Actes du colloque - Volume 6

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Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Paris 2013
d) The ISSMGE Board made the final decision as to the
winners.
3 MEETINGS
The following guideline for holding of AWAC meetings was
initially proposed by the President: It was proposed that the
AWAC meet four times a year by teleconference or in person.
An in-person meeting once a year is strongly encouraged.
Expenses for the meetings will be the responsibility of the
Member’s country. All awards would be given at the
quadrennial ICSMGE conference.
AWAC was able to conducts its business via email and no
in-person meetings took place prior to the Paris conference with
the exception of presentations made to the ISSMGE Board by
Prof Charles Ng.
4 EVALUATION OF COMMITTEE ACTIVITIES
Each year the AWAC will prepare a short report to brief the
Board on the status of the committee.
5 MEMBERS
The eight Award Committee members selected by the President
were :
 Francois Schlosser, France (Chair)
 Esve Jacobsz, South Africa (Secretary), representing Africa
 WilliamMarcuson,USA, representing North America
 Eugeniusz Dembicki, Poland, representing Europe
 Werner Bilfinger, Brasil, representing South America
 Indraratna Buddhima, Australia, representing Australasia
 Tadatsugu Tanaka, Japan, representing Asia
 Charles NG, ISSMGE Board member liaison
6 TASK 1 & 2 REPORT (APRIL 2011)
The President requested AWAC to compile a report for
presentation to the ISSMGE Board outlining the finding from
TASK 1 (i.e. a study of the current ISSMGE award status). The
report comprised:
 a brief review of current awards offered by the ISSMGE,
 the award frequency per member per year and comparison
with award frequencies of National Member Societies and
other comparable organisations, and
 proposed new awards.
1) The awards previously offered by the ISSMGE were :
 The Terzaghi Oration nominated by the President.
 The Kevin Nash Gold Medal nominated by the
immediate Past President.
 Three Young Member Awards nominated by the
Member Societies.
These awards were all offered at a frequency of every four
years.
2) The current ISSMGE award frequency amounts to about 1
award to 15 200 per year which is between one and two
orders of magnitude lower than the award frequency offered
by comparable organisations.
3) The introduction of the five new awards mentioned in the
AWAC charge (Outstanding Technical Committee,
Outstanding Geotechnical Project, Outstanding Innovator
(individual member or team), Outstanding Member Society,
Outstanding paper in the International Journal of Geo-
Engineering Case Histories) was recommended which
would increase the award frequency to 1 award to 5 429
members per year. This is still low compared to other
organisations and scope exists to institute further awards.
It was recommended that a common approach be adopted for
the following procedures related to each award:
 Call for nominations:
 Receipt of nominations (including deadlines)
 Evaluation committee
 Evaluation of nominations
 Presentation of the Award
For each award the purpose, the award frequency, the
conditions (eligibility), the nomination of candidates and the
award format are specified.
Table 1. Timetable for 2013 Awards
Date Event or Key
Personnel
Milestone
Sept
2012
Secretary General Member Societies invited to
nominate candidates
Feb
2013
Member Societies Deadline for nominations; receipt
of manuscripts for ICSMGE
May
2013
Award Committee Report to Board members with
recommendation; final decision
made by ISSMGE Board
Sept
2013
Council Meeting Report
Sept
2013
ICSMGE (Paris) Presentation
The ISSMGE Board accepted the AWAC recommendations
of this April 2011 draft report
7 CALL FOR NOMINATIONS - PROCEDURES AND
GUIDELINES (JAN-MARCH 2012)
At the beginning of January 2012 the ISSMGE President
requested that all nominations have to be done by the Member
Societies. For instance, if a Technical Committee (TC) wants to
make a nomination, it has to be done by the Member Society of
the TC Chairman.
On 2012/01/20 Esve Jacobsz, the AWAC secretary,
proposed a draft document “Call for nominations for ISSMGE
awards” which gave all requirements and guidelines for
submitting nominations for the five new awards. After
discussions and some modifications the final document was
agreed by the President and placed on the ISSMGE website on
2012/03/12.
A summary of the awards is as follows:
 To award TC members or a TC as a whole for outstanding
work.
 Outstanding Geotechnical Project. To award a project that
best illustrates superior geotechnical engineering skills and
represent significant contributions to geotechnical
engineering.
 Outstanding Innovator. To award individuals or groups in
recognition of innovations in Geo-Engineering with a
pronounced impact on practice, research and education.
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