The International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association (ITA) is an international non-profit, non-governmental organization that promotes an improved use of underground space as a solution for sustainable development. Founded in 1974 and headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, it is a community of professionals involved in the tunnelling and underground space industry made up of owners, engineers, town planners, architects, designers, both heavy construction and specialized contractors, material and equipment suppliers, lawyers, politicians, academics and researchers, economists, financiers and other stakeholders.   ITA’S PROFILE: ITA currently federates 71 Member Nations, 300 Affiliate Members, including 15 Prime Sponsors and 60 supporters. It is governed by an Executive Council composed of 15 elected members hailing from various Member Nations (see Annex 1) representing a different aspect of the tunnelling community. The President for the current 2013-2016 period is Mr. Søren Degn ESKESEN, from Denmark and the 4 Vice-Presidents are Mr. Rick P. Lovat (Canada), Mr. Tarcisio B. Celestino (Brazil), Mrs. Amanda Elioff (USA) and Mr.Daniele Peila (Italy). One of ITA’s key strengths is to bring together more than 20,000 experts, both from the tunnelling industry and from world-class universities around the world, to share their experience during conferences and meetings organized by ITA or its Member Nations. These exchanges are beneficial to both sectors, making academic research available to the industry and giving researchers access to cutting edge technologies and projects in the field.