Actes du colloque

Proceedings of the 18

International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Paris 2013

be a sense of separating geotechnical engineering from

mechanics.

Stefano Aversa (Italy) reported that the Italian member

society was also an umbrella group, and though it was not

unanimous, a large proportion of the members were against the

proposed name change, feeling that the current name defines the

society very well, and that the use of “Soil Mechanics”

differentiated the society clearly from “Rock Mechanics”.

Nicholas Vlachopoulos (Greece) stated that the Hellenic

Society wanted to keep the term “Mechanics” in the name. A

possible suggested compromise to a name change would be to

“International Society of Geo-Mechanics and Geo-engineering”.

Tim Lansivaara (Finland) said that the Finnish society did

not have a very strong view either way, but in general terms was

in favour of the proposal. The society had a close cooperation

with the sister societies, and they did not foresee a problem

there. The same applied to the Danish society, which he was

also representing at the Council Meeting.

The President called for a straw poll to see how many of the

delegates were in favour of merging with Rock Mechanics, with

the following results

Votes

For:

Against:

Abstentions: 9

Georg Heerten stated that he had to abstain since he wanted

to see a FedIGS type integration not just a merger with one of

the Sister Societies. Flor de Cock (Belgium) stated that the

Belgian society was against a merger, but strongly in favour of

collaboration.

The President commented that Professor Heinz Brandl in

his presentation at the 75 Anniversary Session during the recent

European Regional Conference in Athens, noted that in the mid

‘60s, the society (“a family”) had lost Rock Mechanics (“a

child”), that later The Society lost The Tunnelling Association

(“another child”), that later again The Society lost The

Geosynthetics Society (“yet another child”) and that now, using

the same metaphor, the name change was a step towards

attempting to re-group the family.

Dennis Becker (Canada) noted that the Canadian

Geotechnical society was also an umbrella society, and that the

ISSMGE needs to emphasise its own specialism. The term

“Soil mechanics” should be retained, as it was important in

terms of collaboration. He felt that there was no compelling

evidence for why the name should change. The President

commented on a possible analogy with the medical profession,

in that in the go-to-contact in terms of the public was the

American Medical Association. Dennis Becker felt that that

was not necessarily the role of the ISSMGE, that it should be

considered an advocate of the profession.

Michele Jamiolkowski noted that there were supporters of

both sides of the argument, and explained that he was very

supportive of a merger with ISRM. Many rock mechanics

engineers had left the society which he thought was now

dominated by petroleum and mining engineers.

The President commented that he had had discussions with

John Hudson, President of ISRM, who thought that a merger

now was not appropriate.

Gabriel Auvinet commented that there could be an issue

with the French version of the new name. Roger Frank said that

he thought it would be SIG.

The President called for a vote on the proposal of changing

the name of the Society, with the following result:

Votes

For:

Against:

Abstentions: 1

Thus, the motion was defeated, and the name of the society

remains.

The President stated that he appreciated the professional

discussion and debate, and the passion expressed for the

profession. He noted that one of his goals was to engage

members in the business of the society, and that fruitful

discussion leads to consideration of who and what the society is,

how it works, the difference between the member societies, and

what the society wants.

CHANGE OF NAME OF THE QUADRENNIAL

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE FROM ICSMGE -

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SOIL MECHANICS

AND GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING" TO "WCSMGE -

WORLD CONFERENCE ON SOIL MECHANICS AND

GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING"

This motion had been proposed by the Hellenic Member

Society, and the President noted that it was seconded the US

member society. It was felt that there were many “International

Conferences”, and that it was important to differentiate.

Roger Frank said that the French society was in favour, but

that they requested that if the name change was approved, that it

should not be applicable until after the next international

conference scheduled for Paris, as much groundwork and

publicity had already been completed under the current name.

Michael Davies pointed out he liked the idea of keeping to the

traditional name, and that it needed the definite article “The” in

front, for reasons to do with grammar and semantics (i.e. it was

not “an” international conference). He felt that the proposed

name was not appealing. Pedro Sêco e Pinto asked that if there

were a name change, that the numbering sequence should

continue uninterrupted. Suzanne Lacasse wondered what would

be gained by changing the name: it is the International Society,

and it would seem strange to have a “World” conference.

Michele Jamiolkowski asked the Secretary General how the

proposal would be approved, would it be either by a simple

majority, or by a 75% in favour. The Secretary General replied

that it would be the latter. Roger Frank then thought that the

French version of the proposed name should also be considered,

and that it would should be “la conférence mondiale” and not

“du monde”.

A vote was held, with the following result:

Votes

For:

. 5

Against:

Abstentions: 3

The motion was not approved, and the name of the

conference remains ‘The International Conference for Soil

Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering’.

PRESIDENTIAL COMMITTEES

REPORTS ON ACTIVITIES BY CHAIRS OF THE

PRESIDENTIAL COMMITTEES

The President introduced the following items by stating that a

number of Board Level Committees had been created to help

the ISSMGE and impact the future of the society.

13.1

Innovation and Development Committee (IDC)

The IDC is led by Dimitrios Zekkos. The President considered

this group to be the think tank of ISSMGE and invited Dimitrios

to make his presentation (his report is presented here as

Appendix 4). Dimitrios Zekkos reviewed the progress achieved

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