GeoMandu2023 Held Successfully

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GeoMandu2023, the first international conference under the banner of GeoMandu Conference Series of Nepal Geotechnical Society was held successfully on 16-17 March 2023 on the theme of “Geohazards and Geo-Infra Disasters.” The conference was inaugurated by the Deputy Prime Minister of Nepal, Honorable Narayan Kaji Shrestha (also with the portfolio of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport) and was also participated by distinguished personalities from the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE), Indian Geotechnical Society, and Sri Lankan Geotechnical Society. The total number of participants was over 300 including above 30 from various countries, with a majority of them from professional institutions working in the road and hydropower sectors followed by graduate and doctoral students.

The conference program was conducted in two parts: non-technical sessions and technical sessions. Non-technical sessions constituted opening and closing ceremonies while technical sessions included presentations by various researchers. The technical sessions were further divided into four categories: keynote lectures, invited lectures, special presentations, and general presentations. The keynote lectures were delivered by Prof. Dr. Keh Jian Shou, Vice President (Asia), ISSMGE, and Dr. Lukas Arenson (BGC Engineering Inc., Canada). The invited lecture and special presentation sessions had a total of 15 papers presented by researchers working in the field of geotechnical engineering in the Himalayan Region.

The general presentations were accommodated in two parallel sessions and consisted of a total of 25 papers on a variety of fields. In addition, poster presentations were also done by six groups in the exhibition area, where alongside the poster presentations the geotechnical models made by the undergraduate students of various engineering colleges of Nepal were also exhibited. In the exhibition area, local as well as international geotechnical consulting firms and geotechnical materials, machine, and equipment vendors were invited to display their products. The conference closing ceremony was chaired by Prof. Dr. Sashidhar Ram Joshi, the Dean of the Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University.

The conference was designed to publish only the extended abstract volume of proceedings prior to the event while the full volume of proceedings will be published in a book format by Springer Verlag within 2023 after reviewing thoroughly by the scientific committee. The extended abstract volume of the conference proceedings was published and distributed during the conference, and the PDF version is available here.

The success of this conference is due to the collective efforts of many people and institutions. First and foremost, the support and continuous help from our title sponsor, Terre Armee India has been very instrumental. The support and cooperation received from our other sponsors, our organizing and educational partners were also our great motivation during the preparation stage of this conference. The support received from the ISSMGE was very insightful and it helped us plan this event more internationally. We are also very grateful for all the selfless hard work of our volunteers and organizing committee members. Thank you all!

Organizing Committee, GeoMandu2023
(April 2023)