Past Editions

3rd Edition of AGERP (2022)

Professor Harianto RahardjoProfessor, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Professor Rahardjo has conducted extensive research on unsaturated soil mechanics to solve geotechnical problems associated with tropical residual soils. His research focus has been on rainfall-induced landslides; one of the major natural disasters occurring in many parts of the world. He has applied unsaturated soil mechanics principles to better understand the mechanisms of rainfall-induced slope failures especially in tropical residual soils. These research activities have led to the development of an advanced unsaturated soil mechanics laboratory at Nanyang Technological University and numerous comprehensive instrumented slopes. Professor Rahardjo and his team have developed Capillary Barrier System (CBS) for slope stabilization, GeoBarrier System (GBS) for a cover system and a retaining structure, Slope Management and Susceptibility Geographical Information System for Singapore. In addition, Professor Rahardjo has also applied unsaturated soil mechanics to soil improvement for tree stability, understanding the effects of rainfall on tree stability and developed instruments for tree inclinometer with the associated analytics. Professor Rahardjo is currently developing Advanced Moisture Sensing Technology for Urban Greenery and Monitoring of Slope Stability.Professor Rahardjo is the co-author of the first textbook on unsaturated soils “Soil Mechanics for Unsaturated Soils“, by D.G. Fredlund and H. Rahardjo, published by John Wiley in 1993, the second textbook “Unsaturated Soil Mechanics in Engineering Practice”, by D.G. Fredlund, H. Rahardjo and M.D. Fredlund, published by John Wiley in 2012 and over 400 technical publications. He has also presented his research works in numerous keynote / invited lectures and short courses in various countries.
Title of the Talk: Application of Unsaturated Soil Mechanics to Slope Stability Time: 1 PM - 2 PM, 24th May 2022 (AEST)
Professor Adrian RussellProfessor and ARC Future Fellow,School of Civil and Environmental Engineering,University of New South Wales, Australia
Adrian Russell is a Professor in Geotechnical Engineering at UNSW Sydney. He is also an Australian Research Council Future Fellow. As a Future Fellow he devotes 100% of his time to research on tailings liquefaction, having been relieved of his normal teaching and administration duties until mid-2025. His expertise is in laboratory element testing of soils and tailings, laboratory controlled CPTs and earthquake simulation, particle and pore geometry characterization, unsaturated soil mechanics and cavity expansion theory, and knowledge transfer to industry.His other research expertise includes: Applied unsaturated soil mechanics, the way unsaturated soils can be characterised using in situ tests like the CPT, and the way they interact with infrastructure; The modelling of soil behaviour, linking microstructure to large scale behaviour; Rock mechanics, focussing on failure mechanisms and microstructural deformation.He is an Australian representative on TC106 and TC221, which are International Technical Committees on unsaturated soil mechanics and tailings within the ISSMGE. He does expert review work on the stability of TSFs. In 2019 he spent a 6-month (0.4FTE) secondment with Pells Sullivan Meynink Pty Ltd, providing expertise on mine waste projects.He was awarded his PhD in 2005 and BE in 1998, each by UNSW Sydney. His first academic appointment was a lectureship at the University of Bristol in the UK (2003-2007). This was followed by a move UNSW Sydney where has been ever since.
Title of the Talk: Partial Saturation Influences on the Characterisation and Strength of Silty Tailings Time: 2 PM - 3 PM, 24th May 2022 (AEST)
Professor Xiong ZhangProfessor, Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering,Missouri University of Science and Technology, USA
Dr. Xiong Zhang is a professor in the Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering at the Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T). He received his Ph.D. degree in Civil Engineering from Texas A&M University. Before he joined in the Missouri S&T, he worked at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and University of Cincinnati for 10 years.Dr. Zhang has been teaching and conducting research in the field of geotechnical engineering since 1992. His studies focus on development of advanced laboratory techniques to rapidly characterize geomaterials, constitutive modeling coupled hydro-mechanical behavior of unsaturated soils, numerical modeling of climate-soil-structure interaction, slope stability analysis, soil stabilization and ground improvement, and frozen ground engineering. He recently received the 2016 International Innovation Award in Unsaturated Soil Mechanics from TC106 Committee on Unsaturated Soils within the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering.Dr. Zhang is currently serving as editorial board member of Canadian Geotechnical Journal, Associate Editor for ASCE Journal of Cold Region Engineering. He also serves as a chair of ASCE GI Shallow Foundation Committee and committee member of several nationwide technical committees such as ASCE GI Committee on Design of Residential Structures on Expansive Soil Standards, ASCE GI Pavement Committee, TRB AFP60 Committee on Engineering Behavior of Unsaturated Soils, and TRB AFS20 Committee on Soil and Rock Instrumentation.
