International Association for Engineering Geology and the Environment (IAEG)

Commissions

Much of the important work of the IAEG is carried by its commissions. Two notable developments in recent times have been:

• Publication of the Final C25 Guidelines on engineering geological models.
• Publication of C37 on landslide nomenclature.

These are available on the IAEG website, and the NZGS management committee is working with key authors of the C25 Guidelines on engineering geological models to bring a series of training events to New Zealand. This is likely to be in 2024.

Conferences and events

The IAEG XIV Congress in Chengdu, will now be held in September 2023. It was originally scheduled for 2022, but was delayed by international border problems. Registration will open for this event very shortly and early bird registration ends on 10 August. More information can be found here: https://www.iaeg2023.org/index.html. 

The IAEG holds its Congress every four years. Following Chengdu, the next Congress is to be held in 2026. The Dutch National Group made a presentation at the most recent Executive Meeting to host this event in Delft. A decision on the venue for 2030 will not be made until 2026. A list of all IAEG endorsed events is available on the IAEG website here: https://www.iaeg.info/events/category/congresses/

The NZGS is considering requesting that the 2027 ANZ conference be considered as a regional conference of all three international societies (including IAEG). It is currently only considered as a regional conference of ISSMGE. More information about NZGS organised conferences is available here: https://www.nzgs.org/activities/conferences/

Professional development and Young Engineering Geologists

The young engineering geologists (YEG) committee of IAEG have established a YouTube channel, on which monthly webinars are available to subscribers. The work of the IAEG Young Engineering Geology group has been lauded by the IAEG executive, who have decided to recommend to Council that a new Vice President position be created on the Executive representing the YEG group.

In New Zealand our equivalent, the Young Geo-Professionals group is also extremely strong thanks to the work of many enthusiastic volunteers. I’d particularly like to express my gratitude to Helen Loach (NZGS YGP Representative) and Sarah Barrett (NZGS – IAEG Young Professional Coordinator). Sarah is our current YGP representative in the IAEG Young Engineering Geologists committee. Both are stepping down this year at the end of their terms and have set a high bar for their successors.

Executive meeting

An Executive meeting was held in Paris on the 3rd to 4th of May. A great many topics were covered during the meeting and these will be reported in detail in due coursevia the IAEG website. Some key points that came out of the meeting were:

• The Association is in a strong and stable financial position.
• A number of working groups of the executive were set up to develop the strategy for the association over the next four years and beyond. These working groups comprise:
• – Membership and recruitment
• – Funding
• – Engineering geology promotion
• – Statutes and bylaws
• – Commissions
• A draft Diversity and Inclusion Policy was put forward and discussed in preparation for recommending its adoption at the next Council meeting.
• The strategy for the Bulletin of Engineering Geology was discussed and there was general agreement that greater emphasis should be given to case studies and similar papers.
• The work of the Commissions is at the heart of the IAEG and some excellent work has been carried out in recent years. However, many of the existing commissions are inactive. The Chairs of each Commission are to be contacted in the next few months to determine if these Commission will continue or be closed. A technical oversight committee will be set up to monitor the progress of Commissions in future.
•  Discussion took place concerning the updating of the Bylaws and Statutes and a number of recommended changes covering inactive National Groups, Women in IAEG, proxy voting and YEG, will be tabled for adoption at the next Council meeting. In addition to these changes, the working group will continue to make recommendations for future amendments.
• 2024 is the 60th anniversary of the founding of IAEG. Discussions took place as to how this could be celebrated around the regions.

If you have any questions about the activities or role of IAEG, please contact me (NZ representative on IAEG Council) or Anthony Bowden (IAEG Vice-President for Australisia).