The British Geotechnical Association (BGA) is the principal association for geotechnical engineers in the UK.
This will be held as an in-person event and will also be webcast live.
Photographs may be taken at the event and used for BGA promotional purposes; if you have any objections please contact the BGA via email.
Attending the lecture
Please note that owing to refurbishment works at the Great Hall, Imperial College London, the venue for this year’s lecture has been changed to Ondaatje Lecture Theatre at the Royal Geographical Society (RGS), South Kensington, London.
Ondaatje Lecture Theatre has a seating capacity of 700. An overflow room with a live streaming will also be available at the same venue.
This arrangement is planned to apply to the 2026 lecture only. The 2027 lecture is expected to return to Imperial College upon completion of the refurbishment works.
If you plan to attend the Lecture in person, please note:
Watching the lecture on line
If you plan to watch the lecture online:
The Lecture will be streamed live via YouTube.
The Rankine Lecture is widely viewed as the most prestigious of the invited lectures in geotechnics. It commemorates William John Macquorn Rankine, Professor of Civil Engineering at Glasgow University, who was one of the first engineers in the UK to make a significant contribution to soil mechanics. He is best known for his theory for the earth pressure on retaining walls.
The Rankine Dinner will be held after the lecture. The Dinner is ticket only, and a booking link will be provided nearer the date of the event. Please note that the dinner is usually heavily over-subscribed and early booking is recommended.
The dinner will be held at the usual venue at Imperial College, which is about a 5-minute walk from the RGS.
The British Geotechnical Association
18.03.2026
1730 - 1930
Ondaatje Lecture Theatre at the Royal Geographical Society (RGS), South Kensington, London
Advance booking is not required for the Lecture. The Rankine Dinner held after the lecture is ticket only (note that the Dinner is often heavily over-subscribed, and early booking is recommeded)
BGA Meetings
Tea, coffee and biscuits will be served before the lecture.
Geotechnical infrastructure must be fit for purpose and resilient to changes in environmental or service loading and patterns of use. It must also be affordable to build, maintain and in some cases adapt. As some recent major projects have shown, achieving these goals together is a challenge. Unduly pessimistic load cases, over-cautious materials parameters and inappropriate assumed mechanisms of behaviour can all drive excessive conservatism and cost. The lecture will illustrate and discuss the use of observed performance and behavioural mechanisms in setting suitable boundary conditions and materials parameters, to achieve resilience affordably.
The British Geotechnical Association is grateful for the support of Corporate Members, and the organisations that the BGA Executive Committee members belong to.
View our Corporate MembersWidely viewed as the most prestigious of the invited lectures in geotechnics and was first held in 1961.
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