Title of the Talk: A Modified State Surface Approach for Constitutive Modelling of Unsaturated Soils Time: 11 PM - 12 AM, 24th May 2022 (AEST)
Emeritus Professor Sandra HoustonEmeritus Professor,School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment,Arizona State University, USA
Sandra Houston is Emeritus Professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment at Arizona State University. Professor Houston’s contributions to the field of geotechnical engineering focus on unsaturated soils and arid region problem soils, including in particular collapsible and expansive soils and unsaturated flow. Sandra has served in numerous leadership positions in the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Geo-Institute (GI), and the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE). She is a recipient of the 2017 ASCE Terzaghi Award and the 2004 William H. Wisely American Society of Civil Engineers Award, past president of the Geo-Institute, and past chair of the ASCE Board-level Committee on Diversity and Inclusion. She served as the formational Chair of the GI Committee on Unsaturated Soils, and served many years as a USA representative and secretary of the TC106 Committee on Unsaturated Soils. Sandra was awarded the first Distinguished Lecturer for the Pan-American Unsaturated Soils Conference Series by the TC106 Unsaturated Soils Committee. Title of the Talk: Assessment of Stress Path Strategies for Applied Unsaturated Soil Mechanics Using the Modified State Surface Approach Time: 12 AM - 1 AM, 25th May 2022 (AEST)
Professor Ning LuProfessor,Civil and Environmental Engineering,Colorado School of Mines, USA
Ning Lu has been working on fundamental concepts of effective stress and soil suction in the past two decades and made some breakthroughs. He has unified soil’s effective stress under both saturated and unsaturated conditions, moving beyond the classical Terzaghi’s and Bishop’s effective stress representations. For his seminal work on unification of effective stress, he received ASCE Norman Medal twice; first in 2007 for conceptualization of suction stress, and second 2021 for formulation of a practical closed form effective stress equation. He further defines a general thermodynamics-based pore water pressure in soil under both saturated and unsaturated conditions. In the past two decades, he has formulated a new paradigm for slope stability under variably saturated conditions, which has been bestowed by ASCE for its 2017 R. B. Peck Award. He has published two widely used textbooks: Unsaturated Soil Mechanics (Lu and Likos, 2004, John Wiley and Sons), and Hillslope Hydrology and Stability (Lu and Godt, 2013 Cambridge U. Press). Title of the Talk: Inadequacy of the Conventional Pore Water Concept in Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental EngineeringTime: 11 AM - 12 PM, 25th May 2022 (AEST)
Professor Alexander ScheuermannProfessor and ARC Future Fellow,School of Civil Engineering, University of Queensland, Australia
Professor Alexander Scheuermann received his diploma degree in civil engineering specialising in geotechnical engineering in 1998, and his PhD degree in 2005 on the topic“Transient seepage through quasi homogeneous dykes”, both from the University of Karlsruhe (TH), Germany. In 2012, he gained his Habilitation from the Karlsruher Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany, on the topic “Time domain reflectometry (TDR) in geohydraulics and geomechanics”. Since January 2010, he is working at the School of Civil Engineering at The University of Queensland, Australia. He was awarded in 2012 a Queensland Science Fellowship on the further development of spatial TDR, and in 2018 the ARC Future Fellowship on using geophysical methods for monitoring erosion processes in embankments. For more than 10 years, Professor Scheuermann, with scientists from different disciplines, has been developing, modifying and applying electromagnetic measurement methods such as TDR for different questions in geohydraulics and geomechanics. His current research interests involve multi-phase and multi-scale processes underlining important questions on erosion, hydraulic and mechanical behaviour of unsaturated soils and soft soils, and their application in dam engineering.Professor Scheuermann has advised in excess of 10 PhD, several masters and bachelor degree students and is the recipient of an outstanding HDR supervisor award from the University of Queensland. He is an editor for the international journal Acta Geotechnica, and a member of TC213 (scour and erosion) of ISSMGE. Title of the Talk: Revealing Some Mysteries of the Soil Water Retention Curve and Preferential Flow Time: 12 PM - 1 PM, 25th May 2022 (AEST)
Dr. Josip PeranićPostdoctoral researcher,Faculty of Civil Engineering,University of Rijeka, Croatia
