COGAN Project Launched to Improve Competency in Geotechnical Analysis

GLASGOW, Scotland - Oct. 31, 2013 - PRLog -- NAFEMS, the international association for the engineering modelling, analysis and simulation community, announces the launch of the COGAN (http://cogan.eu.com/) (Competency in Geotechnical Analysis) European project.

The main aim of this Leonardo da Vinci European Transfer of Innovation project is to follow on from the exceptional work accomplished during the CCOPPS and EASIT2 projects, but with the focus being on the geotechnical industry.

Modern geotechnical design (in common with other industry sectors) is increasingly reliant on engineering analysis. However, such techniques are barely covered in a university education and concerns persist surrounding inappropriate use of analysis tools by untrained staff, as demonstrated by benchmark studies (e.g. COST Action C7) and previous needs analyses (FENET, EASIT).

The goal is to transfer the innovative outputs from the highly successful CCOPPS project including its work-based e-Learning modules, and EASIT project (www.easit2.eu/) including its competency framework, to the geotechnical sector of the construction industry. With three core partners from the EASIT project involved in COGAN, it is clear that there will be further innovations transferred.

The project will be executed by a strong EU-wide partnerships all engaged in engineering analysis in the construction sector and managed by NAFEMS. The project partners include: Geofem Ltd., TERRASOLUM S.L., Mott MacDonald, Technische Universität Graz, Skanska Sverige, EnginSoft Spa and Wesi Geotecnica.

The main outcomes from COGAN - all firsts for geotechnical analysis – The main outcomes from COGAN – all firsts for geotechnical analysis – will include:

·         An Educational Base consisting of around 1000 Statements of Competence in about 15 topic areas. Essentially this will define many of the competences required of an engineer engaged in geotechnical numerical analysis so that training providers can develop training material to cover these competences and engineers can know which competences they need to develop their skills in geotechnical numerical analysis.

·         An internet or intranet-based Competence Framework, built around the Educational Base, to allow formal recording of competence achievement, with links to wider professional/ company competence frameworks;

·         Two E-Learning Modules for work-based learning, to achieve in depth the learning outcomes in two selected core competencies, and to promote the development of further modules by training providers.

The project was launched this month and will run for two years.

To keep up-to-date on the project, please visit www.cogan.eu.com.