Council task force: Young members mentorship
Date: August 25, 2014
Prepared by N. Touze-Foltz
Mentoring young members of the International Geosynthetics Society is at the heart of the work being done by the Young Member Task Force. The purpose of the task force is to facilitate the creation of a board for the three Young Member Regional Sub-committees (Africa and Europe, the Americas, Asia) and support the sub-committees on their way to becoming autonomous.
The Young Member Task Force has five major objectives:
- Ensure there is good communication between the Young Member Regional Sub-committees.
- Facilitate communication between the young members of IGS and their respective chapters.
- Help young members develop professionally, undertake actions dedicated to young members, and assist all of the other IGS committees.
- Provide young members exposure to professional development opportunities during IGS events, such as the 10 ICG.
- Serve as an intermediary between the IGS Council and the Young IGS Members Committee.
The Young Member Task Force began work on two key actions in 2014. The first was to translate the IGS terminology into different languages. The Task Force’s first step was to translate IGS terminology and glossaries into French, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian, and make a table for use by members.
The second big action of the year was to organise the Young IGS Member paper contest. A call for abstracts went out. More than 40 abstracts were received, resulting in 37 papers. Of those papers, 10 young members were selected to give their paper presentation in Berlin during the 10 ICG. All 10 nominees are invited to the conference for free. The 10 papers will be presented in a dedicated session (Tuesday the 23rd of September, 10:00 – 12:00) and the winner of the contest will be announced during the General Assembly.
While the Young Member Task Force is only one year old, much has been accomplished. Be sure to join us for the presentation of the winners of the Young IGS Member paper contest and watch for the finalised version of the IGS terminology translation project coming soon.
Also, we encourage other young IGS members who would like to join the Young IGS Members Committee to contact their regional or national chapter, or contact Irene Nyirenda (inyirenda@gseworld.com).