CHAIRMAN'S MESSAGE

It is my honour to be elected as the Chairman of our Division. First, I would like to express my thanks to my colleagues and their participation will be invaluable for the smooth operation of the Division.

One of the goals of the Division is to provide effective avenues for sharing experiences and the latest professional developments. Our site visits, technical seminars, conferences and workshops are always well-received by our members. While we continue to bring in experts to share the state-of-the-art developments in various areas of our field, we also encourage members to attend overseas professional activities, such as conferences and site visits. In this respect, we will continue to sponsor young members to attend selected overseas conferences. We are also planning a delegation to visit Japan to learn about the latest technologies and development in geotechnical engineering. Other activities are being planned and they will be announced in due course.

We pay particular attention to meeting the needs of our young members who are still in the formative stage of their careers. In the current session, we will organize some technical workshops to help them reinforce their basics for application in practice.

Our past chairmen and their committees have helped us to establish strong collaborations with international institutes. We can proudly claim that we are well recognized as the representative of the Hong Kong geotechnical community, and we are entrusted to organize key events in Hong Kong. Through the Hong Kong Geotechnical Society, our members are either holding key roles or participating actively in the technical committees of the ISSMGE. We are going to host the 14th Asian Regional Conference in 2011. In addition to these international links, we will continue to build a strong network within this region by enhancing our relationship with the regional institutions. With your support, I am confident that we will have another excited and fruitful year. Please come forward to participate in our activities and provide us with feedback and advice. See you in our coming events.

Ir Wai Keung PUN
Chairman, Geotechnical Division
Session 2009/2010