The International Geosynthetics SocietyAustralasian Chapter

(Acigs)

Annual General Meeting 2019

www.acigs.org

Graham Fairhead

President Report

Welcome to the ACigs AGM, and thanks to Golder for providing the venue and telecommunications

I shall briefly provide an overview of the society's activities over the last period and of course this is in pursuit of the societies mandate to support the development and beneficial use of geosynthetics. The last period has been one of transition and growth for ACigs. The society has been well supported by several long-standing committee members who, following elections, have handed over to new committee members.

President Report

I would like to thank the outgoing committee members –

Mike Sadlier, the previous vice-president.

Peter Tzelepis, the previous treasurer

Amir Shahkolahi, the previous secretary

In addition, we welcome the newly elected officers –

Nigel Ruxton (vice president)

Siamak Paulson (treasurer)

Brendan Swifte (secretary).

President Report

The society continues to have the benefit of Warren Hornseys’ support as an ACigs committee member, Warren is also a recently retired world council member of IGS. Jonathan Shamrock has joined the committee as a very active New Zealand area representative. And we are looking forward to Preston Kendall to drive our efforts with Young Members, as Preston is on the world IGS council as the ‘young Member representative.

We have also benefited from the professionalism of Sarah Dawson (providing marketing support) and Shelly Smith assisting with membership matters.

All deserve acknowledgement for their contribution to the society’s progress and success.

President Report

An early priority for this period was to finalise arrangements for ACigs’sFebruary 2019 Events. This combined an “Educate the Educator” (EtE) programme with an International Speaker series with support from IGS. The program was finalised with IGS during the 11th IGC in Seoul, an event well supported with Australasian delegates.

EtE is an IGS programme aiming to assist university Professors with geosynthetics knowledge and training materials. The event was held over two days on the Gold Coast with expert presenters Professors Chungsik Yoo, Tim Stark and Jorge Zornberg. IGS declared the event to be the best EtE event held to date.

President Report

A strategy review was held early in the year and set targets in key areas;

Events

Minimum one major event per year

An EtE event in 2021 and every two years

Implement a Webinar series

Communications

Quarterly newsletter

Develop website to be a resource center

Universities & Young Members

Develop actions to increase interaction with universities and young engineers

Membership

Grow the membership base in all categories

President Report

Plans are well advanced for an International Speaker series in February 2020 and a second event in the first half or 2020.

The webinar program has commenced, and we have a busy forward schedule planned through into 2020. The webinar approach is particularly valuable given the geographic challenges of the society’s membership base and has attracted interest from the Asian region and South Africa.

To engage with Universities we have commenced a series of “meet the professional” presentations Universities providing students with an insight into career paths with geosynthetics and recently announced sponsorship of summer semester research projects.

President Report

Membership numbers have grown year-on-year and through a prudent commercial approach the society continues to maintain a positive balance sheet allowing a broad range of activities to be planned.

Importantly for the efficient operation of the society the administrative processes for the society have been streamlined providing a more responsive and simpler interaction for members.

I would like to acknowledge and thank the societies officers and committee members for their considerable efforts and support to achieve a very successful period for ACigs and continuing strong programme of activities for members in 2020.

President Report

IGS calendar

ACIGS Company Members

Siamak Paulson

Treasurer Report

Account Balance

$-

$10,000.00

$20,000.00

$30,000.00

$40,000.00

$50,000.00

$60,000.00

1/07/2018 1/08/2018 1/09/2018 1/10/2018 1/11/2018 1/12/2018 1/01/2019 1/02/2019 1/03/2019 1/04/2019 1/05/2019 1/06/2019

Income/Expenditure

$25,238.52

$(120.00) $(57.80) $(481.98)$(8,686.74)

$(354.81) $(24.00) $(518.36)

$49,169.38

$(20,201.30)

$(3,176.83)

$10,882.42

$1,081.99

Financial Summary Report

Memberships & Database

215

251

414

462

545

Jonathan Shamrock

New Zealand Report

New Zealand was able to link up with the Education Week in February 2019 and hosted a 1-day seminar in Auckland. The seminar was presented by Professor Timothy Stark who diverted to New Zealand on his way to the education week in Australia. Important lessons were learned by the 40 delegates attending the seminar about current best practice use of geosynthetics for embankment and lined waste containment facilities based on current research and from analysis of real-life case studies of failures.

