Program

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE ​

Day 1
25 Jun 2023
Day 2
26 Jun 2023
Day 3
27 Jun 2023
Day 4
28 Jun 2023

Short Course – Geosynthetic barriers in containment facilities

Organizers & Speakers
Abdelmalek Bouazza, Monash University, Australia
Kerry Rowe, Queen’s University, Canada
R. Kerry Rowe
Prof. Abdelmalek Bouazza

Conference Check in opens

Check-in and collect your badge and bag from the Secretary desk located at the street-level lobby of the Imperial Hall

Welcome / Intro Session

M. Ballouz, ISSGME President ● Introduction and Welcome
D. Zekkos, Conference Chair ● Welcome Address
K. Sample-Lord, Conference Program Chair ● Program Tour

Welcome Reception

Join us for a complementary ice-breaking drink at the pool of the Imperial Beach Wing
Learn more

Opening Ceremony

A. Dominijanni, TC215 Chair | Politecnico di Torino, Italy
D. Zekkos, Conference Chair | UC Berkeley, USA

R.K. Rowe Lecture

Untangling the mysteries of geosynthetic clay liners behaviour in aggressive and challenging environments
Prof. Abdelmalek Bouazza
10:45 - 11:15

Coffee Break

Special Session – Advances in Geosynthetics for Waste Containment Applications

Organizers
K. Tian, George Mason University, USA
N. Yesiller, California Polytechnic State University, USA
J. Hanson, California Polytechnic State University, USA
12:45 - 14:00

Lunch Break

Invited Lecture – Application of Biosurfactants as Sustainable Environmental Remediation

C. Mulligan, Concordia University, Canada
Prof. Catherine Mulligan
15:30 - 16:00

Coffee Break

Special Session – Emerging contaminants of concern: Occurrence, fate, migration and remediation

Organizers
M. Sedighi, The University of Manchester, UK
M. Bouazza, Monash University, Australia
17:30 - 20:00

Meetings

Invited Lecture – A Novel Waste-Cover-Waste Three-layer Landfill Cover System without Geomembrane: from Theory to Practice

C. W. W. Ng, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong
Prof. Charles W. W. Ng

Invited Lecture – Field scale implementation and commercialization of bio-based ground improvement technologies

L. van Paassen, Boskalis, NL / Arizona State University, USA
Dr. Leon Van Paassen

Invited Lecture – 30 years of Environmental Geotechnics courses and the future

N. Sitar, UC Berkeley, USA
M. Pantazidou, National Technical University of Athens, Greece
Learn more
10:30-11:00

Coffee Break

Panel Discussion – Nexus of Geo-Energy & Geo-Environment

Moderator
H. Coumoulos, Castor Ltd
Panelists
M. Sánchez, Texas A&M University, USA
T. Baser, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA
S. Babu, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
D. Dermatas, Ministry of Environment and Energy / National Technical University of Athens, Greece
Prof. Marcelo Sánchez
12:30 - 13:30

Lunch Break

Invited Lecture – Waste Reuse for Geotechnical Applications

M. E. Gimenez Boscov, São Paulo University, Brazil
Prof. Maria Eugênia Gimenez Boscov

Panel Discussion – Current Status and Future Directions of Enhanced (Polymerized) Bentonites for Chemical Containment Barriers

Moderator
C. Shackelford, Colorado State University, USA
Panelists
T. Abichou, Florida State University, USA
G. Di Emidio, Ghent University, Belgium
N. Guarena, Politecnico di Torino, Italy
J. Scalia, Colorado State University, USA

Special Session – Characterisation, remediation and management of contaminated sites and waste materials

Organizers
E. K. Paleologos, Abu Dhabi University, UAE
D. N. Singh, IIT Bombay, India
C. Tang, Nanjing University, China
Y. Du, Southeast University, China
F. Cotecchia, Politecnico di Bari, Italy
C. Vitone, Politecnico di Bari, Italy
16:15 - 16:30

Coffee Break

Special Session – Wildfires, Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Implications

Organizers
A. Farid, Boise State University, USA
I. D. Akin, North Carolina State University, USA

Conference Themes

The 9th International Congress on Environmental Geotechnics, which is the premier conference series in Environmental Geotechnics under the auspices of the Technical Committee “Environmental Geotechnics” (TC215) of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE), will be held on 25-28 June 2023 on the beautiful island of Crete in Greece. The conference theme “Highlighting the Role of Environmental Geotechnics in Addressing Global Challenges” will bring together international leaders in environmental geotechnics and will cover a wide range of topics that relate to advances in research and practice with a focus on safeguarding the geoenvironment, energy and resource harvesting, combating climate change and responding to natural hazards. See the conference themes below.

