Dr. Phung Duc Long, VSSMGE President
The idea of establishing VSSMGE was quite early after the peace was restored in Vietnam in 1954. A group of Vietnamese geotechnicians was formed in 1960, just a few years after the French War ended (1945-1954), when Vietnam was temporarily divided into the two regions: the North and the South. The group was called “Academic Group of Soil Mechanics and Foundations”. Immediately after the establishment of the group, the first Northern Vietnam Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering was held at the end of 1962. Six years later, in 1968, the second conference was organised, in the American War, which was spread to the North with air raids since 1965, and ended in 1972.
The Vietnam Society for Soil Mechanics & Geotechnical Engineering (VSSMGE) was officially established in 25/12/1984. Under the country law, the society congress can be held every 5 years and the presidents can be reelected. This is the reason why the VSSMGE presidents often stay in position for quite a long time in Vietnam. Since then, VSSMGE has had the following congresses:
VSSMGE First Congress (1984). At the First Congress, December 25, 1984, the late Prof. Le Quy An, was elected as the first VSSMGE president, with two vice-presidents, Nguyen Thuoc and Nguyen Ba Ke. Introduced by the Swedish Geotechnical Society (SGS), in 1985, the Vietnam Society for Soil Mechanics & Geotechnical Engineering (VSSMGE) became an official member of ISSMGE) with 28 individual members.
VSSMGE Second Congress (2000) was held on January 15, 2000 in Hanoi. At this congress, the late Prof. Le Quy An was re-elected as the VSSMGE president, along with Nguyen Ba Ke, vice president, and Nguyen Truong Tien, vice president and general secretary. In 2007, VSSMGE became one of the seven founding members of the Association of Geotechnical Societies in Southeast Asia (AGSSEA): the Southeast Asian Geotechnical Society (SEAGS), Vietnam Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (VSSMGE), Hong Kong Geotechnical Society (HKGES), Geotechnical Society of Singapore (GeoSS), Thai Geotechnical Society (TGS), Chinese Taipei Geotechnical Society (CTGS), Indonesian Geotechnical Society (HATTI) and Malaysian Geotechnical Society (MGS). In 2005, the VSSMGE president Le Quy An passed away (1930-2005). The VSSMGE executive committee elected new president Nguyen Truong Tien and general secretary Trinh Minh Thu.
VSSMGE Third Congress (2012) was held on June 18, 2010 in Hanoi. At this congress, the late Prof. Nguyen Truong Tien was elected as the president; with vice presidents Le Duc Thang and Phung Duc Long. In October, 2014, the society president Nguyen Truong Tien passed away (1950-2014). Phung Duc Long was elected as the society president, along with the vice presidents: Le Duc Thang, Trinh Minh Thu and Nguyen Anh Dung.
VSSMGE Fourth Congress (2016) was organised on March 25, 2016 in Hanoi, with the participation of nearly 300 delegates from all over the country. At the Congress, the society president, Phung Duc Long was elected, along with vice presidents: Trinh Minh Thu, Pham Van Long, Nguyen Anh Dung, and Pham Viet Khoa, and general secretary Hoang Viet Hung.
VSSMGE Fifth Congress (2023) was organised on April 14, 2023 in Hanoi. The society president, Phung Duc Long was re-elected, along with vice presidents: Trinh Minh Thu, Nguyen Anh Dung, Tran Thi Thanh and Pham Viet Khoa, and general secretary Hoang Viet Hung.
Feature Photographs
