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INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR SOIL MECHANICS AND GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING MINUTES OF THE COUNCIL MEETING held at: Edinburgh International Conference Centre Edinburgh, UK Sunday, 13th September 2015 PRESENT: Professor Roger Frank - ISSMGE President Professor Fatma Baligh - ISSMGE Vice President Africa Professor Ikuo Towhata - ISSMGE Vice President Asia Professor Mark Jaksa - ISSMGE Vice President Australasia Professor Antonio Gens - ISSMGE Vice President Europe Professor Paul Mayne - ISSMGE Vice President North America Professor Jarbas Milititsky - ISSMGE Vice President South America Professor Jean-Louis Briaud - ISSMGE Immediate Past President Professor R.N. Taylor - ISSMGE Secretary General Dr Marc Ballouz - ISSMGE Board Member Professor Etienne Marcelin Kana - ISSMGE Board Member Professor Vlasta Szavits-Nossan - ISSMGE Board Member Paloma Peers - ISSMGE Secretariat Professor Pierre Delage - Chair, Technical Oversight Committee Professor Charles Ng - Chair, Awards Committee Dr Jennifer Nicks - Chair, Young Members’ Presidential Group Mr Sukumar Pathmanandavel - Chair, Corporate Associates’ Presidential Group Dr Sherif Wissa - Chair, Professional Image Committee Dr Dimitrios Zekkos - Chair, Innovation and Development Committee Professor Michele Jamiolkowski - Past President ISSMGE Professor William Van Impe - Past President ISSMGE Mr Scott Reid - Arup Mr John Sankey - Terre Armee Member Society Voting Member Non-Voting Member Albania Professor Luljeta Bozo Argentina Australia Mr Darren Paul Mr Graham Scholey Austria Professor Helmut F. Schweiger Professor Heinz Brandl Edinburgh Council Meeting Minutes Page 1 of 13 Member Society Voting Member Non-Voting Member Bangladesh --- Belarus --- Belgium Dr Peter Van Impe Bolivia --- Bosnia & Herzegovina --- Brazil Professor Jarbas Milititsky* Bulgaria Canada Dr Suzanne Lacasse Chile --- China --- Chinese Taipei Professor ChangYu Ou Professor Keh-Jian Shou Colombia Costa Rica Croatia Professor Vlasta Szavits Nossan* CTGA Professor Etienne Marcelin Kana* Cuba --- Czech & Slovak Republics Professor Jana Frankovska Dr David Masin Denmark Dr. Jørgen S. Steenfelt Dominican Republic --- Ecuador --- Egypt Professor Fatma Baligh El Salvador --- Estonia Eng. Mait Mets Finland Professor Leena Korkiala-Tanttu France Mr Jacques Robert Mrs Valérie Bernhardt Georgia --- Germany Dr.Ing. Wolfgang Sondermann Ghana Professor Etienne Marcelin Kana* Greece Professor Christos Tsatsanifos Guatemala --- Hong Kong Professor Charles Ng Hungary Dr Andras Mahler Mr Peter Görög Iceland Mr Haraldur Sigursteinsson Dr Sigurdur Erlingsson India Professor A. Srirama Rao Professor G.L. Sivakumar Babu Indonesia --- Iran --- Iraq Professor Musa Jawad al-Musawi Ireland Mr Fintan Buggy Israel Italy Professor Nicola Moraci Professor Mario Manassero Japan Professor Ikuo Towhata* Dr Takeshi Katsumi Kazakhstan Professor Askar Zhussupbekov Dr Valentina Jousopbekova Korea R Professor Dong Soo Kim Dr Moonkyung Chung Kyrgyzstan --- Latvia Professor Kaspars Bondars Lithuania Professor Liudvikas Furmonavičius Macedonia, FYR Professor Milorad Jovanovski Dr.Jovan Papic Malaysia --- Mexico --- Morocco Professor Fatma Baligh* Mozambique Professor Fatma Baligh* Nepal --- Netherlands Dr Mandy Korff Edinburgh Council Meeting Minutes Page 2 of 13 Member Society Voting Member Non-Voting Member New Zealand Professor Mark Jaksa* Nigeria Dr Peter Day* Norway Dr Vidar Gjelsvik Dr Jenny Langford Pakistan --- Paraguay --- Poland Professor Zbigniew Lechowicz Prof. Katarzyna Zabielska-Adamska Portugal Prof José Luis Machado do Vale Dr Nuno Manuel da Costa Guerra Romania Professor Sanda Manea Dr Ernest Olinic Russia Dr Igor Kolybin Serbia Srdjan Spasojević Singapore Professor Chun Fai Leung Dr Siau Chen Chian Slovenia Dr Vojkan Jovičić South Africa Dr Peter Day S E Asia --- Spain Prof. Fernando Pardo de Santayana Professor Enrique Dapena Sri Lanka --- Sudan Dr Peter Day* Sweden Dr Gunilla Franzén Mr Andreas Ramström Switzerland Dr Jan Laue Syria --- Tajikistan Professor Askar Zhussupbekov* Thailand --- Tunisia --- Turkey Professor Feyza Cinicioglu Professor Muge Inanirl Ukraine --- U K Dr Christopher Menkiti Stefan Jefferis/Neil Smith U S A Mr Allen Cadden Professor Robert Holtz Uzbekistan Professor Askar Zhussupbekov* Venezuela --- Vietnam --- * Denotes Proxy vote Apologies Prof. Kok Kwang Phoon (Chair TC304 – Risk) Dr. Michael Heibaum (Chair TC213 – Scour and Erosion) Dr Noel Huybrechts (Chair TC211 – Ground Improvement) Dipl.