International Society for Rock Mechanics
and Rock Engineering
BY-LAW No. 7Rocha Medal(approved by the Council in Tehran IRAN on 23 November 2008)

1. NATURE OF THE AWARD(a) A bronze medal and a cash prize may be awarded annually by the Society in memory of Professor ManuelRocha, the second President and organiser of the first International Congress of the ISRM.
(b) The medal is the work of a Portuguese artist. It shall have the recipient's name and the conferment dateengraved on the side.
(c) The cash prize shall be an amount proposed by the Board and approved by the Council.
(d) The Organizing Committee for the ISRM meeting at which the award is to take place shall invite the prize
winner to attend the meeting as a guest and shall pay for the accommodation and registration fee of the prize
winner. The cost of travel to receive the award is to be covered by the Organizing Committee if nototherwise provided by others.
(e) In addition to the Rocha Medal award to the winning submission, one or two runner-up certificates (Proxime
Accessit certificates) may also be awarded.

2. ELIGIBILITY(a) The award shall be for an outstanding doctoral thesis in rock mechanics or rock engineering.
(b) To be considered for an award the candidate must be a member of the ISRM and must be nominated within
two years of the date of the official doctorate degree certification. The thesis must have qualified thecandidate for a doctorate degree or equivalent, and must be submitted to the Secretary General.

3. NOMINATION(a) The Secretary-General is to provide each National Group with a solicitation including information containedin this By-law, for distribution to all members and universities in that country. This is to be sent by the endof January of the year preceding the selection of the award and repeated before the end of September of thesame year. The same information is to be sent to each corresponding member.
(b) Nomination shall be by the nominee, or by the nominee's National Group, or by some other person ororganization acquainted with the nominee's work.
(c) Nominations shall be addressed to the Secretary General and shall contain:

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International Society for Rock Mechanicsand Rock Engineering•

a one page curriculum vitae, which is to include the name, nationality, place and date of birth of thenominee, together with position held, postal address, telephone number and electronic mail address;•a written confirmation by the candidate's National Group that he/she is a member of the ISRM;•a thesis summary in paper and digital formats, written in English, with between 5,000 and 10,000
words, detailed enough to convey the full impact of the thesis and accompanied by selected tables andfigures, with headings and captions also presented in English;
one copy of the complete thesis and one copy of the doctorate degree certificate;a letter of copyright release, allowing the ISRM to copy the thesis for purposes of review and selection
only;
an undertaking by the nominee to submit an article describing the work, for publication in the ISRM
News Journal, to be submitted at least one month before the Award Ceremony.

•••(d) Submissions should be sent electronically or by registered mail, to be received by the Secretary General by
31 December of the year preceding the year of the selection of the award. The ISRM shall not be liable forany loss or damage. The Secretary General shall send a confirmation to all candidates that their nomination
has been received and that the documents are complete.
(e) It is essential that all the submission requirements are strictly followed. Any submission not following therequirements will not be accepted.
(f) By 31 January of the year of the selection of the award the Secretary General shall inform the members ofthe Rocha Award Committee of the received nominations and make the nomination documents described inparagraph 3(c) available for download by the Award Committee on the ISRM website.
(g) All theses will remain in the possession of the ISRM.

4. SELECTION PROCEDURE(a) The choice of the prize-winning thesis shall be the responsibility of the Rocha Award Committee, appointed
by the President, chaired by the President, and including the Vice-Presidents and any others co-opted toassist in the review process.
(b) The President may ask the Rocha Award Committee to perform a preliminary screening should he/she deem
it necessary.
(c) The Award Committee shall meet annually, normally at the time and venue of the ISRM Board meeting, toselect the nominee who will be awarded the prize at the first following ISRM International Symposium orCongress.
(d) The members of the Award Committee shall bring to the meeting ratings for all the theses according to thecriteria listed in 4 (f).
(e) The Award Committee may then retire to examine the candidate theses, and reconvene to select the winningthesis. The Award Committee will consider the award of one or two Proxime Assessit certificates.
(f) The following criteria and weightings apply in the selection by the Rocha Award Committee:
I.
Problem statement – Issue that needs solving and why (10%): Why does this problem need tobe solved? How would a solution help in rock mechanics and/or rock engineering?
II.

Appreciation of State of the Art (10%): Quality of literature review and bibliography, awarenessof pertinent previous research, ability to convey concisely the state of the art, insight, etc.
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and Rock Engineering
III.

Theoretical and/or practical advancements (35%): Description and explanation of the way inwhich the thesis advances the state of the art.
IV.
Verification of proposed solution (35%): Description and explanation of how the results havebeen checked via laboratory and/or field experiments, or other means.
V.
Quality of Presentation (10%): Format, use of headings, style, clarity, clarity of introduction andconclusions, etc.

(g) The Rocha Medal winner and the nominees awarded with a Proxime Accessit certificate shall be notified by
the ISRM President. The Rocha Medal winner shall be invited by the Organizing Committee to receive themedal in person. The remaining candidates are to be thanked by the Secretary-General.

5. CONFLICT OF INTEREST
No person shall participate in the selection procedure who is related to or has a professional or academic
connection with one of the candidates.

6. CONFIDENTIALITY(a) The identity of the candidates except the Rocha Medal winner and the nominees awarded with a Proxime
Accessit certificate (if any), and of the advisers co-opted by the Rocha Award Committee to assist in theselection process shall remain confidential.
(b) The identity of the prize-winners and title of the theses should be published on the ISRM website following
the Board Meeting within one week of the decision.

7. CONFERRING OF THE AWARD(a) The Rocha Medal shall be conferred by the ISRM President at the annual ISRM Congress or InternationalSymposium.
(b) The Organizing Committee shall incorporate in the plenary sessions a presentation by the Rocha Medal
recipient on the topic of the award-winning thesis.

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