IGS invites nominations for renowned Giroud Lecture

Published On: August 13, 2020

One of the International Geosynthetics Society’s (IGS’s) most prestigious lecture opportunities for talented individuals in the geosynthetics industry is now open for nominations.

Nominations are being invited for consideration to deliver the flagship IGS Giroud Lecture at the forthcoming 12th International Conference on Geosynthetics (ICG) in Rome in September 2022.

Established in 1994 and first awarded in 1998, the Giroud Lecture on Geosynthetics is one of the IGS’s highest distinctions. Named after J. P. Giroud, a geosynthetics pioneer who coined the terms “geotextile” and “geomembrane” in 1977, it recognizes exceptional achievement and influence in the field of geosynthetics. It is delivered every four years during the opening of the ICG.

The successful candidate would follow in the footsteps of IGS Vice President Nathalie Touze, the most recent presenter who debuted her Giroud Lecture at the 11th ICG in Seoul, Korea, in 2018. Her talk, titled “Healing the world: a geosynthetics solution,” suggested ways geosynthetics could improve the socio-economic, environmental and resource challenges faced by the modern world.

Dr. Touze, the first woman to be honored to give the Giroud Lecture in its nearly 30-year history, has since delivered her talk at IGS events around the world, including Chile, Brazil and London.

Previous lectures have been given by Dr. Robert Koerner (1998), Dr. R. Kerry Rowe (2002), Chris Lawson (2006), Prof. Heinz Brandl (2010) and Dr. Richard Bathurst (2014).

A list of nominees will be compiled by the IGS officers before names are forwarded to the IGS Council for selection. If the chosen lecturer accepts, they must submit the title of their talk to the IGS secretary and ICG organizing committee before March 2021. Lectures should be planned to last about an hour. An accompanying paper will be published, and a plaque will be presented to the speaker in recognition of this distinguished achievement. If you know an exceptional individual who deserves to be nominated for this exclusive opportunity, send details by September 30 to IGS Secretariat Manager Terry Ann Paulo at igssec@geosyntheticssociety.org. Nominees do not have to be IGS members.