Josip Peranić received his PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of Rijeka, Faculty of Civil Engineering (Croatia) in 2019 on the topic "Importance of geotechnical cross-section unsaturated zone for landslide occurrence in flysch deposits". His main research topics are rainfall-induced landslides and the behaviour of unsaturated soils. He has published his research results in several international journals and at many national and international conferences. He received recognitions from the University of Rijeka, Faculty of Civil Engineering, for his research achievements in 2019 and 2020. During the 4th Regional Symposium on Landslides in the Adriatic-Balkan Region (ReSyLAB), held in Sarajevo (BiH) in October 2019 under the auspices of the International Consortium on Landslides (ICL), he was awarded for the best PhD thesis in the field of landslides completed in the last five years. He is involved in several international and national research projects and is the leader of the IPL-256 research project of the ICL's International Programme on Landslides. He is an active member of the Croatian Landslide Group, World Centre of Excellence on Landslide Risk Reduction of the ICL. He served as a guest editor of a special issue of the journal IJERPH and as editor of the Proceedings of the 5thReSyLAB (Rijeka, 2022). He is a lecturer in several undergraduate and graduate courses and has received several recognitions and awards from the University of Rijeka for his commitment to teaching. He is a member of several national and international scientific and professional associations and a board member of the Croatian Geotechnical Society. Title of the Talk: Monitoring the Hydrological Response of Small-Scale Slope Models Time: 3 PM - 4 PM, 25th May 2022 (AEST)
A/Prof. Chaminda GallageAssociate Professor,School of Civil & Environmental Engineering,Queensland University of Technology, Australia
Dr Chaminda Gallage is an associate professor in Geotechnical Engineering at Queensland University of Technology (QUT). He received MEng and PhD degrees in Geotechnical Engineering from the University of Tokyo, Japan. Within Geotechnical engineering research, he has focused on pavement technology, transport geotechnics, unsaturated soil mechanics, rainfall-induced slope instability, mining geotechnics and geotechnical instrumentation. In the last ten years, Assoc. Prof. Gallage has published over 120 refereed journal/conference papers, supervised 20 Higher Degree research students (PhD /MEng) to completion and received over $1.5M research funding from the Australian research council and industry research partners. Currently, he leads the "Use of smart geosynthetics for long-lasting and resilient pavements" project under ARC Industrial Transformation Research Hub (SPARC hub) (IH180100010).
Title of the Talk: Model Tests on Rain-Induced Embankment Failure to Investigate the Failure Initiation and the Effects of Slope Angle Time: 4 PM - 5 PM, 25th May 2022 (AEST)
Professor David TollProfessor of Engineering and Co-Director,Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience,Durham University, UK
David Toll is Professor of Engineering and Co-Director of the Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience at Durham University. He is Chair of the British Geotechnical Association and has just completed an 8-year term as Chair of the Technical Committee on Unsaturated Soils of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering. He is a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales and a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers. He has been carrying out research into unsaturated and tropical soils for over 35 years. The main applications of his research are in the impacts of climate change on infrastructure slopes, rainfall-induced landslides and use of naturally occurring materials in road construction. He is currently Editor-in-Chief of the Springer Nature journal, Geotechnical & Geological Engineering and has served as a member of the Editorial Boards for Géotechnique and Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology. Title of the Talk: Unsaturated Soil Parameters Time: 7 PM - 8 PM, 25th May 2022 (AEST)
Dr. Partha Narayan MishraResearch Fellow,Sustainable Minerals Institute;Adjunct Lecturer, School of Civil Engineering, University of Queensland, Australia
Dr. Partha Narayan Mishra obtained his PhD in Geotechnical Engineering from the University of Queensland, Australia, prior to which he graduated from National Institute of Technology Rourkela, with a dual degree (B.Tech. Hons. In Civil Engineering and M.Tech. in Geotechnical Engineering).Partha's research interests are in the arenas of improvement of soft soils, behaviour of unsaturated soils, electromagnetic characterisation and monitoring of soil processes, biomediated geotechnical engineering and clay barrier systems in hazardous waste disposal facilities. Outcomes of his research have been summarised in 30+ technical articles in top tier international journals, conferences, and book chapters. As a practicing engineer, he has worked on several projects pertaining to tailings storage facilities (TSFs) in Australia and overseas, both as a consulting engineer and as an engineer in owner's team.Partha is a fellow of the higher education academy, UK; member of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE); executive committee member of the Australian Geomechanics