Annual Report for Session 2020/2021
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Attachment 2 Annual Report for Session 2020/2021 1. Chairlady’s Statement It is my great honour to be the first Chairlady of the Division. With the Covid-19 pandemic bringing massive challenges to learned society activities, we have expedited all our efforts to keep up the continuous professional development for our members through application of the latest technologies. With the unconditional support of my fellow committee members, we have made our mission “Adapt to challenges and innovate to thrive for a sustainable future!” come true. Virtual Site Visits – Due to the pandemic it is almost impossible to arrange any physical site visits for our members, but with application of the latest technologies, we have successfully arranged more than 3 virtual site visits, each attracting more than 500 participants. I would like to take this opportunity to send my appreciation to all our partners who have worked together with us to achieve this successful milestone. Geotechnical Pioneer – Following on with the vision from the last Session, our “Geotechnical Pioneer” group has made a constant effort to arrange online workshops for our young engineers. After a year, we have finally completed the whole series of workshops on various geotechnical subjects that are commonly covered in the Professional Assessments for MHKIE(G). We will review the arrangement and re-run the workshops in suitable timing. Technical Competent Person (TCP) grade T3 Online Course and Examination – Following the arrangement from the last Session, we were once again able to obtain approval from the Buildings Department (BD) for arranging the TCP grade T3 top-up course using e-LMS and online exam. We have also obtained approval from the Buildings Department to collaborate with the School of Professional Development in Construction of the Hong Kong Institute of Construction, Construction Industry Council (CIC) as our co-organizer for the top-up course. We would like to express our gratitude towards the support from the BD and CIC. Both the TCP T3 course and examination were successfully held online in February and March 2021. Annual Seminar – The 41st Annual Seminar “Adapt to Challenges, Create to Thrive” will be held through a hybrid mode on 18 May 2021. I am sure all of you will enjoy this seminar and gain some valuable insights. Young Geotechnical Club – We are very pleased to have a group of young and enthusiastic engineers joining our Young Geotechnical Club (YGC) for arranging various activities for the young engineers. YGC attempted a new way to share knowledge and experience by arranging a programme called “Chit Chat with Geotechnical Elite”. We were honoured to invite Ir Pun Wai Keung, the Head of the Geotechnical Engineering Office as our first Guest in this programme. It proved to be a very successful event and our YGC will continue arranging similar chit chat programmes so that more of our young engineers can benefit from the experience sharing by the Geotechnical Elites. Members who are interested to join the YGC are very welcome. Stay tuned for more exciting activities! Lastly, I would like to conclude my statement by extending my heartfelt thanks to my fellow committee members, members of working groups, task forces, organising committees of various events and our dedicated team of young helpers for making this session fruitful and successful. I wish every success to the Division in the coming Sessions. Thank you. 4 Attachment 2 Annual Report for Session 2020/2021 Ir Maureen Ng Chairlady Geotechnical Division (Session 2020/2021) 5 Attachment 2 Annual Report for Session 2020/2021 2. Membership As at 1 March 2021, the Geotechnical Division (GD) has a membership of 4,824, including 246 Fellows, 3,560 Corporate Members and 873 Graduate Members. There are also 71 Associate Members, 41 Student Members, and 33 Affiliate Members. Appendix A presents the list of GD Committee members, organizing committees and task forces for session 2020/2021. 3. Financial Highlights The GD began the 2020/2021 financial year with a healthy balance of HK$1,045,503.37 from Session 2019/2020 and received a total allocation of HK$107,880.07 from the HKIE Headquarter. At the end of the financial year ending 31 March 2021, the Division maintained a balance of HK$1,843,601.93. In this Session incomes were contributed from TCP T3 Top-up Course, workshops on Geotechnical Engineering on various topics and Annual Seminar, whereas expenses were mainly associated with local technical meetings, the HKIE GD website enhancement, sponsorships for attending overseas online conferences and awards for local universities. The Division’s Income and Expenditure Account (Unaudited) for the period from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021 is summarised in Attachment 3. Full details of the 2020-2021 “End of Year Account” will be available for inspection after audit shortly. 