EIT-JSCE Joint International Symposium 2009
- Geotechnical Infrastructure Asset Management Participation Report
Graduate School of Management, Kyoto University
Hiroyasu Ohtsu

1. Introduction
The EIT1-JSCE2 Joint International Symposium 2009 - Geotechnical Infrastructure Asset Management was held on September 7 and 8, 2009 in Bangkok, Thailand. Of the two-day symposium, September 7 wasdedicated to general presentation sessions, and September 8 to students' and young researchers' presentation
sessions.
This was the eighth holding of the symposium, which started in 2002 as a joint event by faculty members
in fields related to rock engineering at universities in Japan's Kansai region led by Kyoto University, andthose at universities in Thailand led by the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT). As shown in Table 1, avariety of subjects ranging from rock engineering, geotechnical engineering and resources engineering torelated fields have been discussed as main themes over the course of the eight joint events.
Table 1: History of Symposium Themes
No.

YearTitle

1

2002

EIT- JAPAN-AIT Joint Workshop on Rock Engineering

2

2003

EIT- JAPAN-AIT Joint Workshop on Modern Computer Methods, and Modern
Technology on Computer in Rock Engineering

3

2004

EIT- JAPAN-AIT Joint Workshop on Geo-engineering in Groundwater, Land
Subsidence, Exploration Geophysics and Underground Excavations

4

2005

EIT- JAPAN-AIT Joint Workshop on Geo-Risk Engineering & Management

5

2006

EIT-Japan-AIT Joint Seminar on Geo-Risk Engineering- Monitoring and Geo-Exploration -6

2007

EIT-JSCE Joint Seminar on Rock Engineering 2007

7

2008

EIT-JSCE Joint International Symposium 2008
- Monitoring & Modeling -8

2009

EIT-JSCE Joint International Symposium 2009
- Geotechnical Infrastructure Asset Management -1
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EIT: Engineering Institute of Thailand
JSCE: Japan Society of Civil Engineers1Through these eight joint events, it goes without saying that exchanges in relative education and research
fields have deepened between Thai and Japan. But in addition to this, participants from Japan have also
gained an array of priceless experiences. The fifth symposium (2006) was held under declaration of martial
law following a coup d'etat to displace then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, which is today the cause
for ongoing political instability in Thailand. Despite the declaration of martial law, New Bangkok
International Airport (Suvarnabhumi Airport) opened during this symposium, and many participants
chanced upon the rare experience of entering the country at then-Bangkok International Airport (DonMueang International Airport) and departing from New Bangkok International Airport. The seventhsymposium (2008) was held under decree of a state of emergency triggered by a clash between theanti-government force People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) and the pro-government People's Power
Party (PPP) just before the symposium.
In addition to the general presentation sessions which have been held since the first symposium, thestudents' and young researchers' presentation sessions have been held since the sixth event (2007) toprovide Japanese and Thai students and young researchers and practitioners an opportunity to givepresentations in the English language.

2. Symposium content
As indicated in Table 1, the main theme of this symposium was Geotechnical Infrastructure AssetManagement. This topic is related to the GCOE3 project (Global Center for Education and Research on
Human Security Engineering for Asian Megacities; see http://hse.gcoe.kyoto-u.ac.jp/) currently carried out
by Kyoto University. Below is a summary of the content of the program.
(1) General presentation sessions(Day 1; September 7)
On Day 1 of the symposium, Dr.
Noppadol Phienwej (AIT) and Igave addresses at the opening
ceremony

asrepresentativesofThailand and Japan respectively(see Photo 1), followed by akeynote speech by Prof. Kittetep
Fuenkajorn (Suranaree University)
titled"AnOverviewofRock

Mechanics Researches in Thailand"in which projects related to rock

Photo 1: Opening address (left: Dr. Noppadol; right: writer)

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GCOE: Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's Global Center of
Excellence program2

engineering and research trends in related fields in Thailand from the past up to the present were introduced.
Since rock engineering is positioned as a relatively new field in Thailand, as Dr. Noppadol has explained at
the joint events many times before, some participants were under the impression that research in thecountry fell behind compared with Japan. However, data is being compiled on the various experiments
vigorously conducted in Japan in the past which can be interpreted as basic research, and young researchers
are being fostered – for example, Prof. Kittetep's has 24 graduate students in his research team. In contrast
to the situation in Japan, where poor energy in fields related to rock engineering is being pointed out, I felt
envious of the lively situation in Thailand.
In the general presentation sessions following the opening ceremony, a total of 14 oral presentations
were given (4 from Thailand; 10 from Japan) and an active question and answer session was carried out.
(2)

Students'andyoungresearchers'presentation sessions (Day 2; September 8)
A total of 27 oral presentations (14 fromThailand; 13 from Japan) were given at thestudents'

andyoungresearchers'presentation sessions on Day 2. The Thai
speakers came from three universities: theAIT, Kasetsart University and SuranareeUniversity.
Inthefirststudents'andyoung

researchers' presentation sessions two years
ago, I had the impression that the English
Photo 2: Awarding of excellent speakers(left: Mr. Kitaoka (Kansai University))

language proficiency of Japanese speakers
fell behind that of Thai speakers in thepresentations and the question and answer sessions. In the third sessions this year, however, although
Japanese speakers were unable to fully keep up in the question and answer session, this was apparently due
to a lack of experience and might have been the same had the session been carried out in the Japanese
language. With regard to the presentations themselves, I feel that Japanese speakers are improving eachyear.
Participating Japanese faculty members act as judges and select excellent speakers in the students' andyoung researchers' presentation sessions each year. In this symposium, six speakers were awarded asexcellent speakers at the closing ceremony (see Photo 2).

3. Conclusion
As mentioned in 1., the symposium welcomed the eighth holding since it started in 2002. While theThai-Japanese joint symposium is already established as a regular event, with the number of Thai speakers

3surpassing that of Japanese speakers this year, the students' and young researchers' presentation sessions arealso starting to gain the cooperation of Thai education and research institutions related to rock engineeringand geotechnical engineering, in addition to the AIT.
As I quote the Japanese proverb in the introduction of the joint event each year: "perseverance is power."
And with this basic concept, I hope to continue these activities into the future.
I wish to thank all participants and ask for their cooperation in upcoming events.

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