Society, Queensland Chapter; member of the Indian Geotechnical Society (IGS) and executive committee members of the unsaturated soils and ground improvement subcommittee of the Geo Institute of ASCE.Partha is a recipient of several distinct recognitions, such as: an international award for early career researcher by the Technical Committee-106 (Unsaturated soils) of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE), UK in 2018, an young geotechnical engineer award by the Indian Geotechnical Society (IGC) in 2017, International Education and Training (IET) excellence awards (research) by the Queensland Government, Australia in 2017. Title of the Talk: Evolution of Soil State Variables During Evaporative Dewatering Time: 8 PM - 9 PM, 25th May 2022 (AEST)
Professor Sai K. VanapalliProfessor, Department of Civil Engineering,University of Ottawa, Canada
Dr. Sai Vanapalli currently serves as a professor of the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Ottawa. Since receiving his PhD in 1994 from the University of Saskatchewan, he has been actively involved in research and teaching activities related to the mechanics of unsaturated soils and its application in geotechnical engineering. Dr. Vanapalli has authored or co-authored more than 400 research papers and has presented 28 keynote addresses in several national and international conferences. Throughout his research career, he has received and been nominated for teaching, research and service awards. Most notably, he received the Stermac Award in 2010, awarded for outstanding service contributions to the Canadian Geotechnical Society, and the George S. Glinski Award for Canada. Excellence in Research in 2015 from the University of Ottawa. He is TC6 (Unsaturated Soils) and TC206 (Interactive committee) member representing Canada. Dr. Vanapalli's research focuses primarily on developing simple techniques to interpret and estimate several properties of unsaturated soils that are useful for implementing the mechanics of unsaturated soils into engineering practice applications. Title of the Talk: Tensile Strength of Unsaturated Soils Time: 9 PM - 10 PM, 25th May 2022 (AEST)
Professor Olivier BuzziProfessor,School of Engineering (Civil Engineering),The University of Newcastle, Australia
Dr. Olivier Buzzi graduated from the Ecole Normale Superieure de Cachan, one of the most prestigious public institutions of higher education and research in France. After obtaining his Agrégation of Civil Engineering in 2000, he completed a Master on rock joints (in 2001) and PhD on the hydromechanical behaviour of contacts between geomaterials in the context of nuclear waste storage (completed in 2004) at the University Joseph Fourier, Grenoble.Moving to Australia in 2005 to take up a post-doctoral position was the first step in Olivier’s career at the University of Newcastle. He began lecturing at the University in 2007, became a senior lecturer in 2009, an Associate Professor in 2012 and a Professor in 2018.Olivier’s research interests span from rock mechanics (hydromechanical response of rock joints, rockfall) to soil mechanics (expansive soils, unsaturated soil mechanics, soil microstructure) with a long history of successful industry collaboration and a taste for challenging problems such as dynamic fragmentation of rocks and mining geotechnics. Olivier combines experimental, theoretical and numerical approaches to conduct his research.Olivier served as an Editorial Board member of Computers and Geotechnics, was an Associate Editor of the Canadian Geotechnical Journal and is a current Associate Editor of Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering, all highly recognised journals of the field.
Title of the Talk: Swelling and Shrinkage of a Compacted Expansive Soil: A Microstructural Insight Time: 1 PM - 2 PM, 26th May 2022 (AEST)
Professor Tadikonda Venkata BharatProfessor,Department of Civil Engineering,Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, India
Dr. T V Bharat is currently a Professor of Civil Engineering at IIT Guwahati. He has received both his M.Sc. (Eng.) and Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, in 2004 and 2009, respectively. He worked as a visiting fellow and post-doctoral fellow during 2009 – 2012 at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada. He started his teaching career as Assistant Professor and, subsequently as, Associate Professor at Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati from 2012 – 2021. Dr. Bharat has nearly 20 years of research experience and 12 years of teaching experience in India and Canada.Dr. Bharat has published over 60 peer-reviewed journals, book chapters, and conference papers. He has received numerous awards in India and abroad for his contribution to computational Geomechanics and Geoenvironmental research. Dr. Bharat is the editorial board member of the Indian Geotechnical Journal and is an active reviewer of over 25 peer-reviewed journals.Dr. Bharat’s research interests are Waste management, Mitigation of rainfall-induced landslides, and Geotechnical and Architectural aspects of Heritage structures.
