The British Geotechnical Association (BGA) is the principal
association for geotechnical engineers in the United Kingdom.

Call for Entries - Cooling Prize 2019

The British Geotechnical Association (BGA) is pleased to invite Young Geotechnical Professionals to submit papers for the 50th Cooling Prize Competition on any topic dealing with the engineering behaviour of the ground

Call for Papers - Cooling Prize

50th Anniversary Cooling Prize Competition

The British Geotechnical Association (BGA) is pleased to invite Young Geotechnical Professionals to submit papers on any topic dealing with the engineering behaviour of the ground, whether it be a description of an industrial design or construction project, development of a new piece of equipment, or state-of-the-art research.

The 50th Cooling Prize Competition will be held in London on 5th March 2019.

The Cooling Prize is named after the widely renowned Dr LF Cooling who was a pioneer in the field of Geotechnics and is regarded as the ‘Father of British Soil Mechanics.’ The competition was set up to inspire young geotechnical engineers to present their research and/or industry work in their area of interest.

  • Entrants should be under 33 years of age on 31st December 2019 and a member of either the British Geotechnical Association or the Institution of Civil Engineers.
  • Papers must be less than 2000 words (excluding titles, captions, and references), stating which parts of the paper comprise their own work and confirm the number of words does not exceed the limit.

Prizes include a cheque for £200 donated by Ground Engineering, BGA sponsorship to the next European or International Conference on Soil Mechanics the following year (2020), publication of the winning paper, a cut glass decanter and much more. The winning paper will be published in Ground Engineering.

The paper must be submitted with a brief CV and a completed application form by the deadline of Friday 18th January 2019. Full rules can be found here on the Cooling Prize page.

Following selection, the finalists will present their papers on 5th March 2019 to an audience at an event hosted by the British Geotechnical Association at the ICE headquarters at One Great George St, London. This will include a panel of up to four judges who will select the winner.

This year will be the 50th Anniversary of running the Cooling Prize Competition, and to celebrate this milestone we are inviting all previous Cooling Prize winners to the event which will also include a short presentation about the life of Dr LF Cooling by his daughter, Dr Christine Cooling.

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