-Ing. Lars Vollmert, NAUE (Corporate Associate) OPENING REMARKS The President opened the meeting by welcoming all delegates. He went on to comment that, on the strength of the reports that were to going to be presented, Council should appreciate and embrace the importance of IT in terms of its role in communication within and from the society. The President then asked if Council agreed to the Agenda for the meeting, and no objections were raised. Edinburgh Council Meeting Minutes Page 3 of 13 LIST OF DELEGATES AND OTHER PERSONS PRESENT The Secretary General presented a list of delegates who had indicated their intention to attend the Council Meeting. All the voting delegates present were noted, as were the Member Societies who had transferred their voting rights by proxy. QUORUM A roll call was established. The complete list of delegates is given at the beginning of these minutes. The Secretary General confirmed that there were 72 Member Societies entitled to vote and since the voting delegates (including proxies) exceeded two thirds of this number, the meeting was declared quorate to deal with the all business of the meeting. The Secretary General reported that there were a few Member Societies (Cuba, Iran, Syria and Sudan) who were prevented from paying their subscription fees because of UK banking and financial regulations. The Board at the meeting the previous day was in support of sending such affected Member Societies a promissory note, whereby they would undertake to clear any subscription fees once the sanctions had been lifted. This would allow the Member Societies affected to remain active members of ISSMGE until the situation becomes normalised. If Council agreed to this policy then the votes from affected member societies would be allowed. This was put to the Council, and by a show of hands unanimously agreed. MINUTES OF THE COUNCIL MEETING IN PARIS, SEPTEMBER 2013 The Minutes of the Council Meeting in Paris had been redistributed with the Council Meeting papers (and are included here as Appendix 1). The President asked if there were any comments or corrections to the Minutes, and there were none. The President deemed the Minutes approved. MEMBERSHIP The Secretary General explained that his presentation was essentially a summary of the paper that had been distributed with the Agenda (and included here as Appendix 2) Currently there were 89 Member Societies, one of which was a society (Peru) that was being restructured with a new constitution, and it was taking some time to become established. The Secretary General was also pleased to report that the Member Society in Georgia, which had been silent for some time, had made contact again. Additionally, he reported that the application submitted by the national society in Algeria had been approved at the Board meeting the previous day. He would write to the officers informing them of the Board’s decision, and once they had paid the pro- rata fees for 2015, the Algerian society would become a member of the ISSMGE. The Secretary General referred again to the sanctions affecting the Member Societies mentioned earlier (Cuba, Iran, Syria and Sudan): these meant that they were unable to function as effectively as one would wish as members of ISSMGE. The current list of corporate sponsors is included in Appendix 2. There had been a substantial decrease in Corporate Associates – 30 as compared to the 52 reported at the Paris Council Meeting – and only 1 of the 7 who had complimentary Corporate Associates subscription at the Paris Conference had then gone on to become a normal paying CA. The Secretary General went on to discuss mechanisms of communicating effectively with Member Societies and was keen to hear views from the floor. Chris Menkiti (UK) explained that the BGA sent Edinburgh Council Meeting Minutes Page 4 of 13 out a newsletter (in tabular form via e-mail) with news on meetings, other announcements, etc., just once a month. Suzanne Lacasse (Canada) felt that once a month was too often – and that messages that needed to be forwarded should be flagged – whereas Allen Cadden (USA) thought that this would leave too long a gap between announcements. Darren Paul (Australia) stated that his society also used Twitter to communicate information. The President emphasised the importance of information reaching the individuals within each Member Society. After some discussion, and by a show of hands, it was agreed that an e-mail newsletter (which would be brief, with bullet points, and the appropriate links) would be sent out on the first Monday of every month. AMENDMENTS TO STATUTES AND BYLAWS RE TECHNICAL COMMITTEES – BYLAW 16.1 The President introduced this item, and read out the suggested amended Bylaw. He pointed out that the most significant change was that the life of a Technical Committee was no longer linked to the term of office of the President. This meant, for example, that Member Society could, at any time, propose a new TC. Fintan Buggy (Ireland) asked if anyone could propose a new TC. The President confirmed that this would have to come via a Member Society

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