Title of the Talk: Hydraulic Characteristics of Partly Saturated Clays Time: 2 PM - 3 PM, 26th May 2022 (AEST)
Dr. Vittoria CapobiancoProject Engineer,Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI), Norway
Vittoria Capobianco received her PhD in Geotechnical Engineering at University of Salerno (Italy) in 2018 on "The effects of roots on the hydro-mechanical behaviour of unsaturated pyroclastic soils", where she carried out an experimental study at lab scale. Part of her PhD research was conducted at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, where she improved her knowledge on soil bioengineering techniques and conducted an experimental study on the effect of nutrients in soil on plant growth and the induced soil hydraulic response.Her main research topics are root-soil interaction in unsaturated slopes and soil-water bioengineering as mitigation measure for rainfall-induced shallow landslides. The results of her research are published in several international journals and national and international conferences. She is project engineer at the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, where her main activities are related to applied research on EU and national research projects related to nature-based solutions for natural hazards mitigation, as well as geotechnical consulting projects. Since 2021, she is the convener of the session entitled " Vegetation as nature-based solution for mitigating hydro-meteorological geohazards on slopes and streambanks" at the annual conference of the European Geoscience Union (EGU). She will be the chair of the 3rd workshop organized by the Joint Technical Committee on natural slopes and landslides (JTC1) on "impact of global changes on landslide hazard and risk", to be held on the 7th-10th June 2023 in Oslo (Norway) - https://jtc1-2023.com/.
Title of the Talk: Plant-Soil Interaction Effects on the Hydro-Mechanical Behaviour of Unsaturated Slopes Time: 3 PM - 4 PM, 26th May 2022 (AEST)
Dr. Alejandro MartinezAssistant Professor,Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California Davis, USA
Alejandro Martinez is an assistant professor at the University of California Davis. He obtained his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees from Georgia Tech in 2015 and 2012, respectively, and his B.S. from the University of Texas at Austin in 2010. His research aims to further the understanding of soil behavior and soil-inclusion interactions involved in geotechnical engineering as well as in burrowing and locomotion. His research interests include bio-inspired geotechnics, soil-structure interactions, fabric effects on soil behavior, and static and cyclic liquefaction of soils. His research employs a combination of experimental laboratory, centrifuge modeling, and numerical techniques. He received the NSF CAREER award and ASCE Arthur Casagrande Career Development Award, and in 2019 he co-organized and co-led the 1st International Workshop for Bioinspired Geotechnics.
Title of the Talk: Bioinspired deep foundations, soil anchors, and site characterization probesTime: 1 PM - 2 PM, 24th February 2022 (AEST)
Professor Gordon SouthamProfessor,School of Earth and Environmental SciencesUniversity of Queensland, Australia
Professor Southam received his BSc (Honours) and PhD in Microbiology from the University of Guelph. Following his post-doctoral education funded by Western Mining Corp., Australia, Southam accepted a faculty position in the Department of Biology and Centre for Environmental Sciences at Northern Arizona University. He joined the Departments of Earth Science and Biology at the University of Western Ontario when he was appointed Canada Research Chair in Geomicrobiology (2001-2011), and Director of the Centre for Environment and Sustainability (2010-2012). In 2012, Professor Southam joined the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Queensland as the Vale-UQ Geomicrobiology Chair, and is currently Professor of Geomicrobiology in the School of Earth & Environmental Sciences at UQ.Professor Southam is an interdisciplinary researcher who has crossed traditional boundaries between biological and geological sciences. His research takes fundamental geomicrobiology and translates this into applied settings, primarily in the minerals industry. Professor Southam’s landmark contributions have been in understanding the fundamental roles that bacteria play in catalysing the formation of economically significant geological and mineral phenomena, such as the formation of placer gold, their role in mineral carbonation (CO2 sequestration), bioleaching of metal sulphides and bioremediation. Reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of his research, Professor Southam has published 204 articles in 89 different refereed journals.
