Open calls

Call for nomination for the 4th ISSMGE R. Kerry Rowe Lecture.

In 2012, the Technical Committee 215 on Environmental Geotechnics (TC 215) of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE) established the "ISSMGE R. Kerry Rowe Lecture" in recognition of Professor Rowe's outstanding impact in the field of Environmental Geotechnics and his excellence in scholarly achievements.

The lecture is to be given at the opening plenary session of the International Congress on Environmental Geotechnics (ICEG), and the associated paper is published in the Canadian Geotechnical Journal. The lecturer is a person selected by TC 215 as having made a distinguished contribution to the theory and practice of Environmental Geotechnics. This lecture is the most prestigious award given by TC 215.

The first Lecturer was C.D. Shackelford, who delivered his lecture on "The Role of Diffusion in Environmental Geotechnics" at the 18th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ICSMGE) held in Paris, France, in 2013 and at the 7th ICEG held in Melbourne, Australia, in 2014. The second Lecturer was M. Manassero, who delivered his lecture "On the fabric and state parameters of active clays for contaminant control" at the 19th ICSMGE held in Seoul, Korea, in 2017 and at the 8th ICEG held in Hangzhou, China, in 2018. The third Lecturer was A. Bouazza, who delivered his lecture "Untangling the mysteries of geosynthetic clay liners behaviour in aggressive and challenging environments" at the 20th ICSMGE held in Sydney, Australia, in 2022 and at the 9th ICGE held in Chania, Greece, in June 2023.

Nominations for the 4th ISSMGE R. Kerry Rowe Lecture are now open. The lecture is scheduled to be given at the 21st ICSMGE, to be held in Vienna, Austria, June 14-19, 2026, and at the 10th ICEG, to be held in Kyoto, Japan, in 2027.

Nominations for the 4th ISSMGE R. Kerry Rowe Lecture have to be submitted by TC 215 members to the R. Kerry Rowe Lecture sub-committee, chaired by R. Kerry Rowe and including the TC 215 Officers (Chair, Vice-Chair and Secretary) and the past Lecturers.

A supporting letter and a CV of the nominee (including a list of publications) should be sent to R. Kerry Rowe (kerry.rowe@queensu.ca), the TC 215 Chair Andrea Dominijanni (andrea.dominijanni@polito.it) and the TC 215 Secretary Kristin Sample-Lord (kristin.sample-lord@villanova.edu) by February 29, 2024.

Following the ISSMGE guidelines, at least three alternative candidates will be considered. The TC members with voting rights will rank the candidates by voting remotely. The TC 215 Chair will inform the ISSMGE President and the Chair of the Technical Oversight Committee (TOC) about the selected Lecturer for their approval. Finally, the ISSMGE President will appoint the 4th R. Kerry Rowe Lecturer.