Thanks to the supporting committee in New Zealand who helped organize and deliver this event namely Gordon Stevens, Dr Kasia Zamara, Yolanda Thorp, Daniel Tan, Doug Spain and Michael Sorensen

New Zealand Report

As a way to ensure ACIGS is able to get relevant information on geosynthetic materials and their applications out to all its members the use of webinars was discussed in early 2019 and subsequently implemented, with the first successful event held in August 2019. Webinars can be delivered at minimal cost, and without having to travel, making the information more accessible to more of the member base. These are proving to be very popular in New Zealand as it eliminates the need to travel to get exposure to cutting edge information on geosynthetics.

New Zealand Report

Brendan Swifte

Secretary Report

2019 saw a range of activities undertaken including improvements to our communications efforts with our members and broader audience. Our ACigs website (www.acigs.org) was refreshed and a quarterly newsletter introduced.

The website will be a continual work in progress as we add resources, improve the look-&-feel as well as navigation. Recent improvements have seen a link to FGI resources, addition of video footage, inclusion of governance documents (i.e. bylaws, roles & responsibilities) as well and improved presentation.

The newsletter has release dates based around the seasons, and to date we have released the autumn and winter newsletters with the spring newsletter being released shortly.

Secretary Report

In terms of the events completed in 2019, we held a week-long Education Week in February 2019 which comprised –

Three external industry-oriented seminars using the speakers provided by the IGS -

Auckland – 1 day – Dr Tim Stark

Melbourne – ½ day – Dr Chungsik Yoo & Dr Jorge Zornberg

Brisbane – ½ day – Dr Tim Stark, Dr Chungsik Yoo & Dr Jorge Zornberg

A two-day Educate the Educators course held on the Gold Coast with approx. 16 academics from around Australia. We also had a lecturer from Malaysia and Papua New Guinea attend.

Secretary Report

Following these events, attention turned to delivering webinars in the second half of 2019, as a different mode of content delivery. By end of 2019, we expect to have delivered three webinars.

The success of these event has provided confidence in the demand for knowledge around geosynthetics. We are currently in discussion with a USA academic (Dr Erol Tutumleur) regarding the February 2020 education events around “geosynthetics in infrastructure” which is currently proposed to be held in Christchurch, Sydney and Perth.

Secretary Report

Secretary Report

A small number of ACigs bylaw changes were recently approved by IGS. This included ratifying their support for ACigs financial year being aligned to the IGS end December financial year. This provides smoother planning & administrative processes.

Elections of committee and office bearers are not required in 2020, but will be required in late 2021 as the two year terms expire then, and Graham Fairhead will have reached the maximum two-term tenure.

Secretary Report

Preston Kendall

Young Members Report

Geosynthetics was the only construction material invented in the 20th century –used widely in most engineering construction projects such as roads, rail, landfill, coastal etc. Given that geosynthetics is not taught within the undergraduate civil or environmental degrees, emerging engineers need to learn on the job.

ACigs is keen to connect with the next generation of engineers. The intent is to enlighten them on geosynthetics and introduce them to our industry group. In addition, all students are gifted free membership to ACigs and IGS.

Surveys of new Young Members reveal that they are interested in staying informed on research topics and networking opportunities.

Our pitch to the next generation of engineers is “if you are a young engineer within a consulting or construction company, you may be able to learn about geosynthetics from a small number of your colleagues, whereas if you are part of the IGS, then you can learn from our global community of experts & practitioners”.

Young Members Report

In September 2019 Siamak Paulson met with Professor David Williams at the University of Queensland and initiated the fist ACIGS Undergraduate Research Program.

This program will continue in 2020 with up to 3 undergraduate students receive support to undertake undergraduate research project under supervision of an academic supervisor from their university and an industry supervisor from Acigs.

In mid-2019, Siamak Paulson presented to QUT as well as the young members of the AGS (Qld) and was received well. To help ACigs continue to penetrate this cohort more deeply, we are planning –

Working with Engineers Australia and other industry groups to see if we can present ACigs to a Young Engineers event in each city. We have commenced discussions with Melbourne as they have an active chapter. This could be a more efficient way of reaching a wide audience of emerging engineers, rather than going to every university individually.

Host a Meet the Professional event in Brisbane prior to Easter in Brisbane, where students are invited to attend a session with experienced engineers talking about their career and learning of geosynthetics.

Young Members Report

Building our membership of students and young members will provide them with access to events such as webinars or seminars, thereby fast-tracking their development and exposure to geosynthetics.

The IGS website now features a job seeking functionality which is targeted as an added value for young members as well as employers. It is critical that we promote this feature to the membership and prospect young members.

A Job Shadowing program will be introduced from the Young Members Committee for Australia and North America

I am looking forward to being involved with ACigs around Young Member activities. This fits neatly with my role on the world IGS council.

Young Members Report