Title of the Talk: Stabilisation of iron mine waste; A role for biogeotechnics Time: 2 PM - 3 PM, 24th February 2022 (AEST)
A/Prof. Ilhan ChangAssociate Professor,Department of Civil Systems Engineering Ajou University, Republic of Korea
Dr. Ilhan Chang is an Associate Professor with the Department of Civil Systems Engineering at Ajou University (www.ajou.ac.kr), Republic of Korea. Dr. Chang earned his Bachelor of Science (2000), Master of Engineering (2004), and Doctor of Philosophy (2010) degrees in Civil and Geotechnical Engineering from KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology). Main topics of his M.S. and Ph.D. dissertations were "Soft Soil Evaluation using Elastic Waves" and "Soil Stabilization using Microbial Biopolymers", respectively. Prior to his current appointment, Dr. Chang gained professional careers as a Research Assistant Professor at KAIST (2010-2011), Senior Researcher at the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology (2012-2017.02), Lecturer (2017.04-2018.06) and Senior Lecturer (2018.07-2020.08) at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Australia. Dr. Chang and his research group (SURE3 Geotechnical Engineering Research Group; www.ilhanchang.com) are mainly focusing on multi-disciplinary research for emerging geotechnical engineering subjects such as: Soil Characterization, Ground improvement, Soil erosion and preservation, Biopolymer-based soil treatment (BPST), Biological/bio-inspired soil treatment, Anti-desertification, Hydrogeotechnical engineering, New civil engineering materials, and Sustainable urban development.
Title of the Talk: Sustainable geotechnical engineering with biopolymer-based soil treatment (BPST): From research to practice Time: 5 PM - 6 PM (AEST), 24th February 2022 (AEST)
A/Prof. Rafaela CardosoAssociate Professor with Habilitation,Department of Civil Engineering (DECivil),Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
Associate Professor with Habilitation at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), Lisbon University, Portugal. PhD in Civil Engineering by IST, in 2009 with the thesis Hydro-mechanical Behaviour of Compacted Marls (Manuel Rocha Award 2013) under the supervision of Prof E. Maranha das Neves (IST, Lisbon, Portugal) and Prof E. E. Alonso (UPC, Barcelona, Spain). Advanced MSc in Structural Engineering in 2003 with the thesis Seismic Behaviour of "Pombalino" Old Masonry Buildings (MOP Award 2005) (IST, Lisbon). Habilitation by Lisbon University in 2019 defending the work Micromechanical Analysis of Artificially Cemented Sandy Soils.Has 26 papers in international ISI/Scopus journals, 4 book chapters in international publications and more than 50 international conference papers (Scopus h_index=13). Invited for 16 lectures (4 national and 12 international). PI of 3 National Research Projects (2 ongoing) and member of several national research projects. Participation in several consultancy projects for companies. Responsible for 6 Advanced Training courses for Portuguese Civil Engineers. Member of the editorial Board of Transportation Geotechnics and of the reviewer board of Engineering Geology, both ISI journals, and of the editorial board of Soils and Rocks. Reviewer for several ISI journals and European projects. Member of scientific committees of several international conferences. Portuguese representative on the Technical Committee TC106 - Unsaturated Soils - of the ISSMFE. Supervisor of 7 PhD theses (3 ongoing) and more than 40 MSc theses (3 ongoing).Main research interests are focused on the Electro-Chemo-Hydro-Mechanical behaviour of clays and structured materials considering their degree of saturation, constitutive modeling of natural and artificially cemented geomaterials considering structure loss caused by stress and suction cycles, soil treatment techniques including biocementation, soil suction measurement (in situ and in the laboratory) and numerical simulation of soil-atmosphere interaction considering the unsaturated behaviour of soils.
