in Pavement Applications” delivered by Prof. S Horpibulsuk
Keynote 6 “Spatial Variations in Groundwater Response. During Deep Tunnelling” delivered by Dr. L. J. Endicott
Keynote 7 “The Application of Ground Improvement Techniques in Indonesia” delivered by T. L. Gouw
The 3-day conference also attracted 145 technical papers which were all presented by the presenters in parallel sessions. Hard bound and soft copies of the proceedings of over 1000 pages were produced and given to the participants.

The conference was made possible by the generous financial support of the sponsors and exhibitors. Their efforts to make this conference a success are greatly appreciated and acknowledged.

To the participants, I thank you for your support and I have no doubt that you have greatly benefited from the exchange of ideas during the conference.

In conjunction with the conference, the respective council meetings of SEAGS & AGSSEA and the General meeting of SEAGS members were also held.

Dr. T. A. Ooi and Prof. K. Y. Yong were re-elected as President and Chairman of the SEAGS and AGSSEA respectively. Dr. Noppodol Phienwej was elected as the Honorary Secretary General Cum Treasurer of SEAGS. Ir Kenny Yee was re-elected Honorary Secretary General and Prof Charles Ng as Treasurer respectively of the AGSSEA. Prof A. S. Balasubramaniam and Prof. D. T. Bergado were elected as honorary member of the SEAGS in recognition of their services to SEAGS. The meetings also confirmed Prof A. S. Balasubramaniam as the Editor-in-Chief of the SEAGS-AGSSEA Journal. 

The meetings also confirmed that the 19SEAGC-2AGSSEAC will be held in Hanoi, Vietnam in 2016.

The conference will be organized by Vietnamese Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering under the auspices of the Southeast Asian Geotechnical Society (SEAGS) and the Association of Geotechnical Societies in Southeast Asia (AGSSEA).

The SEAGS & AGSSEA also produced and distributed complimentary copies of CD on the collection of past journal papers for 1970 – 2012 during the conference. The CD will be useful to practitioners and researchers alike.

On 28th May 2013, a one day conference was held successfully for the Young Geotechnical Engineers (see report by Dr. Victor Ong Chee Wee) >> Read more