Preparations Begin for 12ECEE

Following the successful bid made at the 11ECEE in Paris by the Society for Earthquake and Civil Engineering Dynamics (SECED) to host the 12ECEE in London, preparations have now begun for the Conference. The Twelfth European Conference for Earthquake Engineering will be held in the week 9-13 September 2002 at the Barbican Centre in the heart of London.

SECED has elected Dr. Robert May, Senior Geotechnical Engineer with GIBB Ltd., one of the UK’s foremost engineering consultancies, as Chairman of the Conference Committee, which will co-ordinate the overall organisation of the Conference. The administrative aspects of the Conference will be under the auspices of the Organisation Committee, led by Dr. Chris Browitt of the British Geological Survey. The Organisation Committee will shortly be contracting the services of a professional conference company. Invitations are being sent out to a number of leading figures in European Earthquake Engineering to join the International Advisory Committee that will be called upon to promote the event throughout Europe and beyond. The experience of the national associations that have hosted previous conferences will be communicated to the organisers of the 12ECEE through this Committee.

SECED hopes that the Conference will achieve high technical standards and therefore papers accepted should be clearly focused and relevant to current seismic risk issues. All abstracts and papers will be thoroughly reviewed to ensure that the Conference proceedings will form a valuable resource, containing high quality papers on recent advances in research and practice. To ensure this quality control, a Scientific Committee has been formed, headed by Professor Amr Elnashai of Imperial College. Invitations are now being sent out to leading figures in both research and practice both in Europe and further afield to join an International Scientific Committee. The latter Committee will interact with the Scientific Committee in defining the technical programme for the Conference and will also contribute to the work of the review process through which abstracts and final papers will pass.

The First Announcement will be published in poster form at the end of 1999 and will be distributed through the European and International Associations for Earthquake Engineering. The Conference will be formally announced and details of the organisation and program will be presented by SECED Chairman and UK Delegate to the IAEE, Dr. Peter Merriman, at the Twelfth World Conference on Earthquake Engineering in Auckland, New Zealand.

Julian Bommer

Vice-Chairman SECED