GeoMontreal 2013 – Conference Report by Richard Bathurst

GeoMontreal - Dr. Richard Bathurst & Dr. Michael Heibaum GeoMontreal was held 29 September to 3 October 2013 in beautiful downtown Montreal. The conference was a joint conference of the Canadian Geotechnical Society, the North American Geosynthetics Society (NAGS) and the Canadian Chapter of the International Association of Hydrogeologists.

The conference attracted over 875 delegates and 57 exhibitors. A total of 348 oral presentations were given in 7 parallel sessions over three days. Another 30 papers were delivered in a poster session. The technical program was very broad as a result of the three-society partnership.

Dr. Michael Heibaum gave the Mercer Lecture at the morning Plenary Session on the second day of the conference. His talk was titled “Geosynthetics for Waterways and Flood Protection Structures – Controlling the Interaction of Water and Soil”. There were four geosynthetics sessions: Wall Reinforcement; Landfills and Mining Operations; Environmental and Transportation, and Drainage and Filtration – for a total of 27 papers.

One of the social highlights of the conferences was “Colour Night” which was a heavenly experience as can be seen in the photograph.

Shown on the left is Dr. Michael Heibaum the Mercer Lecturer and joining him is Dr. Richard Bathurst, a past Mercer Lecturer and past-President of NAGS and IGS, and currently President of the Canadian Geotechnical Society.