The Award
The winner will receive:
- a trophy;
- a cash prize of $1,000; and
- two year’s free membership of the Australian Geomechanics Society.
Runners up will receive:
- one year’s free membership of the Australian Geomechanics Society.
How to apply
Candidates should submit:
- A 500 word abstract on a project with which they have been involved (please note that your employers consent is required);
- A detailed CV; and
- The attached application form.
Applications will be reviewed and a shortlist of candidates will be selected. Shortlisted candidates will be asked to make a 20 minute presentation to a meeting of the Victorian Chapter of the Australian Geomechanics Society in August 2021. The judging panel will announce the winner at the conclusion of this meeting.
Call for nominees
The inaugural Jack Morgan Young Geotechnical Practitioners Award was presented in 2009. The award is presented biennially to an outstanding Victorian geotechnical practitioner under the age of 35. Shortlisted applicants will be judged on their contribution to geotechnics and understanding of geotechnical issues.
Timeline for Award
30 June 2021:
Deadline for abstract submissions;
14 July 2021:
Shortlisted candidates selected; and
11 August 2021 6.00PM – 8.30PM:
Shortlisted presentations to the AGS.
Applicants must be
- Under the age of 35 as at December 2021
- A member of the Australian Geomechanics Society;
- A resident of Victoria; and
- Have their employers consent to apply for this award.
Please forward your submission to the secretary of the Australian Geomechanics Society, Victorian Chapter, Clare Bridgeman via [email protected]
For queries, contact Mahdi Miri Disfani ([email protected])
About Jack Morgan
The Jack Morgan Award honours the career of one of the unsung heroes of geotechnical engineering in Melbourne. Jack Morgan graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Civil Engineering in 1957 and claimed an additional accolade as dux of Civil Engineering. He followed up his stellar undergraduate results with a PhD, also from the University of Melbourne.
His first job was with the Department of Works during which time, he was a senior engineer responsible for geotechnical investigation and design of major Commonwealth buildings, dams, and bridges in all states of Australia, Indonesia and New Guinea. This was at a time when analytical soil mechanics was relatively new.
In 1963, he moved to academia, taking up a position as Senior Research Fellow with The University of Melbourne. He stayed at Melbourne University full-time for 12 years, leaving in 1975 as Reader, in charge of soil mechanics. He maintains an affiliation with The University of Melbourne to which he returns as an occasional lecturer to this day.
In 1975 Jack moved into geotechnical consulting taking up a role as Principal with Golder Associates, a role that he worked in for 22 years until his retirement in 1997. He still works part time at Golder Associates as a senior consultant and mentor.
Jack pioneered work on deep basements in Melbourne, many would be familiar with his paper on basement construction in the Engineering Geology of Melbourne “Blue Book”. The Arts Centre basement is one of the earliest large soft ground basements in Melbourne, one on which Jack had a significant involvement. A number of significant learnings came from Jack’s work on this and other projects. One such example was the effect of depressurisation of the Moray Street Gravels and its effect on consolidation of the Coode Island Silt.
Jack became the Managing Director of Golder Associates from 1985 to 1991 and Chair of the Board of Directors from 1991 to 1996.
Jack has had an outstanding technical career during which he has authored more than 20 papers published in international and local journals. A comment from one of Jacks colleagues who worked with him over the course of his consulting career:
“Jack excels as a consulting engineer by his technical capability, communication skills and wide experience. He has an approachable and understanding manner but quickly identifies wrong thinking and finds practical ways forward in apparently complex situations”.