BGA Masters Dissertation Prize

Information for BGA Masters Dissertation Prize submissions

• Eligibility and Judging Criteria
  1. The competition is open to student members of the BGA who have completed a dissertation in the year prior to the submission deadline in January.
  2. The dissertation can be either as part of a taught course MEng or a coursework-based MSc at a British University. The dissertation should be completed in the field of soil mechanics, geotechnical engineering, geoenvironmental engineering, engineering geology or an allied subject.
  3. It is intended that the dissertation should represent the student’s own work completed as part of the penultimate or final year assessment for an MEng graduate degree or as part of coursework completed in satisfaction of an MSc postgraduate degree. Dissertations produced as part of MRes or similar postgraduate research based degrees/diplomas etc are not eligible for the award.
  4. Entries will be judged by a panel of members of the BGA Executive Committee. The panel will contain both practising geotechnical engineers and academics.
  5. Entries will be assessed using a range of criteria, including: scientific quality; originality; depth and breadth of understanding; standard of presentation; practical significance.
  6. The BGA reserves the right to make no award.

  Procedure

  • There is a limit of one entry per course from each university, the expectation being that this would be the top-ranking dissertation(s) emerging from the university’s own assessment process for each MSc or MEng course.
  • The entry should be submitted by the MEng/MSc course leader or the dissertation supervisor on behalf of the student.
  • The student should be a BGA member (Student Membership is free).
  • The submission should comprise: a) a the student’s masters dissertation, as submitted for assessment, in pdf format b). A citation letter from the course leader or dissertation supervisor, briefly outlining why the dissertation is considered prize-worthy, in pdf format.
  • The outcome will be notified during spring/early summer in the year following the dissertation
  • The winner may be invited to prepare a technical paper, based on the dissertation, for publication in Ground Engineering magazine and to present at the next BGA AGM.

Latest Winners

• Previous Winners

  Year	Winners
  2022	Danette Tan, Imperial College London: Assessing life extensions of ageing infrastructure
  2021	Ana Pirrone, Imperial College London: Geotechnical data integration in the calibration of constitutive models using machine learning and metaheuristics
  2020	Abigail Bateman, University of Bristol: Analytical methods for non-linear pile base settlement prediction in clay
  2019	Geng Jie (Jay) Liang, Imperial College London: Characterizing the variability of London Clay: a study of tunnel face logs from the Jubilee Line Extension between Green Park and Waterloo
  2018	Isabel von Celsing, University of Oxford: Offshore wind turbine foundation design Using 3D finite element limit analysis
  2017	Jack Templeman, University of Oxford: Numerical modelling of lateral buckling of subsea pipelines
  2016	Lauren Doughty, Imperial College London: Laboratory testing of chalk
  2015	Iona Richards, University of Oxford: Time and rate effects for laterally loaded driven piles in clays
  2014	Srikanth Madhabhushi, University of Cambridge: Investigating the deformation mechanisms beneath shallow foundations
  2013	Victor Dubasaru, Imperial College London: Pile clash mitigation
  2012	Marina Sideri, Imperial College London: A study of ground loading on shafts
  2011	Thomas Clifford, University of Birmingham: Designing for rockfall in quarries