Safety, reliability and risk analysis and management are attracting the interests of geotechnical society in recent years due to frequent occurrence of natural and man-made disasters. It is also requirements of the modern society to provide quantitative information concerning risks related to geotechnical events such as earthquakes, landslide, geo-structure failures etc. International exchange of information on these tasks are of vital importance today.

IS-Gifu2009 (2nd ISGSR) is one of the series of conferences that have been organized through close international collaborations. This symposium is considered as a continuation of a series of symposiums and workshops on geotechnical risk and reliability: LSD2000 (November 2000, Melbourne, Australia), IWS Kamakura (April, 2002, Tokyo and Kamakura, Japan), LSD2003 (June, 2003, Cambridge, USA), Georisk 2004 (November, 2004, Bangalore, India), Taipei2006 (November, 2006, Taipei), 1st ISGRS (Octorber, 2007, Shanghai).

The international collaborations concerning these symposiums and workshops includes the following activities: Technical Committee 23 ‘Limit state design in geotechnical engineering practice’ (chair, Y. Honjo 2002-2009) and TC32 ’Risk assessment and management in geotechnical engineering practice’ (chair: 2002-2009 F. Nadim). of ISSMGE. ASCE GI RAM (Risk Assessment and Management, chair K.K.Phoon), GEOSNet (Geotechnical safety network, president KK Phoon, 2006-2009).

Gifu is located 30 km northe of Nagoya, and is the gravity center (literally) of the Japanese islands. It is also well known of the world heritage, Shirakawago, old lively town of Takayama, hot springs and Ukai of Gifu city. We have a direct train connecting Centair (New Nagoya International Airport) and Gifu which takes only 70 minutes. For the post conference trip, Kyoto and Nara is within three hours. You can enjoy some of the lively features of Gifu prefecture during and after IS-Gif2009.