Landfilling

Waste characterization and properties
Stability & deformation of waste
Geotechnical recycling and reuse of waste materials
Construction and demolition wastes
Dredged sediments
Other solid wastes

Contaminant Transport and Fate

Geoenvironmental Land Remediation

Degradation and attenuation
Emerging contaminants
Contaminated land and remediation technology
In-situ remediation
Off site remediation
New remediation technologies

Climate Change Impact & Mitigation

Greenhouse gas emissions and control
Geoenvironmental risk assessment
Sustainability
Risk-based site evaluation and management

Geo-Energy

Nuclear waste
CO2 sequestration
Shallow and deep energy harvesting
Methane hydrates
Underground storage facilities

Resource Mining & Extraction

Coal combustion residues
Tailings and mine wastes
Tailing ponds
Acid mine drainage
Heap leach pads

Geosynthetics for the geoenvironment

Biogeotechnics

Engineering barriers
(covers, liners, vertical barriers, permeable barriers)

Forensic environmental geotechnics

Advances in Geoenvironmental Field Characterization

Advances in Laboratory Testing & Material Characterization

Advances in Numerical Modeling

Coupled Processes in Environmental Geotechnics & Geo-Energy

Human-induced and Natural Disaster Mitigation

Case histories in environmental geotechnics and the geoenvironment

Education in Environmental Geotechnics

TECHNICAL SESSIONS

Keynote Lectures & Invited Honorary Lectures
delivered to all participants  by internationally renowned experts/academics.
 
General Oral  Sessions
running daily and in parallel focusing on specific research fields
 
Special Sessions, Workshops & Mini Symposia
covering  hot topics of Environmental Geotechnics (including theme talks by distinguished lecturers, round-table discussions and paper presentations). The 9ICEG is welcoming the submission of proposals or Special Sessions.
 
 

R.K. Rowe Lecture

Prof. Abdelmalek Bouazza

Monash University, Australia

INVITED LECTURES

Confirmed until today

Dr. Marc Ballouz

President of ISSMGE (2022-2026)

Prof. Laloui Lyesse

EPFL, Switzerland

Dr. Andrea Dominijanni

Politecnico di Torino, Italy

Dr. Theresa Loux

Aero Aggregates of North America LLC, USA

Christos Tsiamis

Environmental Protection Agency, USA

Prof. Charles W. W. Ng

HKUST, Hong Kong

Prof. Maria Eugênia Gimenez Boscov

University of São Paulo, Brazil

Dr. Leon Van Paassen

Boskalis, Netherlands / Arizona State University, USA

Prof. Atsushi Takai

Kyoto University, Japan

Prof. Catherine Mulligan

Concordia University, Canada

Prof. Nikolaos Nikolaidis

Technical University of Crete, Greece

SPECIAL SESSIONS

EMERGING CONTAMINANTS OF CONCERN: OCCURRENCE, FATE, MIGRATION AND REMEDIATION

Organizers
Dr. Majid Sedighi, The University of Manchester, UK
Prof. Malek Bouazza, Monash University, Australia

The session aims to provide a forum for researchers to present and discuss the geo-environmental aspects of emerging contaminants, including identification methods, site investigations, engineering solutions for tackling and remediation techniques, and assessing the transport and fate of emerging contaminants. Learn more

CHARACTERISATION, REMEDIATION AND MANAGEMENT OF CONTAMINATED SITES AND WASTE MATERIALS

Organizers
Prof. Evan K. Paleologos
, Abu Dhabi University, UAE
Prof. Devendra N. Singh, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, India
Prof. Chao-Sheng Tang
, Nanjing University, China
Prof. Yan Jun Du, Southeast University, China
Prof. Federica Cotecchia
, Politecnico di Bari, Italy
Assoc. Prof. Claudia Vitone
, Politecnico di Bari, Italy

This session will mainly focus on: i) multidisciplinary and multiscale characterisation of contaminated sites aimed to investigate the current state of the system and find experimental evidence of bio-chemo-mechanical coupling processes [..] Learn more

CURRENT STATUS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS OF ENHANCED (POLYMERIZED) BENTONITES FOR CHEMICAL CONTAINMENT BARRIERS

Organizer
Prof. Charles Shackelford
, Colorado State University, USA

The topic of this discussion session is and has been an active area of research for about a decade now, but there are still several remaining outstanding issues and some controversy on the relevant mechanisms controlling hydraulic behavior and polymer retention/elution.  Learn more

