From August 28 to 29, the 2026 Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Geotechnical Engineering Youth Academic Forum was held in Foshan. The forum advocates interdisciplinary collaboration and industry-academia-research integration, encourages young scholars to respond to major national needs with innovative thinking, and is dedicated to providing a platform for exchanging new technologies and new methods for urban renewal and green transformation in the Greater Bay Area. More than 200 representatives from universities, research institutes, the Geotechnical Division of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, and enterprises attended the event.

With the theme "AI Empowering Low-Carbon Geotechnics and Urban Renewal Construction," the forum closely aligned with the strategic direction of the opening year of the national 15th Five-Year Plan and conducted in-depth exchanges around five frontier directions: the application of AI and big data in geotechnical engineering, low-carbon geotechnical materials and carbon sequestration technologies, intelligent construction of underground space and full life-cycle health monitoring, urban infrastructure resilience and disaster prevention and mitigation under extreme climates, and new progress and challenges in underground space development in the Greater Bay Area against the backdrop of urban renewal.

The opening ceremony was chaired by Yang Xinhua, Academic Dean of the School of Civil Engineering and Transportation at Foshan University. Zhong Feijian, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Foshan University; Yang Guanghua, Chairman of the Guangdong Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering; Lin Jinming, Chairman of the Geotechnical Division of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers; Yang Guangpei, Vice Chairman of the Macao Geotechnical Engineering Association; and Su Dong, Director of the Youth Working Committee of the Guangdong Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering, delivered speeches successively. They unanimously pointed out that new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, and digital twins are profoundly reshaping the landscape of geotechnical engineering, and that young scholars should seize the opportunities of the era, dare to raise new questions and explore new methods, and realize their academic value in serving major national projects.

In the invited lecture session, five renowned experts—Chairman Yang Guanghua; Professor Yin Zhenyu of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University; Professor Wang Xiangqiu of Foshan University; Professor Zhu Huanchun of Jiahua Geoscience (Wuhan) Digital Technology Co., Ltd.; and Professor Su Dong of Shenzhen University—delivered thematic reports respectively on theoretical reflections on soil constitutive models, AI-driven research and development of digital basements for smart cities, deformation and safety evaluation of soft-soil metro interval tunnels under coupled environmental loads, research and practice of an AI technology system for geotechnical engineering, and key technologies for construction risk control of shallow-buried large-diameter shield tunnels in ultra-soft seabed strata.

During the forum, a graduate student academic report competition was also held, with 31 graduate students from universities including Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen), Shenzhen University, Southern University of Science and Technology, Foshan University, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Hainan University registering to participate. Following expert review, 2 first prizes, 4 second prizes, 6 third prizes, and 15 excellence awards were granted.

In addition, in conjunction with the 9th International Conference on Structural Engineering and Industrial Architecture (ICSEIA 2026), the forum set up an oral presentation session, in which young scholars from multiple universities and enterprises across the country reported on frontier topics in geotechnical and structural engineering, and 3 excellent oral presentation awards were produced after review.

The closing ceremony was chaired by Wen Yong, Executive Deputy Director of the Youth Working Committee of the Guangdong Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering. Wu Yang, Deputy Dean of the School of Civil Engineering and Transportation at Guangzhou University, stated that 2027 coincides with the 100th anniversary of the founding of Guangzhou University, and that the university will make every effort to prepare for the next forum and continue to create a broader academic exchange stage for geotechnical youth in the Greater Bay Area.

The forum was guided by the Guangdong Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering, hosted by the Youth Working Committee of the Guangdong Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering, and organized by the School of Civil Engineering and Transportation of Foshan University, with AiScholar providing technical support and conference services. The organizers stated that the successful holding of the forum effectively promoted academic interaction among young scholars in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, helped advance AI-empowered low-carbon geotechnics and urban renewal construction in the opening year of the 15th Five-Year Plan, and injected new development momentum into the industry.

Source: China Science Daily