Nordic countries unite early-career geotechnical researchers
A new Nordic researcher network funded by NordForsk aims to strengthen geotechnical capacity across Norway, Finland, and Iceland. Led by NGI, the NextGen Nordic Geotechnics (NG2) network brings together early-career researchers to address shared challenges in climate resilience, sustainability, and digitalization.
Tampere University in Finland hosted the NG2 kick-off meeting in May 2026, bringing together early-career geotechnical researchers from Norway, Finland, and Iceland for the first time. ( Photo: Wikimedia Commons / Tiia Monto)
In May 2026, representatives from five institutions in three countries gathered in Tampere for two days of research presentations, workshops, and a laboratory tour. The occasion was the kick-off meeting for NG2.
"The network is about addressing geotechnical challenges that are specific to our region and building collaboration between groups that rarely work closely together," says Stefan Ritter, project lead and researcher at NGI and Oslo Metropolitan University.
The network partners are NGI and Oslo Metropolitan University from Norway, Aalto University and Tampere University from Finland, and the University of Iceland. Among the researchers participating from NGI are ChuangXin Lyu and Mike Long, both affiliated with NGI and Oslo Metropolitan University, as well as Priscilla Paniagua and Vittoria Capobianco, both from NGI.
Quick clay, soft marine deposits, and lava fields
The case for a Nordic network goes beyond institutional ambition. The three countries share a set of particularly demanding ground conditions. Norway has sensitive quick clays, Finland has extremely soft marine clays, and Iceland is defined by volcanic activity, seismic hazards and extensive lava fields.
"These conditions place high demands on geotechnical expertise, and that expertise is precisely what the region is short of," says Ritter.
A shortage of geotechnical engineers is a consistent theme across all three countries. Ritter describes a situation where demand consistently outpaces supply.
"Students are offered jobs well before they finish their master's thesis. In Norway, Finland, and Iceland, there is broad agreement that demand always exceeds what can be supplied," he explains.
Part of the explanation is demographic. A generation of experienced geotechnical engineers are retiring, and the gap takes time to fill. At the same time, geotechnical projects have grown more complex: stricter regulations, advent of new software, programming challenging to older geotech engineers, more demanding infrastructure, and increasing climate risk all require engineers with higher levels of specialized knowledge.
The situation is compounded by the fact that Nordic graduates rarely apply for PhD or postdoctoral positions. The industry offers higher salaries and absorbs them before academia gets the chance.
The NextGen Nordic Geotechnics (NG2) network touring the research facilities and laboratory at Sanandam Bordoloi, Aalto University ( Photo: NGI)
Three themes over three years
NG2 is organized around three thematic areas, each addressed in a separate year: climate impacts on geotechnical systems, sustainability and nature-based solutions, and digital and data-driven approaches, including artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Each theme is linked to a three-day intensive summer school, hosted by one of the partner institutions and open to up to ten PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers, with full travel and accommodation funding. The first summer school this season takes place in Reykjavik, using Iceland's distinctive geology as a backdrop for the program.
“To ensure continuous collaboration beyond the physical gatherings, the project also establishes an 'Interdisciplinary Knowledge Hub'. Through this hub, the researchers will meet for bi-monthly virtual seminars dedicated to the current year's specific theme,” Ritter says.
The network will also fund eight short-term research visits, allowing PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers to spend one month at a partner institution, working on joint research projects in their laboratories.
"We want PhD candidates to arrive with a concrete project and leave with the foundation for long-term collaboration," says Ritter.
NG2 network participants gathered for dinner during the kick-off meeting.
Two days in Tampere
At the kick-off meeting in Tampere, participants from the five partner institutions presented their research interests, laboratory facilities, and the geotechnical challenges they are working to address. The aim was to provide the network with a shared knowledge base for planning future collaborations.
"It is important for us to know what the other groups have available, so that a PhD student from Oslo, for example, knows what facilities and expertise they can expect to find in Tampere," says Ritter.
On the second day, three workshops were held: one on Nordic geotechnical challenges, one on future funding opportunities from EU and Nordic research agencies, and one where participants began drafting the framework for the short-term research visit program. Tampere University also guided the network through its research facilities.
The network plans to participate in the Nordic Geotechnical Meeting (NGM) in Oslo in 2027, where NG2 will organize a dedicated early-career researcher session to present its activities to a broader audience.
“We are also very curious to learn from and share knowledge with institutions outside the consortium, such as NTNU in Norway, or universities in Sweden and Denmark. Expanding this dialogue will help lift the entire Nordic geotechnical community,” Ritter explains.
Ritter sees the network also as more than a professional gathering, pointing to its longer-term purpose.
"We hope this lays the groundwork for new research proposals and closer collaboration between Nordic institutions. The need for highly skilled geotechnical engineers is only going to grow, and building these networks now is how we prepare for that," says Stefan Ritter.
