295 / 479
Proceedings of the 18
th
International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Paris 2013
• System to liaise between TOC and organization/scientific
committees of ISSMGE conferences
• Recommendation on whether future ISSMGE Board should
have a TOC
4
REPORT ON ACTIVITIES OF TOC
4.1
Creation and organization of TCs
There are 30 Technical Committees per 2013-08-01. In early
2010, the TOC organized the Technical Committees in three
categories:
•
TCs on Fundamentals (7 committees),
•
TCs on Applications (16 committees),
•
TCs on Impact on Society (7 TCs)
Appendix A lists the TC's and respective chairs as of 2013-
08-01. Each TC was also assigned a Liaison from the TOC. The
chairs, and therefore the hosting Member societies, belong to all
of ISSMGE regions.
Based on feedback from the TC chairs and ISSMGE
members of the TCs, the new categories and new numbering
seemed to please the ISSMGE members and made the
understanding of the technical content of each TC more
accessible to everyone. Several expressed the desire to keep the
past and new numbering for describing the TCs. For this reason,
the old TC numbering can still be found in some of the reports
of the TCs.
Twenty TCs were continued from the earlier ISSMGE
presidency term: TC101 Laboratory testing, TC102 In situ
testing, TC103 Numerical methods, TC104 Physical modelling,
TC105 Geomechanics, TC106 Unsaturated soils, TC202
Transportation, TC203 Earthquake, TC204 Underground
construction, TC205 Safety and serviceability, TC206
Interactive design, TC207 Soil-structure interaction, TC211
Ground improvement, TC212 Deep foundations, TC213 Soil
erosion, TC214 Soft soils, TC215 Geo-environmental, TC301
Historic sites, TC302 Forensics and TC304 Risk. Eight of these
TCs had new chairs from 2010.One TC was discontinued:
"Dealing with sea level changes and subsidence" (no country
was willing to host the TC, and no chair could be found).
In 2010, TOC created, or reinstated after a lapse of 4 or 8
years, nine TCs: TC107 Lateritic soils, TC201 Dykes and
levees, TC208 Stability natural slopes, TC209 Offshore
geotechnics, TC210 Dams, TC216 Frost, TC303 Hurricanes and
floods, TC305 Megacities and TC306 Geo-education. A tenth
TC was created in 2012, TC 307 "Sustain-ability in
Geotechnical Engineering".
During the period 2009-2013, the TOC had to change the
Chair of four TCs, due to chairs resigning because of health
reasons or changing employer. Otherwise, all the chairs
assigned in early 2010 continued in their functions. Medio
August, the Chair of TC302-Forensics, Dr V.V:S. Rao (India)
recommended passing on the Chair of his TC to Professor GLS
Babu, who is presently secretary of TC 302. The host Member
Society remains India. The TOC approves of this change.
In August 2013, came a proposal to form a new TC. TOC
approves of this new TC and recommends its creation. Then
new TC would be TC 217 "Energy Geotechnics". The new TC
was proposed by Professor Marcelo Sanchez from Texas A&M
University, who would also act as the Chair of the new TC. The
TC would be hosted by the US Member Society. The new TC
will be tabled for approval at the ISSMGE Board meeting on
31st August 2013.
4.2
Revision of Guidelines for ISSMGE Technical
Committees
The revised guidelines can be found in Appendix B. The main
changes, relative to earlier guidelines, include:
• The activities of the TCs and the Chair of the TC continue
their work independently of the election of the ISSMGE
president. The Chair continues his work through the change
in ISSMGE President, until otherwise directed by the
President. The ISSMGE President retains the power to
create or dissolve a TC, but the life of a TC is disconnected
from the term of the ISSMGE presidency (see also next
section).
• A new TC can be proposed by ISSMGE members and/or
Member Societies at any time, and not just at the start of a
new ISSMGE presidency.
• The TC does not have core members, but rather an
executive and persons responsible for the Task Forces
defined in the TC's Terms of References. The Chair
nominates up to four members of the TC, and the ISSMGE
President can nominate up to four members.
• Corresponding members having exceptional competence are
allowed on the TCs, even if they are not member of the
ISSMGE.
• The Terms of References for the TC have been summarized
in four objectives (details in Appendix B):
1. Disseminate knowledge and practice within the TC’s
subject area to the membership of the ISSMGE.
2. Establish guidelines and technical recommendations
within the TC’s subject area.
3. Assist with technical programs of international and
regional conferences organized by the ISSMGE.
4. Interact with industry and overlapping groups working
in areas related to the TC’s specialist area.
• The Chair is encouraged to develop Task Forces for specific
activities and assign the responsibility to TC members to
lead these activities.
• The term of a TC Chair is 4 years, and can be renewed once
or twice. An out-going Chair makes a recom-mendation for
the next Chair to the ISSMGE President.
• The TC has responsibility to synthesize the knowledge in its
area in a form easily accessible to the ge-otechnical
profession and ISSMGE members. There should be a
balance between the academic research and the translation
of research findings into practice.
• Procedures were established for the follow-up of non-
responding members on the TC.
• The TC shall establish a system to save its work on the web,
with links to the ISSMGE and GeoWorld sites..
4.3
Simplifying the initialization of the TCs with each
incoming ISSMGE President
An enormous amount of work was required for the start-up of
the TCs after the election of the ISSMGE President in 2009.
The TCs had lost their momentum, there were endless
discussions about Chairs, and the selection of members on the
TCs and the communication with the Member Societies took a
long time. It took 8 months to restart the TCs in 2009/2010.
To reduce the uncertainty between presidents, and the loss
of valuable ”technical” time, the TOC recom-mended and the
ISSMGE Board made the decision in 2011 that the TCs would
continue to operate ”between” Presidents. The TCs continue
during the President transition and until the President chooses to
terminate a Chair or a TC or both.
The ISSMGE President retains the authority to change
Chair, discontinue a TC or create new TCs at any time.
However, without specific action from ISSMGE, the TC Chair
and the TC continue their work. In the TC guidelines (Appendix
B), one can read: "The activities of the TCs and the Chair of the
TC continue their work independently of the election of the
ISSMGE president. The Chair continues his work through the
change in ISSMGE President, until otherwise directed by the
President. The ISSMGE President has the power to create or
Volume 6 - Page 295