From its inception as an academic subject, Geotechnical Engineering education has drawn inspiration from the experience of the practicing engineers and has developed further pivoted on the outputs of the cutting edge research performed at academic institutions. Derived from elements borrowed from geology, soil science, hydrology, agronomy, and engineering, it is now considered as a specialised subject. However, it continues to push the boundaries on the fronts of several emerging topics such as geoengineering implications of bio-mediated soil processes, behaviour of unsaturated soils, computational geomechanics, usage of artificial intelligence techniques in geotechnics, non-invasive geomaterial characterisation, etc. From a scholastic perspective, there has been notable advancement in the theoretical aspects of Geotechnical Engineering. Nonetheless, practitioners tend to rely on transferable technologies, and follow established developments that are best suited to the field applications. The discipline has rightly been described as a Scientific Art, where a strong linkage between research and practice is imperative for its further advancement. It is envisaged that, with growing concerns on depletion of natural resources, environmental degradation and in overall sustainable development, Geotechnical Engineering is going to play a crucial role as an interface between the humanity and mother earth.
This lecture series is aimed at coupling and disseminating the learnings from academia and industry on several key topics in the discipline of Geotechnical Engineering to the global geotechnical community.