4. Technical Meetings, Workshops, Seminar Due to the pandemic, the technical meetings, workshops and seminar have been organized via webinars and online learning platforms. The details are presented in Appendix B and the major ones are reported below. 4.1 41th Annual Seminar on Adapt to Challenges, Create to Thrive The 41st Annual Seminar, jointly organised with the Hong Kong Geotechnical Society and supported by the HKIE Civil and Structural Divisions, will be held on 18th May 2021 at the Hong Kong Productivity Council in the hybrid mode of in person and via Zoom. The Annual Seminar will co- organize the adjourned Tripartite Seminar 2020, and feature The Bright Spark Lecture by HKGES, two keynote presentations, and presentations from the Tripartite counterparts of Chinese Institute of Engineers (CIE) and The Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM), and the selected papers submitted to the Seminar. 4.2 Workshop on Soil Mechanics – Theories and Applications (e-Class) The Division has organised a series of workshops targeting young geotechnical, civil and structural engineers with an interest in geotechnical works. The five workshops, are listed below: 1. Workshop on Slope Engineering held on 29 August 2020; 2. Workshop on Foundation Engineering held on 3 October 2020; 3. Workshop on ELS – Design & Construction held on 28 November 2020; 4. Workshop on Natural Terrain Hazard Studies held on 16 & 30 January 2021; and 5. Workshop on Remote Sensing Techniques and Applications held on 20 & 27 March 2021 4.3 Top-up Courses for TCP T3 on Ground Investigation Field Works (GIFW) and Building Works with Significant Geotechnical Content The Division has joined forces with School of Professional Development in Construction (SPDC) to 6 Attachment 2 Annual Report for Session 2020/2021 organise a top-up course with a series of e-class lectures and an exam for TCP T3 on GIFW and building works with significant geotechnical content from February to March 2021. The course aims to provide graduate engineers, geologists and technical inspection supervisors with basic knowledge in geotechnical training which is needed for those with less than 2 years of relevant experience in order to be qualified for TCP T3 in accordance with Code of Practice for Site Supervision 2009 issued by the Buildings Department. The course was very popular and attended by 194 young engineers. 5. Technical Visits Technical site visits were organised for the participants to acquire the latest good practice in various geotechnical and civil engineering projects. Due to the pandemic, the GD has innovated and invested in digital media equipment to arrange virtual site visits as summarised in Appendix C. 6. Prizes, Awards and Sponsorships 6.1 AECOM Prizes AECOM Prize for Best Student of the Year is awarded to students attaining good performance in geotechnical subjects in local universities that offer eligible undergraduate degree courses accredited by the HKIE for Scheme “A” training in the geotechnical discipline. The prize awardees nominated by the universities are as follows: Awardee University LI Chung Kin The University of Hong Kong CHAN Kin Shing The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology NG Ming Ho The Hong Kong Polytechnic University AECOM Prize for Best Final-Year Geotechnical Project is awarded to students of local universities to recognize their effort on the final year geotechnical projects so as to encourage them to continue making effort to improve the local engineering practices in their future careers. A judging panel consisting of Julian Kwan, Y C Lam and Jack Yiu was formed to review the submissions from the local universities. The prize awardees are as follows: Award Awardee University Winner Levinna Natalia The University of Hong Kong 1st Runner-up WANG Fangran City University of Hong Kong 2nd Runner-up LAM Pui Shan City University of Hong Kong 6.2 Fugro Prize The Fugro Prize is awarded to young members of the HKIE to recognise their geotechnical study, research or project work with significant contributions to the advancement of the geotechnical practice in Hong Kong. A judging panel consisting of Raymond Cheung, Warren Dou and Louis Wong was formed to review the submitted papers. The final competition was held on 4 March 2021 via Zoom, in which the authors of shortlisted papers were invited to make an online presentation in front of the judging panel and the audience. The prize awardees are as follows: 7 Attachment 2 Annual Report for Session 2020/2021 Award Awardee Affiliation Title of Paper Winner Wilson NGAI T Atkins Preliminary Studies of Proposed W S Subsurface Railway in North Lantau Area 1st Runner- Alex YU Hin Lap AECOM Asia Self-healing Strain Hardening up Company Limited Cementitious Composites (SHCC) for Resilient Underground Construction 6.3 Ringo Yu Prize for Best PhD Theses in Geotechnical Study With the support of Ir Ringo Yu, the Division launched the Ringo Yu Prize for Best PhD Theses in Geotechnical Studies in the 2018/2019 session.