IGS Greece held its first IGS Educate the Educators (EtE) program with two new features it recommends adopting at similar events.

Some 33 academic professors, educators and researchers representing 11 universities from Greece, Cyprus and the UK, attended the two-day program in Xanthi on October 18 and 19.

Instructors Professor Jorge Zornberg, Patricia Guerra-Escobar, and Dr. Ivan Puig Damians, covered a range of topics including the aims of EtE, familiarization with geosynthetic materials, and their applications in different scenarios.

New to EtE was Dr Damians' talk on 'Sustainability assessment: methodology and geosynthetic-based applications', and Dr. Zornberg's 'Conceptual design workshop'.

Here, Dr. Zornberg presented a real case which required a combined solution including various geosynthetics and geotechnical applications. The participants were divided into small groups, and each group then proposed a possible solution. Finally, Dr. Zornberg commented on the various suggestions and presented the actual solution adopted for this case.

The conference also included plenty of time for discussion and networking, and a technical visit to Thrace NG facilities.

IGS Greece President Ioannis Markou said: "We were honored to have these speakers, whose assistance and support helped create a remarkable program. Dr. Damians' lecture and Prof. Zornberg's workshop could potentially be used in future EtE programs in other countries.

"IGS EtE events are a vital element in improving the understanding and adoption of geosynthetics in a more direct and practical way. Following our event we will now monitor the inclusion of geosynthetics in academic curricula over the following months and we will continue our activities to promote the proper use of geosynthetics in engineering works."

Dr. Markou also thanked the IGS Foundation for providing a $10,000 travel grant to enable professors to attend.

Visit the Educate the Educators information page here for more about the initiative and how to develop your own events.

Greek speakers can keep up-to-date with IGS Greece activities by visiting its website here.