Preface

It is our pleasure to present to you the Proceedings for the 7^th International Symposium on Geotechnical Safety and Risk (ISGSR 2019), which was held at the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (Taiwan Tech) between 11 and 13 December 2019. The ISGSR symposium series is under the auspices of the Geotechnical Safety Network (GEOSNet). The first ISGSR was held at Tongji Univeristy, Shanghai, China, by Prof. Hongwei Huang and Prof. Limin Zhang. Since then, the symposium has been held in the following venues:

1^st ISGSR in Shanghai (China) in 2007
2^nd ISGSR in Gifu (Japan) in 2009
3^rd ISGSR in Munich (Germany) in 2011
4^th ISGSR in Hong Kong (China) in 2013
5^th ISGSR in Rotterdam (the Netherlands) in 2015
6^th ISGSR in Denver (USA) in 2017 (also known as Geo-Risk 2017)

ISGSR 2019 is supported by Taiwan Building Technology Center (TBTC) of National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan Geotechnical Society (TGS), TC304 (Engineering Practice of Risk Assessment and Management) & TC205 (Safety and Serviceability in Geotechnical Design) of International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE), Dept. of Civil Engineering of National Taiwan University, International Association for Structural Safety and Reliability (IASSAR), and ASCE Geo-Institute Risk Assessment and Management Committee (GI-RAM). This symposium could not have been possible without the financial support the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) of Taiwan.

The objective of ISGSR 2019 is to provide a forum for reliability researchers, design code developers, and practitioners to discuss reliability-based design implementation issues, be it in the semi-probabilistic format, direct probabilistic format, or a full risk informed format, in the context of design circumstances distinctive to geotechnical engineering, such as diversity of in-situ conditions, scarcity of information, importance of observational approach, fuzzy divide between design and construction, difficulty of standardization, and robustness/resilience. ISGSR 2019 also hopes to engage the broader community which would include rock engineers and engineering geologists. In addition, to broaden the application of geotechnical reliability/risk to the geotechnical engineering community at large, it is also necessary to expedite the development of user-friendly softwares, compilation of databases and statistics, publication of case histories, among others. The theme of ISGSR 2019 is State-of-the-Practice in Geotechnical Safety and Risk to take stock of our state-of-practice, identify critical gaps impeding broader applications to practice, and discuss strategies to hasten the translation of theories to practice.

In the Proceedings, there are in total 144 accepted papers from 27 countries/regions. Among them, there are 8 keynote papers and 3 young keynote papers, including the 6^th Wilson Tang Lecture, the 4^th Suzanne Lacasse Lecture, and 3 ISSMGE Bright Spark Lectures:

The Wilson Tang Lecture was inaugurated by GEOSNet in the 2^nd ISGSR (IS-Gifu 2009). The lecture is named to recognize and honour the significant contributions of the late Prof. Wilson Tang, who was one of the founding researchers in geotechnical reliability and risk. We are very honoured that Prof. C. Hsein Juang presented the 6th Wilson Tang Lecture entitled “Geological Uncertainty: A Missing Element in Geotechnical Reliability Analysi” in ISGSR 2019.
The Suzanne Lacasse Lecture was established in June 2015, with the approval of the Board of International Society on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE) to honour the significant contributions to the geotechnical profession of Dr. Suzanne Lacasse. We are very honoured that Prof. Kok-Kwang Phoon presented the 4^th Suzanne Lacasse Lecture entitled “Managing Risk in Geotechnical Engineering – from Data to Digitalization” in ISGSR 2019.
To promote young members of ISSMGE to play a major role in various international and regional conferences, the President of ISSMGE, Prof. Charles Ng, created the Bright Spark Lecture Award for promising young geotechnical engineers/academics to have a chance to deliver keynote and invited lectures at these conferences. It is our great pleasure that Prof. Zi-Jun Cao, Mr. Bryant Robbins, and Prof. Takayuki Shuku delivered the ISSMGE Bright Spark Lectures in ISGSR 2019.

Prof. Emeritus Tien H. Wu passed away on June 7, 2018. A Georisk special issue was initiated by guest editors Prof. Kok-Kwang Phoon and Prof. C. Hsein Juang to honour his significant contributions to the georisk community. A paper entitled “In Honour and Memory of Professor Tien H. Wu” written by these guest editors is published in the Proceedings.

Prof. Yusuke Honjo is one of the pioneers for the concept of geotechnical performance-based design codes. A mini-symposium in ISGSR 2019 entitled “Performance-Based Design Codes and Practice, Honouring Professor Yusuke Honjo” organized by Prof. Takashi Hara and Prof. Yu Otake aims to recognize Prof. Honjo’s significant contributions on geotechnical performance-based design codes.

Last but not least, we would like to thank all session organizers of ISGSR 2019 for the efforts in inviting submissions and arranging reviews. Many of the efforts were contributed by the members of ISSMGE TC304 “Engineering Practice of Risk Assessment and Management”. We are very grateful for their significant contributions.

Jianye Ching, Dian-Qing Li and Jie Zhang
On Behalf of Organising Committee - ISGSR 2019