Where will the IS-Ankara 2027 International Symposium take place?

The symposium will be held in Ankara, TUR.

What is the duration of the IS-Ankara 2027 International Symposium?

The symposium is scheduled to run for several days, commencing in the middle of September and concluding towards the end of the same week.

IS-Ankara 2027 International Symposium

Name: IS-Ankara 2027 International Symposium
Start: 2027-09-14T00:00:00Z
End: 2027-09-17T00:00:00Z
Location: Ankara

Sep 14–17, 2027Ankara, TurkeyIn-person

Registration open

The IS-Ankara 2027 International Symposium, held in Ankara, TUR, brings together experts to discuss critical issues in international relations and global development. This event serves as a platform for in-depth analysis and collaborative problem-solving, fostering dialogue among participants from diverse backgrounds. The symposium aims to address contemporary challenges and explore future trends shaping the international landscape.

Committees & topics

Topics
Testing Methodologies in Geotechnical and Materials Engineering · Equipment Development for Geotechnical Investigation · Procedure Improvement in Site Investigation and Testing · Advances in Sensors and Data Acquisition · Computer Automation and Feedback Algorithms in Geomechanical Testing · Non-Invasive Measurements and Imaging in Geosciences · Reconciling Laboratory and Field Properties of Geomaterials · Sampling Quality and Soil Disturbance

Why it matters

This symposium is significant for several reasons. Firstly, its location in Ankara, TUR, places it at a geopolitical crossroads, offering a unique vantage point for discussions on regional and global dynamics. The city's historical and strategic importance provides a rich backdrop for examining complex international issues. Secondly, the event's focus on international relations and global development underscores the interconnectedness of modern challenges, from economic disparities to environmental concerns. Understanding these linkages is crucial for effective policymaking and fostering sustainable solutions.

Furthermore, the symposium provides an opportunity for professionals and academics to engage in high-level discourse, sharing insights and research findings. Such gatherings are vital for advancing collective understanding and developing innovative approaches to pressing global problems. The collaborative environment encourages participants to consider multiple perspectives and work towards consensus on difficult issues, contributing to a more informed and cooperative international community.

How to prepare

To maximize engagement and impact at the IS-Ankara 2027 International Symposium, participants should undertake thorough preparation. A key aspect of this involves understanding the various stakeholders involved in the topics under discussion. The lesson on "what-is-stakeholder-mapping" can provide a foundational understanding, while "stakeholder-workshop" offers practical tools for identifying and analyzing key actors.

Considering the diverse international participation, it is also beneficial to explore "gender-dynamics-across-cultures" to ensure inclusive and effective communication. Furthermore, preparing for dynamic discussions requires an understanding of how to analyze evolving situations, as detailed in the "dynamic-analysis" lesson. Finally, recognizing "hidden-stakeholders" and developing robust "engagement-strategies" will allow participants to contribute meaningfully and forge valuable connections during the symposium.

Country perspectives

Where the most-relevant 1 countries stand on the core issues in play. Click through for the full country profile.

Türkiye

As the host nation, TUR is positioned to facilitate discussions and highlight its unique geopolitical perspective on regional and international affairs.

Role in topic

TUR's role as the host country provides a crucial context for discussions, offering insights into its foreign policy objectives, regional security concerns, and its contributions to global development initiatives.

Topics & background

The background behind each topic and the actors that shape it.

Testing Methodologies in Geotechnical and Materials Engineering

Testing forms the empirical backbone of geotechnical, civil, and materials engineering, encompassing standardized laboratory procedures, in-situ field tests, and full-scale performance trials. Since the mid-20th century, national and international standards bodies — ASTM in the United States, BSI in the United Kingdom, DIN in Germany, ISO at the global level, and TSE in Turkey — have codified procedures ranging from triaxial soil testing to cone penetration testing (CPT), pressuremeter testing, and plate load tests. Harmonization efforts under ISO/TC 182 (geotechnics) and the Eurocode 7 framework have sought to reconcile divergent national traditions, particularly between American ASTM-based practice and European CEN standards. Despite this codification, persistent disputes remain over repeatability, operator dependence, and the transferability of test results between regions with different geologies. The 1985 Mexico City earthquake, the 1999 Kocaeli earthquake, and more recent seismic events in Türkiye and Japan have repeatedly exposed gaps between standardized test outputs and observed in-situ behavior, prompting calls for revised testing protocols. Current debate centers on integrating performance-based design philosophies, updating cyclic and dynamic testing standards, and addressing the reliability of testing in problematic soils such as liquefiable sands, sensitive clays, and unsaturated residual soils.

