The 18th International Symposium on Geo-disaster Reduction / the 4th Gu Dezhen Lecture was held in the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing from November 20 to 23, 2020. The Symposium was jointly organized by the International Consortium on Geo-disaster Reduction (ICGdR), the Engineering Geology Commission of the Geological Society of China, the Key Laboratory of Shale Gas and Geoengineering, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Tongji University. Peng Jianbing, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was invited for the Symposium as the keynote speaker of Gu Dezhen Lecture, who delivered a wonderful lecture titled Research on Large Deformation of Unconsolidated Formation - Sentiment and Gratitude of Scientific Research for 40 Years. With the theme of "Improving the Relationship between Geoenvironment and Society", more than 30 well-known domestic and foreign experts were invited to deliver academic reports, and experts and scholars from China, Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, Belgium, Nepal and other countries participated in the Symposium offline + online. Furthermore, the Symposium was rebroadcast to the world through live broadcast and simultaneous interpretation. More than 800,000 people watched the symposium video.
Professor Cheng Qiangong from Southwest Jiaotong University, also Chair Professor of UNESCO "Geo-disaster Reduction", Honorary Fellow and Assistant Chairman of ICGdR, attended the Symposium, along with Associate Researcher Wang Yufeng, Associate Professor Wang Hu, Associate Professor Luo Gang, Associate Professor He Yi, Lecturer Yang Qingqing, Lecturer Yang Hufeng and other young teachers, doctoral students and master students of the Department of Geological Engineering. Associate Researcher Wang Yufeng was awarded the Young Scientist Award by ICGdR.
It is said that ICGdR has long been active in the academic research related to geological disasters such as landslide, debris flow, earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunami with the support of UNESCO, IRDR of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Japanese government and relevant international academic institutions. With more than 80 member units on five continents around the world, ICGdR is a world-renowned non-governmental organization in geo-disaster mitigation. The Gu Dezhen Lecture is China’s highest ranked academic lecture in engineering geology, which is named after Mr. Gu Dezhen, one of the founders of the engineering geology discipline and the late member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (academician).
Group photo of teachers and students from the Department of Geological Engineering with Peng Jianbing, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Professor Wang Fawu, Chairman of ICGdR
Group photo of teachers and students from the Department of Geological Engineering
