The ESC, with the financial support of IASPEI and UNESCO, has sponsored two training courses for Young Seismologists in order to expose them to data acquisition, processing techniques and empirical evaluation of site effects under the tutorship of many established seismologists throughout Europe and the world. The recent training course in Tel Aviv took place in the two days before the General Assembly and focused on an empirical evaluation of site effects. The lecturers, Avi Shapira, Sam Frydman, Pierre-Yves Bard and Kuvvet Atakan, each covered their specialist subjects.
Thirteen students attended the course from nine countries. Questionnaires were distributed amongst the students inviting them to comment on the overall impression of the course together with level struck by each individual lecturer. The responses indicated a high rating for the course, overall, although the individual lecture questionnaires produced a mixed reaction with regard to the level of difficulty and detail, and these constructive comments will be taken into account for future training courses. Distribution of lecture notes before the course was recommended in order to expose the students to the material and allow them to prepare for the lectures. An extension of the course to three days was also proposed by many of the students who felt that too little time was allocated to each subject.
It was clear that the students had a varied level of experience and background knowledge, a situation which is always difficult to cater for. The lecturers are, therefore, commended for the acknowledged overall success of the course which resulted from their care and attention to content and providing the students with lecture notes (a recommendation from the YSTC in Reykjavik).
It is recommended that, in future, lecturers receive prior information on participants' experience. Lecture notes should be distributed prior to the training course to allow students to review material before attending. These notes will also serve as a reference set when students have returned to their institutes.
Following receipt of a positive report on the training course, the ESC Bureau thanked the lecturers and organisers on behalf of ESC members and endorsed a proposal to hold a third training course before the next General Assembly in Portugal (3-8 September 2000).
Report submitted by Alice Walker ABW@wpo.nerc.ac.uk
