If you enjoy Geomechanics News and want to be more involved in the society, this opportunity is for you.

The New Zealand Geotechnical Society is justifiably proud of our bi-annual publication, NZ Geomechanics News. First published in November 1970, it has been providing a fantastic mix of news and technical articles for fifty years. The recently published 101st edition demonstrates how important the bulletin has become for our profession in New Zealand, with high-quality technical content that will be an important reference for all geotechnical practitioners. The bulletin is available free of charge as a PDF and (for more recent editions) as individual articles thanks to the generosity of our sponsors who fully fund NZ Geomechanics News.

Production of the bulletin is led by our volunteer co-editors. Each co-editor stays with Geomechanics News for two to four years (it takes a couple of years to get the hang of it, and after four years they need a break!), and when one co-editor steps down the previous deputy steps up to lead and mentor the new volunteer. Our current lead co-editor (Don Macfarlane) has reached the end of his tenure and is stepping down. The remaining co-editor (Gabriele Chiaro) intends to stay on.

What’s involved?

The co-editors request (and chase) technical and news content, organise it into logical themes, check all the submissions and make editorial changes where appropriate. The biggest decisions are around what technical content to publish, and deciding on themes for special editions. The time commitment is quite large leading up to publication, and can be in the order of 40 hours for each magazine, typically spread over the months of October to early December (for the December edition) and April to early June (for the June edition).

The co-editors are supported by a graphic designer (Sally Fullam) who makes the content beautiful, our Management Secretary (Teresa Roetman) who deals with all the advertising, and a volunteer digital editor (Ali Tasalloti) who gets the content onto the NZGS website.

What’s the benefit?

In my experience this is one of the most satisfying roles in the NZGS. You get to set the technical direction for the bulletin, and therefore for the profession as a whole. What you choose to publish, and what you choose to say in your editorial, will be read across the country and have significant influence. You will work with the authors for each technical article, a great way to build your professional network, and when you become lead co-editor you’ll have an opportunity to sit on the NZGS management committee.

What skills are needed?

The key requirements are:

• A really good eye for detail
• Great English language / grammar
• Enough technical knowledge to be able to identify flawed content (we don’t peer review, but we do like the editors to check the content is reasonable)
• A willingness to set aside enough time to do the job well

How to apply

Send your CV and a short email explaining why you’d like to take on the role to secretary@nzgs.org by the end of July 2021.

If you have any questions about what’s involved, or whether this is the right opportunity, you can contact the current editors (editor@nzgs.org) or me.