New challenge set for early career geotechnical engineers

Applications are now open for the 2024 Early Careers Challenge, presented by Ground Engineering magazine and Mott MacDonald.

Early career ground engineering professionals and apprentices, with less than five years' industry experience, as well as undergraduate and postgraduate students, are invited to register their interest in this year's Early Careers Challenge (ECC).

The ECC, which was launched last year by GE and Mott MacDonald, involves a competition to solve a geotechnical challenge while guided by industry mentors. It offers those taking part the opportunity to collaborate with their peers, hone their research and presenting skills, take part in industry conferences, and gain wider exposure to the industry.

This year's ECC is focused on the major role ground engineers play in the sustainability race to deliver the net zero transformation.

The challenge is to design a deep underground shaft in a prestigious historical waterfront setting in the UK.

It will require the chosen ECC teams to consider the site setting and adapt to client requirements. The teams will have to draw on case studies, industry lessons learned, use every research opportunity available and apply them to modern standards. They should also aim to use digital tools to prove long-term sustainable goals for their scheme.

Following a launch meeting on 26 July, the ECC teams will present the preliminary results of their work to expert judges at the GE Sustainability conference on 18 September and their final solutions at the GE Smart Geotechnics event on 3 October.

The deadline for registration is 16 June.

The 2023 Early Careers Challenge

The ECC was launched in 2023 as a way of linking industry and education – while incorporating ground engineering, sustainability and digital skills. The entrants worked in small teams drawn from across the country to compete for the ECC award. They presented their initial solutions at the GE Sustainability conference in September 2023 and their final solution at the GE Smart Geotechnics conference two weeks later.

There were 150 applicants for the ECC – from which only 20 were chosen. The teams were given the same geotechnical challenge to solve and guided throughout the process by mentors from Mott MacDonald.

ECC 2023 winners The challenge was to design an embankment on soft soils for a UK highway.

The winning team was made up of Systra assistant engineering geologist Archie Bunney, Mott MacDonald graduate civil engineer Maria Frantzeskou, geotechnical engineer Milagros Guerrero, University of Oxford civil engineering master's student Susanna Pahl, and Bachy Soletanche geotechnical design engineer Ahmed Saadeldein.

A write-up of their winning entry can be found here.

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