Key players

Equipment Development for Geotechnical Investigation

Geotechnical investigation equipment has evolved from manual hand augers and Casagrande devices of the 1930s–40s to highly instrumented cone penetrometers, seismic dilatometers, and automated triaxial cells. The introduction of the electric CPT by the Dutch Delft Soil Mechanics Laboratory in the 1960s, followed by the piezocone (CPTu) in the 1970s and seismic CPT in the 1980s, transformed site characterization. Parallel advances in centrifuge modeling — pioneered at Cambridge, UC Davis, and the Tokyo Institute of Technology — enabled physical simulation of full-scale geotechnical problems under realistic stress conditions. The contemporary equipment landscape is shaped by miniaturization, wireless telemetry, and the integration of MEMS-based sensors. Manufacturers in the Netherlands (Fugro, A.P. van den Berg), Italy (Pagani), the United States (Geokon, Vertek), and Japan have driven commercial innovation, while research consortia such as NHERI in the U.S. and the European NSFRI network coordinate large-scale shared facilities. Key issues include cost barriers for developing-country practitioners, intellectual property over sensor designs, and the standardization of next-generation equipment such as resistivity cones, full-flow penetrometers (T-bar and ball), and offshore deepwater tools needed for the energy transition.

Key players

Procedure Improvement in Site Investigation and Testing

Even where equipment and standards are mature, the procedural execution of geotechnical and materials tests remains a leading source of variability. Studies by ISSMGE Technical Committees, notably TC102 (Ground Property Characterization from In-Situ Tests) and TC101 (Laboratory Stress-Strain-Strength Testing), have documented inter-laboratory variability sometimes exceeding the natural variability of the ground itself. Round-robin programs run since the 1990s in Europe, North America, and East Asia have repeatedly shown that procedural details — sample trimming, saturation methods, loading rates, drainage conditions — drive outcomes as much as the equipment used. Procedure improvement today focuses on harmonizing Eurocode 7 Part 2 with ISO 17892 series laboratory standards, updating ASTM D-series methods to reflect modern sensor capabilities, and embedding quality assurance through accreditation regimes (ISO/IEC 17025). The emergence of automated and robotic testing platforms raises new procedural questions about human oversight, calibration intervals, and traceability. Disputes persist between practitioner communities preferring rapid, index-based procedures and academic communities advocating element-level, stress-path-controlled tests, particularly for critical infrastructure and seismic design.

Key players

Advances in Sensors and Data Acquisition

Sensor technology has revolutionized geotechnical and structural monitoring over the past three decades. Traditional strain gauges, LVDTs, and vibrating-wire piezometers have been supplemented and increasingly replaced by fiber-optic distributed sensing (DFOS, including Brillouin and Rayleigh scattering systems), MEMS accelerometers, and wireless sensor networks. Fiber-optic monitoring of dams, tunnels, and pile foundations — pioneered in Switzerland, China, and the UK — now allows continuous spatial measurement along kilometer-scale infrastructure with millimeter resolution. Data acquisition has correspondingly shifted from low-rate analog logging to high-frequency digital systems capable of capturing transient dynamic events. The integration of edge computing, IoT protocols, and cloud-based platforms raises new issues of data ownership, cybersecurity for critical infrastructure, and interoperability between proprietary systems. Standards bodies including ISO/TC 108 (mechanical vibration and shock) and IEEE working groups are developing frameworks for sensor calibration traceability and metadata standards, while open-source initiatives push for FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) data principles in geotechnical monitoring.

Key players

Computer Automation and Feedback Algorithms in Geomechanical Testing

Automation of geotechnical and materials testing began with the introduction of computer-controlled triaxial systems in the 1980s, allowing stress-path testing previously infeasible by manual control. Closed-loop servo-hydraulic systems with PID feedback became standard for dynamic and cyclic testing, while modern systems incorporate adaptive control, model-predictive control, and increasingly machine-learning-based feedback for handling nonlinear soil behavior. Software platforms developed by GDS Instruments (UK), Wille Geotechnik (Germany), and Controls Group (Italy) dominate the commercial market, alongside open-source alternatives developed in academic settings. The current frontier involves embedding constitutive-model-aware feedback so that test paths can be adapted in real time to extract maximum parameter information, as well as the use of digital twins to integrate test results directly into design workflows. Concerns include the verification and validation of automated systems for safety-critical testing, the reproducibility crisis stemming from undocumented algorithmic choices, and the regulatory treatment of AI-driven feedback in formally standardized procedures. The ISSMGE has begun work on guidance for AI/ML in geotechnics, paralleling efforts in ASCE and the European Geotechnical Societies.

