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Proceedings of the 18
th
International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Paris 2013
b)
Key achievements and Successes
The challenges of low membership enrolment highlighted in the
previous
section
notwithstanding,
some
remarkable
achievements were recorded in the Africa Region of ISSMGE
during the period, 2009 – 2013.Chief among these is that closer
cooperation has been successfully forged among African
member societies. From East to West and North to South the
Region resonated as one body and the dichotomy that existed in
the past vanished. ISSMGE member societies were motivated
and encouraged to participate in events organised by sister
African member societies. The benefits of this cooperation have
already manifested across the Region in the form of wide
geographical spread of participants frequently recorded in
events organised by member societies in recent times.
Another achievement worthy of note is that an appropriate
platform for member societies to work together in the Region
has been created. At present, this is represented by the
International Technical Committee of ISSMGE domiciled in
Africa. This is the very first time such an opportunity is placed
within the reach of members in Africa Region. The Committee
is named “TC 107” (Technical Committee on Laterites and
Lateritic Soils). It is serving as an ideal platform for studying
and proffering solutions to engineering challenges related to the
problem soils that abound in Africa. The host country is Ghana,
and ISSMGE member societies in the Region have been
encouraged to embrace the opportunity created by the
Committee and work together on common African geotechnical
engineering problems.
c)
Highlights of Activities within the Region
Africa Region witnessed a relatively high level of ISSMGE
activities during 2009 – 2013 despite the challenges posed by
unfavourable socio-political environment. This is a drastic
departure from the past when many member societies were
known for protracted inactivity. Without doubt, the 17th
ICSMGE held in Alexandria, Egypt was a major factor which
spurred member societies in the Region into action.
Some selected major Regional and International events that
took place in Africa during the period include (in chronological
order):
ISSMGE International Seminar in Pretoria, South
Africa, 29–30 July 2010.
This was well-attended and enjoyed the patronage of the
ISSMGE President, the Secretary General, the Immediate Past
President, the Vice-President for Africa, the Immediate Past
Vice-President for Africa as well as his predecessor as resource
persons.
2nd International Geotechnical Engineering
Conference (ICGE’10), Hammamet City, Tunis,
Tunisia; 25 – 27 October, 2010.
This was very successful and attracted about 100 participants
from 25 different countries as paper contributors. The ISSMGE
President and the Vice-President for Africa were there as
keynote speakers. The appointed Board member for Europe was
also there as well as other keynote speakers. The occasion
afforded the Vice-President and the President opportunity to
hold a sensitisation meeting with interested participants on the
new TC 107 “Laterites and Lateritic Soils”.
French Maghrebin Conference in Geotechnical
Engineering (December, 09-11, 2010)
This was held in Tunis, and was the first conference of the
series titled: “
French Maghrebin Conference”,
organized by
the Geotechnical Maghrebin Group to boost the activities
between Maghrebin GE with the assistance provided by the
UISF (UNESCO). Indeed, this event latter gave rise to three
Maghrebin groups, among which is the Geotechnical Maghrebin
Group, under the label “Science and technology for the
Development of Maghreb”.
15th African Regional Conference on Soil Mechanics
and Geotechnical Engineering (15 ARC), Maputo
Mozambique; 18 – 21 July, 2011.
The Theme of the Conference was:
“Resources and
Infrastructure Geotechnics in Africa
:
Putting theory into
practice
”.
The vision or motivation for this title was to explore
how advances in Geotechnical Engineering can provide
solutions to the challenges facing infrastructure development in
the continent. The Conference was very successful and well-
attended. The ISSMGE President, Secretary General and
Immediate past President were all there. The president of the
Republic of Mozambique attended in person and performed the
opening ceremonies. He was also part of the closing ceremony
as he was represented by the Minister for works and Transport
and the Governor of Maputo.
A total of 328 participants registered for the Conference and
this represents the highest number of participants in any
Regional Conference in Africa in recent times. There were more
than 50 exhibitors in attendance. A total of about 100 papers
and three invited lectures were published in the book of
proceedings. The conference also featured technical visits and
short courses.
International Seminar On Soil Identification And
Geotechnical Parameters « Param’12 » 15-16 MARCH
2012, TUNISIA
This event was attended by one Hundred and seventy
participants, coming from Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, France,
Congo, Mali, Niger, Germany, UK, Togo, Italy and Mauritania.
Thirteen professional institutions exhibited their latest products
in geotechnical engineering. The proceedings of this seminar
comprised twenty five papers (25) including eight keynote talks
given by experts: Jean-Pierre Magnan, Hocine Ejjaaouani,
Ramdane Bahar, Patrick Berthelot, Moulay Zerhouni, Philippe
Reiffsteck, Michel Bustamante and Richard Jardine.
ISSMGE Board meeting in Lagos, Nigeria, 29th April
2012; In conjunction with International Geotechnical
Engineering Symposium on “New Trends and
Developments in Geotechnical Engineering”, 28 April –
1st May, 2012.
The Nigerian Geotechnical Association (NGA) organised the
two-day symposium in the form of a technical workshop. It was
well attended by NGA members, geotechnical engineering
students and other stake holders in the ground engineering
sector of the academia, the foundation construction industry,
and government departments and parastatals. The President of
the Nigerian Society of Engineers was ably represented by the
Deputy President. The ISSMGE Board members participated in
the Workshop as the main resource persons and presented the
lead papers. Each used the opportunity to showcase his latest
research findings and breakthroughs in Geotechnical
Engineering. Some Nigerian geotechnical engineers and
researchers also presented papers at the Workshop.
The Workshop papers were divided into three major areas
of recent developments in ground engineering and construction
namely:
(i)
Underground Constructions;
(ii)
Case Histories in Slope Failures, Land
Reclamation and related Problems;
(iii)
Problem Soils of Nigeria.
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