Themes

Objectives

Our key objective in selecting a theme is that it will be relevant and encompass the full range of engineering geological practice to encourage participation from, and provide value to, practitioners from around the world.

We are watching with interest development of the discussion on Core Values and see the Congress as an opportunity to review progress in this area.

Engineering geology and geotechnical engineering go hand-in-hand in Australasia, and the New Zealand Geotechnical Society supports a close relationship between the sister societies (IAEG, ISRM and ISSMGE). 2010 is the 10th anniversary of a very successful conference held in Australia that celebrated this intrinsic inter-relationship, GeoEng 2000. We would like to bring to the 11th IAEG Congress a ‘flavour’ of GeoEng, while maintaining a core engineering geological ‘taste’. We expect this Congress to attract a range of practitioners from both geological and engineering backgrounds.

Geologically Active

New Zealand sits astride the leading edge of the Australian Plate, where it converges with the Pacific basin in a mobile margin of subduction, shearing, volcanism and uplift.

A land of mountains, faults, earthquakes, volcanoes, weak rock, landslides, rivers and coastlines – this is Aotearoa; this land is Geologically Active. This environment poses special challenges for all engineering geologists and geotechnical specialists who practice here and in mobile margins of the Pacific and Southeast Asia.

The theme also has relevance to a wider international audience. As worldwide we begin to populate steeper and more marginal terrain, the demand for specialist skills and judgement that is a true mix of engineering and geology is growing. We in the IAEG are uniquely placed to meet this challenge. The 11th IAEG Congress in Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand, will examine the contribution we make as a profession, to safe and sustainable communities in Geologically Active areas around the globe.