Key players

Non-Invasive Measurements and Imaging in Geosciences

Non-invasive characterization techniques have expanded dramatically since the late 1990s, driven by the need to assess sites without the disturbance and cost of drilling. Surface-wave methods (MASW, SASW), electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), ground-penetrating radar (GPR), seismic reflection/refraction, and muon tomography now provide complementary subsurface imaging. In laboratory settings, X-ray computed tomography (μCT), neutron imaging at facilities such as ILL (France), PSI (Switzerland), and ORNL (USA), and MRI have enabled visualization of pore-scale processes including unsaturated flow, particle rearrangement, and crack propagation. The field faces persistent challenges of resolution-versus-depth trade-offs, non-uniqueness in inversion of geophysical data, and the integration of multi-physics datasets. Joint inversion frameworks and Bayesian approaches are advancing, supported by international collaborations such as the AGU and EAGE near-surface geophysics communities. Applications now extend to UNESCO heritage site assessment, post-earthquake reconnaissance (notably after the 2023 Kahramanmaraş earthquakes in Türkiye), and monitoring of CO₂ sequestration sites, raising both scientific and policy questions about data sharing and methodological standards.

Key players

Reconciling Laboratory and Field Properties of Geomaterials

A long-standing tension in geotechnical engineering concerns the systematic discrepancy between properties measured in the laboratory on small specimens and those inferred from in-situ tests or back-analyzed from full-scale performance. The 'lab-vs-field' gap arises from sample disturbance, scale effects, stress-history alteration during sampling, fabric anisotropy, and differences in drainage and boundary conditions. Landmark studies — including the Bothkennar soft clay test site in Scotland, the Onsøy site in Norway, and the Eberg site in Trondheim — have provided benchmarks for cross-comparison since the 1980s. Modern approaches attempt to bridge this gap via advanced sampling (Sherbrooke, gel-push, and Laval samplers), in-situ element testing, and inverse analysis from instrumented full-scale prototypes. Performance-based design philosophies embedded in Eurocode 7 and the AASHTO LRFD framework require explicit treatment of this uncertainty. The debate has intensified with offshore wind and deep geothermal projects, where neither lab nor field methods alone are sufficient, and with unsaturated and partially-frozen soils where conventional frameworks break down.

Key players

Sampling Quality and Soil Disturbance

The recognition that sampling itself alters soil behavior dates to the work of Hvorslev (1949) and was formalized by Ladd and Lambe in the 1960s. Disturbance arises from stress relief, mechanical distortion at the cutting edge, transport vibration, and storage changes in moisture and temperature. Quantification frameworks such as Lunne, Berre, and Strandvik's (1997) volumetric strain criterion and the more recent specimen quality designation (SQD) system have provided practical means to grade samples, with high-quality block samples and Sherbrooke samples representing the practical upper bound. Despite decades of research, routine practice in many jurisdictions still relies on thin-walled Shelby tubes that produce only moderate-quality samples, particularly in soft and sensitive soils where the consequences for design parameters are most severe. The ISSMGE TC101 and ISO 22475-1 standard address sampling categories, but implementation varies widely. Emerging issues include sampling of unsaturated and gassy soils, deepwater offshore sampling for energy infrastructure, and the preservation of microbial and geochemical features in samples for environmental and CO₂-storage applications.

Key players

Resources

News, lessons, and country profiles to prep for IS-Ankara 2027 International Symposium.

Recent reporting to ground your prep

India's 131st Amendment Bill

Activists Push for Women's Quota in India

India's TB Strategy: AI and Molecular Testing

Janet Mills Vetoes Maine Data Center Moratoru

Lessons

Bite-sized lessons to build the basics

Hidden Stakeholders

Engagement Strategies

Dynamic Analysis

Stakeholder Mapping Workshop

Courses

Guided courses that go deeper on the topic

Advanced Negotiation

Multilateral Negotiation

Policy Brief Writing

Conflict Resolution

The states in play, with the data that shapes their stance

Country dossier

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Turkey September 2027

By committee

Frequently asked questions

IS-Ankara 2027 International Symposium

Sep 14–17, 2027Ankara, TurkeyIn-person

Registration open

Committees & topics

Topics
Testing Methodologies in Geotechnical and Materials Engineering · Equipment Development for Geotechnical Investigation · Procedure Improvement in Site Investigation and Testing · Advances in Sensors and Data Acquisition · Computer Automation and Feedback Algorithms in Geomechanical Testing · Non-Invasive Measurements and Imaging in Geosciences · Reconciling Laboratory and Field Properties of Geomaterials · Sampling Quality and Soil Disturbance

Why it matters

How to prepare

Country perspectives

Where the most-relevant 1 countries stand on the core issues in play. Click through for the full country profile.

Türkiye

As the host nation, TUR is positioned to facilitate discussions and highlight its unique geopolitical perspective on regional and international affairs.

Role in topic