ARTISANAL AND SMALL-SCALE MINING AND WASTE: GEOTECHNICAL AND GEOENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS

Organizers
Assoc. Prof. Joan M. Larrahondo, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Colombia
Sebastián Quintero Olaya, The University of Queensland, Australia

This session aims to foster valuable discussions regarding the engineering, environmental, economic, and/or social impacts induced by ASM processes and waste. The session’s papers and presentations are expected to address geotechnical and geoenvironmental aspects of ASM and associated mining waste including [..] Learn more

IN-SITU REMEDIATION TECHNOLOGIES FOR ORGANICS CONTAMINATED SITES

Organizer
Prof. Liming Hu, Tsinghua University, China

This session aims to investigate the characteristics of organic contaminated sites and to explore the method of efficient remediation technologies. New consensus and solutions to solve problem of organic pollution are expected to be obtained. Learn more

WILDFIRES, GEOTECHNICAL AND GEOENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS

Organizers
Prof. Arvin Farid, Boise State University, USA
Assoc. Prof. Idil D. Akin, North Carolina State University, USA

This technical session will focus on various geotechnical and geoenvironmental implications of wildfires, including wildfire impacts on the soil environment and properties, disasters caused by these impacts, ways to mitigate those, and restoration of soil to its original conditions. Learn more

ENVIRONMENTAL GEOTECHNICS EDUCATION – HAND DOWN CHOICE MORSELS OF YOUR TEACHING MATERIALS!

Organizer
Assoc. Prof. Marina Pantazidou, NTUA, Greece

This Special Session on Education aims to facilitate exchanges of teaching materials and practices. In particular, creators of any kind of educational material about which they feel proud about are encouraged to submit small samples – choice morsels of their work and to highlight their special features. Learn more

ADVANCES IN GEOSYNTHETICS FOR WASTE CONTAINMENT APPLICATIONS

Organizers
Asst. Prof. Kuo Tian
, George Mason University, Virginia
Dr. Nazli Yesiller
, California Polytechnic State Univ., USA
Prof. James Hanson
, California Polytechnic State Univ., USA

Geosynthetic materials play an important role in the design and construction of waste containment systems. The session will focus on durability, performance, and sustainability advancements in geosynthetic materials [..] Learn more

PANEL DISCUSSIONS

Confirmed until today

SPECIAL PLENARY SESSION – “IF I STARTED MY CAREER IN ENVIRONMENTAL GEOTECHNICS NOW, I WOULD…”

A Special Session Highlighting the Exciting Research Frontier in Environmental Geotechnics by our Intellectual Leaders

This plenary session will include four 15 min presentations by invited distinguished leaders in Environmental Geotechnics followed by a 30 min discussion. Read more

Panel Moderator

Kristin Sample-Lord

Villanova University, USA

Speakers

Susan E. Burns

Georgia Institute of Technology, USA

Liang-Tong Zhan

Zhejiang University, China

R. Kerry Rowe

Queen's University, Canada

Mario Manassero

Politecnico di Torino, Italy

Bright Spark Lecture Award

On behalf of the TC215 we would like to thank you all for the many and outstanding participations we received for the Bright Sparks Award. All the proposals have been reviewed by a six-member committee consisting of TC215 members and YMPG members.   

Four brilliant researchers have been selected for receiving the Award this year and have been invited to deliver a 20-minute Plenary lecture on Wednesday June 28th in front of the entire Conference Audience.  

Congratulations to all awardees! 

Meet the Recipients of the Bright Sparks Award

Kuo Tian

George Mason University, USA

Jie Hu

Zhejiang University, China

Nicolò Guarena

Polytechnic University of Turin, Italy

Alexandra C. Saracho

The University of Texas at Austin, USA

SHORT COURSE

It will be offered on Sunday 25 June – in the morning before the Conference opening, organized as a satellite event by Prof. R. K. Rowe and Prof. A. Bouazza. The Short Course will take place under the condition that at least 10 participants will sign up. A Registration Fee of 280 € applies. To register to the short course click here. Note that registered participants will be notified to complete their payment once the minimum ten participants cut-off has been reached.

Registration Fee: 280 €
Minimum participation: 10 persons
Register now, pay later

IN CONTAINMENT FACILITIES
GEOSYNTHETIC BARRIERS

Sunday, 25 June

08:50-15:45

Minoa Palace – The Conference Venue

A. Bouazza
Monash University, Australia

K. Rowe
Queen’s University, Canada

Learn more