The Heritage Time Capsule (HTC) project team from the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE) is organising a Geo-education session during the Australia and New Zealand Conference on Geomechanics 2023. The session will be held on Monday 3 July, between 4:30 and 6:00pm. There will be opening remarks by the regional ISSMGE Vice President, Graham Scholey, on the activities of the ISSMGE Board 2022-2026, and his thoughts on aspirations for the Australasian region, including desired outcomes from this session.

The Geo-education session will explore the topic of education of the next generation of geotechnical engineers along with the current state of geotechnical engineering programs in ANZ universities. The panel has been confirmed and consists of a young professional, an industry representative and an academic from both Australia and New Zealand.

We expect they will provide well balanced, good depth and coverage, and timely information about the following three main topics:

  • Education and training of the next generation of geotechnical professionals
  • How does industry manage the resource planning and development
  • The graduates’ experience in the industry and how it relates to their university education

Short presentations followed by panel discussions and lively feedback from the audience is planned.

We encourage you to join the geo-education session and have your say. The work started at this session will continue post conference to develop an Australasian vision, mission and some strategic goals with achievable actions against each of the goals. In this way, we intend to deliver in the current ISSMGE presidential term (2022-2026), a tangible and valued outcome for the ISSMGE Australasian region.

OPENING REMARKS

Mr Graham Scholey
Technical Director, WSP
VP ISSMGE Australasia

CLOSING REMARKS

Prof David Airey
Professor, The University of Sydney

Panel Members

Academic (Australia)

Dr Negin Yousefpour
Senior Lecturer, The University of Melbourne

Industry (Australia)

Dr Jason Surjadinata
Group Manager Geotechnical Engineering, John Holland

Young Professional (Australia)

Ms Xue Le
Senior Design Engineer, KELLER

Academic (New Zealand)

Prof Liam Wotherspoon
Professor, The University of Auckland

Industry (New Zealand)

Ms Eleni Gkeli
Senior Principal Engineering Geologist, Stantec
NZGS Chair

Young Professional (New Zealand)

Mr Christoph Kraus
Senior Engineering Geologist, Beca

Session Advisors:

  • Prof Rolando Orense, Professor, The University of Auckland
  • Mr Sukumar Pathmanandavel, Heritage Time Capsule Project lead
  • Dr Hugo E Acosta-Martinez, Discipline Lead Ground Engineering, BG&E Resources

For inquiries about the session please contact Golnaz Alipour at golnaz.alipour@mq.edu.au.