The International Geosynthetics Society (IGS) continues to rally its individual and corporate members around the Turkish Chapter of the IGS. After the June 28 attack at Istanbul’s international airport, the organizers of the 6th European Conference on Geosynthetics (EuroGeo 6) made the extraordinary decision to move the September event to another country.
The Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Centre in Ljubljana, Slovenia, was quickly secured—including over the original conference dates: 25 – 28 September 2016.
The quick move and announcement has given the registered attendees and exhibitors time to adjust logistics for their travel, and for new, interested parties to get involved and support the conference.
Prof. Erol Güler, Chair of EuroGeo 6, has issued two statements to update IGS members and the general engineering community on the progress. Dr. Russell Jones, President of the IGS, issued a strong letter of support and called on all IGS members “to support this conference by promoting, attending and exhibiting at this exciting new location. Our colleagues need our support.”
On July 7, the IGS Corporate Committee Chairman, Kent von Maubeuge, also issued a statement. He applauded the EuroGeo 6 organizers for their swift decision, noting that the unprecedented move to a new country on short notice and to a notable venue merited an unprecedented show of support from the IGS Corporate Members.
He hailed corporate sponsors as being essential to the stability of the professional society—one which has grown substantially in membership in the past 5 years—and cited their collective strength and dedication.
His letter was distributed only to IGS Corporate Members, but the IGS Secretariat has granted us permission to republish it here. The text is worth reading.
LETTER TO IGS CORPORATE MEMBERS
The International Geosynthetics Society (IGS) owes a considerable amount of its stability and success to its strong corporate membership. We call upon your strength and commitment today in support of EuroGeo 6, which has changed its city and country location in the wake of the bombing at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul this year.
Our colleagues in the Turkish Chapter of IGS have worked tremendously hard on the event, and we applaud their quick response in moving the conference. It is extraordinary that the conference organizers, working with the event management group, have secured a new location over the same dates so quickly and at such a well-regarded venue: the Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Centre in Ljubljana, Slovenia, 25 – 28 September 2016.
This change of country on such short notice is unprecedented, but it gives us all time to adjust and be active participants in Slovenia. We on the IGS Corporate Committee thank our colleagues in the Turkish Chapter for their care and consideration of the conference participants’ safety. Let us return to them unprecedented support!
We request that you continue your support of the exhibition and sponsorship of EuroGeo 6. We request that you send your personnel to the event. We encourage you to do exactly what IGS Corporate Members have historically done: band together and make a strong showing of and for our engineering community.
The event information is updating quickly and full information will be available in the next week. Follow the latest via the conference website www.eurogeo6.org and look for more emails from your partners in the IGS and the event itself.
Thank you for being Corporate Members of the IGS. Thank you for your continued support.
Mit freundlichem Gruß / Best regards,
i. V. Kent P. von Maubeuge
IGS Corporate Committee Chair
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Learn more about the International Geosynthetics Society (IGS) and its membership at www.geosyntheticssociety.org.