The NZGS management committee is delighted to announce three new Young Professional representatives.

Earlier this year we asked for expressions of interest for three new roles representing each of the three international societies. The NZGS is the affiliated organisation in New Zealand of the International Societies representing practitioners in soil mechanics (ISSMGE), rock mechanics (ISRM) and engineering geology (IAEG). We are represented on the committees of these three organisations by an Australasian Vice President, who is normally very senior and represents New Zealand and Australia.

The NZGS is a strong supporter of actions to help develop the skills and experience of our younger members. We run events in New Zealand and jointly with our colleagues in Australia and have a Young Professional Representative on the NZGS management committee. This position, selected from nominations, is internally focused, with an emphasis on activities within New Zealand and Australia. We also support greater international involvement for our young professionals but have not (to date) had a formal process or role to encourage this.

The NZGS management committee identified the need for three new roles, to be filled by one younger NZGS member for each of the three International Societies with the following objectives:

• To facilitate better linkages between young NZGS members and their international colleagues.
• To promote a wider understanding within the NZGS membership of the role and activities of the International Societies.
• To promote YGP activities and collaboration in the three International Societies.
• To develop young NZGS members for future leadership roles in the NZGS and / or the International Societies.
• To support the Australasian Vice President (or the NZGS representative, where the Australasian VP is based in Australia).

These new roles sit outside the main NZGS management committee, and support coordination and collaboration by reporting to the Australasian Vice President (or NZGS representative, where the Australasian VP is based in Australia), and to the NZGS Young Professionals representative (currently Helen Hendrickson), as well as to the young professional group within the International Society, where one exists and subject to the agreement of the relevant Society.

We had a fantastic response to our call, with six extremely strong candidates making our selection process a challenge. The management committee has chosen:

• Sarah Barrett to represent IAEG
• Nima Taghipouran to represent ISSMGE
• Romy Ridl to represent ISRM

We would like to thank all the candidates for offering to help the NZGS, and we look forward to working with them all in a variety of roles in the coming years. NZGS has significant plans for the next five years and will have more roles to announce in the near future.