Campaign Statement of Professor Askar Zhussupbekov,
Candidate for President of ISSMGE (for term: 2022-2026).

The International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE) was founded in 1936 at Harvard with 206 delegates from 20 countries. Since that time, the ISSMGE has significantly expanded to its present state with more than 18,000 individual members with about 90 member societies.

ISSMGE was established as a body to exchange academic and practical aspects of soil mechanics and foundation engineering, thus bridging the gap between theory and practice. Since that time, the problems facing geotechnical engineers have increased in number and scope. Presently, the expertise of the geotechnical engineering community must be employed to prevent such geo-disasters as earthquake-induced damage of structures and liquefaction and landslides, as well as slope failures and response to flooding attributed to global warming. In the future under climate change, the important role of ISSMGE will be further expanding to mitigate not only rainy but also sundry geohazards.

If elected as the next President of ISSMGE, I would undertake the following activities:

1. Promote a state-of-the-art Zoom lecture of various topics including not only mitigation of geohazards and but also other necessary timely topics in geotechnical engineering. The material from such lectures would be disseminated through the ISSMGE website.

2.Establish an international emergency task force to study geohazards attributed to climate change, study the situation in the past, and propose how to prepare to decrease the negative effects.

3. Encourage the establishment of national member societies in developing countries and help them to promote their activities.

4. Review the ISSMGE budget and improve the cost efficiency of the society, especially of corporative members and foundation donors.

5. Investigate the official language associated with ISSMGE. Initially, English was the official language of ISSMGE; French was adapted as the second language in 1948 after the Rotterdam Conference. I like to discuss the necessity of the second language at present. if agreeable, I want to unify the language and to promote wider and more interactive communication among various regions and groups in the world that are entering the digital age.

6. Develop interactions between not only practical and academic sectors within ISSMGE, but also international organizations including UNESCO, ISO, and the UN.

7. Transfer technical knowledge in the field of geotechnical engineering from developed countries to developing ones. This would alleviate the gaps in such knowledge that exist between advanced and developing countries. Such gaps are repeatedly underscored by geohazard-induced damage, particularly in developing countries.

8. Create an innovative virtual center as part of ISSMGE activities in generating awareness about innovation and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) for the ISSMGE community.

9.Advance the use of the ISSMGE website and IT tools for member societies and individual members. This would strengthen communication with not only our members but also with societies and other international organizations that interact with ISSMGE. The Euro-codes that becomes an international standards and the Zoom lectures are provided with discussion.

10. Organize joint international geotechnical events (conferences, symposia seminars, workshops, etc.) with ISRM, IGS, IGES, etc. and also joint international technical committees in conjunction with these societies.

11. To engage even more women in geotechnical engineering though organizing the International Geotechnical Women Summit with inviting women geolegends as keynote lecturers.

12. Organize free Summer School for training of young geotechnical generation conducted under auspices of famous piling and geotechnical testing or other geotechnical companies from developed countries. The above activities shall be achieved through the various working committees associated with ISSMGE. During the time period from 2009 till 2021, ISSMGE Board members have accomplished a new working structure, including the definition of various new functions for such committees. I envision to continue the work with these committees for the further development of ISSMGE and for social contributions of ISSMGE as a professional group to international society as a whole.

Т-воСибГт-в wish dear Professor Askar Zhusupbekov
victory in the ISSMGE president election!