The presentation of the Keverling Buisman Prize took place on 7 November during the Geotechnical Day in Breda. Rene Didde of the Volkskrant was prize winner in the Broad Audience category, Martijn van Wijngaarden in the Young Talent category and the best article in GeoTechniek was won for the article on Trial campaign for the Oosterweel connection in Antwerp (J. Couck, G. van Lysebetten, K. van Royen, B. Janssens, R. de Nijs).
Keverling Buisman Prize
Day in, day out, we live, build, work, walk and drive on and over soil, but few are aware of the special properties that soil has as a building material. To change this, KIVI Geotechnics awards the Keverling Buisman Prize every two years. Publications that contribute to the development of geotechnical engineering are eligible. Keverling Buisman is considered the founder of soil mechanics in the Netherlands. The Keverling Buisman Prize consists of three categories: best publication for a wide audience, best article from the GeoTechniek Magazine and young talent.
The prize winners
In the 'general public' category, Rene Didde won with an article from the Volkskrant on subsidence: What to do about the ever-sinking soil. The article shows a socially relevant topic. It brings geotechnics close to the people and article not only describes the problem, but also focuses on the solution.
Graduate Martijn van Wijngaarden (currently working at @) won the Young Talent Award for his graduation thesis from TU Delft entitled "Gravity-based foundations for offshore wind turbines". The jury felt that Martijn has mastered other disciplines such as probabilistics, structures and hydraulics in addition to geotechnical engineering. In doing so, he shows both depth and breadth in his research of this socially relevant subject.
The best article in Vakblad Geotechniek was awarded to the authors of the article Proefcampagne voor de Oosterweelverbinding in Antwerpen, namely, J. Couck (MOW), G. van Lysebetten (WTCB), K. van Royen (Denys NV) , B. Janssens (BAM NV) and R. de Nijs (Witteveen+Bos). This article was judged best by the jury on the criteria of content, social impact and presentation. The jury particularly praised the content of the measurement programme with new measurement techniques. The classic content of the article stood out and the described approach of the pilot campaign is a good example for other projects.
Further information
For more information on all winners and honourable mentions and all publications, see https://www.kivi.nl/afdelingen/geotechniek/geonet/communicatie/keverling-buisman-prijs
The award was presented by Steven Delfgaauw (President of KIVI Geotechnical Engineering and of the jury of the Keverling Buisman Prize).
Photo caption: Presentation of the Keverling Buisman Prize to Martijn van Wijngaarden
