The British Geotechnical Association (BGA) is the principal association for geotechnical engineers in the UK.
The British Geotechnical Association (BGA) is the principal association for geotechnical engineers in the UK.
The John Mitchell Award is presented annually by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), based on a nomination from the BGA, for significant contributions in the field of geotechnical engineering.
The award was instituted in memory of the prominent geotechnical engineer John Mitchell of Arup, who was killed while observing piling works at a central London site in 1990.
The award criteria considered by the BGA include the following:
The Award winner gives the John Mitchell Lecture at a BGA Evening meeting the January following the year of the award.
Previous John Mitchell Award winners are listed below.
Since 2021 the Award winners have been invited to prepare a paper, based on the lecture, for publication in the Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology (QJEGH). Links to the papers are included in the table below where available.
Prior to 2014, the Award was given to a published paper (and links are given in the table below). The criteria were changed in 2014, to present the award to a person. The list below is for the period since 2008 when the award nominations began to be administered by the BGA. Prior to 2008 the award was administered by the John Mitchell Trust.
| Year of award | Winner | Title of lecture/paper |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Yvonne Ainsworth (Taylor Woodrow) | The importance of the 6 Ps in geotechnical engineering |
| 2023 | Barnali Ghosh (Mott MacDonald) | Creating added value through adaptive design – A seismic perspective |
| 2022 | Mike Winter (Winter Associates) | Road asset, socioeconomic and fatality risk from debris flow https://doi.org/10.1144/qjegh2023-167 |
| 2021 | Martin Preene (Richter Associates) | Thinking conceptually about groundwater problems https://doi.org/10.1144/qjegh2024-143 |
| 2020 | David Beadman (Byrne Looby) | A career embedded in the ground |
| 2019 | Stuart Marchand (Wentworth House Partnership) | The temporary support of excavations |
| 2018 | Clif Kettle (Clif Kettle Consulting) | Ground treatment: 40 years from black art to fully engineered solution |
| 2017 | Len Threadgold (Geotechnics Limited) | Re-thinking site investigation |
2016 | Andrew Ridley (Geotechnical Observations) | Monitoring the performance of clay slopes |
2015 | Martin Pedley (Skanska) | Developments in geotechnical engineering & construction during the last 25 years – a personal perspective |
2014 | Colin Eddie (Morgan Sindall) | The past, present and future of tunnelling |
2013 | Mike Long (University College Dublin), Carl Brangan (Applied Ground Engineering Consultants Limited), Chris Menkiti (GCG), Michael Looby (Byrne Looby Partners) and Patrick Casey (Arup) | Retaining walls in Dublin Boulder Clay, Ireland https://doi.org/10.1680/geng.9.00091 |
2012 | Mourice Czerewko, Stephen Cross (URS/Scott Wilson) and Philip Dumelow, Amon Saadvandi (Balfour Beatty Major Civil Engineering Limited) | Assessment of pyritic Lower Lias mudrocks for earthworks https://doi.org/10.1680/geng.2011.164.2.59 |
2011 | Mike Hendry, Lee Barbour (University of Saskatchewan) and David Hughes (Queen's University Belfast) | Track displacement and energy loss in a railway embankment https://doi.org/10.1680/geng.2010.163.1.3 |
2010 | Chris Mundell, Paul McCombie, Andrew Heath, Pete Walker (University of Bath) and Claire Bailey (Clarke Bond) | Limit-equilibrium assessment of drystone retaining structures https://doi.org/10.1680/geng.2009.162.4.203 |
2009 | Mike Long (University College Dublin) and Michael Looby (Byrne Looby Partners) | Deep excavations in Dublin: recent developments |
2008 | Gareth Swift (University of Salford) and Russell Jones (Golder Associates) | Design of a reinforced embankment on compressible soil |
2025 GE Awards: Submission deadline extended
The deadline for submissions to the 2025 Ground Engineering (GE) Awards has been extended to 31 January 2025 to ensure the industry is fully represented.
