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The International Geosynthetics Society (IGS) Norway Chapter was finally formed in May 2008. The bylaws and the constituted board of the Norwegian chapter were approved by the IGS Council during their meeting in Cancun in Mexico in March 2008 (GeoAmericas 2008).
It has been a long and winding road to achieve this! The original plan was to form a Nordic chapter including members in all the Nordic countries. That plan goes back to 1999; a solicitation of interest in forming a Nordic chapter was sent out in 2001. However, it turned out to be very difficult to find a good way of organising a chapter including several countries.
Based on clear advice from IGS, it was decided to go for a national chapter in Norway in 2007. So after 8 years, the chapter is finally up and running! The chapter is also open for participants from the other Nordic countries if a national chapter has not yet formed in their country.
The first meeting in the Norwegian chapter was held in Oslo 4 June 2008 and the constituted
board was approved by the members.
The board consists of:
• Arnstein Watn, SINTEF – President
• Per K. Hoel, Terratec – Vice President
• Hanne Louise Moe, SINTEF – Secretary
• Henning Sørensen, Ahlsell – Treasurer
• Roald Aabøe, Norwegian Directorate
of Roads – Board member
The board will work closely together with the geosynthetic committee of the Norwegian Geotechnical Society (NGF) and the board members Hanne Louise Moe and Roald
Aabøe are also members of NGF Geosynthetic committee.
The chapter plans to arrange for a common travel arrangement to EuroGeo 4. It is also responsible together with NGF Geosynthetic committee for arranging a geosynthetic
session at the Nordic Geotechnical meeting in Norway in September 2008. It will also work on
establishing a web-based geosynthetic guide together with NGF Geosynthetic committee.
Arnstein Watn is the IGS Norway Chapter President. This column first appeared in the July 2008 issue of IGS News, the newsletter of the International Geosynthetics Society.