Title of the Talk: Field application of biocementation: how laboratorial tests can helpTime: 6 PM - 7 PM (AEST), 24th February 2022 (AEST)
A/Prof. Anthony LeungAssociate Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering,Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong
Dr Anthony Leung is an Associate Professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Associate Director of the Geotechnical Centrifuge Facility (GCF) at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). His research expertise is unsaturated soil-plant interaction with emphasis on geotechnical engineering applications such as slope stabilisation. Dr Leung has published more than 70 SCI journal articles in the subject of soil-vegetation interaction and co-authors a textbook ‘Plant Soil Slope Interaction’ published by Taylor & Francis. Dr Leung is the awardee of the 2019 Excellent Youth Scholar (EYS) of the NSFC, 2019 Bright Spark Lecture Award of the ISSMGE and 2018 International Award for Innovation in Unsaturated Soil Mechanics from TC106 (Unsaturated Soils). He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the ISSMGE Bulletin, the Secretary of TC106 (Unsaturated Soils) and TC107 (Tropical and residual soils) and is now serving the Editorial Boards of international journals, including Can. Geotech. J. and Landslides Proc. of ICE, Environ. Geotech. and Proc. of ICE, Int. J. Phy. Model. In Geotech.
Title of the Talk: Root bio-hydro-mechanical reinforcement of unsaturated soils: experiments and modelling Time: 1 PM - 2 PM (AEST), 25th February 2022 (AEST)
Professor Sarat Kumar DasProfessor and Head of the Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Dhanbad, India
Dr. Sarat Kumar Das is a professor and head of the department of Civil Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad, India. Professor Das obtained his bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from College of Engineering and Technology Bhubaneswar, India followed by his master's and Ph.D. degrees in Geotechnical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK), India. Supported by the Endeavour Research Fellowship of the Australian Government, he undertook his postdoctoral training at James Cook University, Townsville, Australia. Professor Das has about 30 years of experience in Civil and Geotechnical Engineering both in the fronts of academia and industry. His research interests include AI and optimisation methods in Geotechnical Engineering, Geoenvironmnetal Engineering and Biogeotechnics. Professor Das has published 100+ technical articles in journals, conferences as book chapters, and has supervised 6 Ph.D. students to completion. He is Editorial Board member of Environmental Geotechnics, ICE and International Journal of Geotechnical Engineering and reviewed for 60+ technical journals (top 1% in Crossfield reviewer). He is a founding co-convener of the AGERP lecture series, an ex-executive committee member of the Indian Geotechnical Society, and a technical committee member of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering. Professor Das has delivered many invited and distinct keynotes including a theme lecture on AI methods in the Asian Regional Conference of ISSMGE.
Title of the Talk: Bioinspired analysis in Geotechnical EngineeringTime: 2 PM - 3 PM (AEST), 25th February 2022 (AEST)

A/Prof. Oznur Karaca

Associate Professor, Department of Geological Engineering,Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Turkey
Dr. Oznur Karaca is Associate Professor of Geological Engineering at the Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Turkey. Dr. Karaca received her Ph.D. in Geological Engineering Department from Suleyman Demirel University, Turkey. She has been at the University of Illinois at Chicago in the Department of Civil and Materials Engineering (USA) for one year as a visiting Professor. Her research areas include engineering geology, geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering, remediation of contaminated soils, sediments and mine wastes, GIS and remote sensing. She has published 18 journal papers, 1 book chapter, and 44 conference papers.
Title of the Talk: Phytoremediation: A sustainable technique to ameliorate polluted soils Time: 5 PM - 6 PM (AEST), 25th February 2022 (AEST)
A/Prof. Leon van PaassenAssociate Professor, Arizona State University (ASU), USA
Leon van Paassen is an Associate Professor at Arizona State University (ASU) and Senior Investigator at the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Centre for Bio-mediated and Bio-inspired Geotechnics (CBBG). He has more than 20 years research experience and expertise in the biological, chemical, and geotechnical characterization of soils and biochemical reactive transport and multiphase flow in porous media. Past and current research projects include bio-based ground improvement through microbially induced carbonate precipitation, liquefaction mitigation through biogenic desaturation, bio mineralization for dust suppression, bio-mediated iron precipitation for permeability reduction and mangrove inspired scour protection for submerged foundation systems. In collaboration with industrial partners he developed several of these technologies from a proof-of-concept in the laboratory to field scale demonstration projects for a variety of geotechnical and geo-environmental engineering applications. He teaches courses on Geotechnical Engineering, Engineering Geology, Bio-based Geotechnical Engineering and Advanced Geotechnical Testing. Since May 2020 he acts as Co-Principal Investigator for CBBG at ASU and leads the research thrust on Environmental Protection and Restoration, which includes projects on restoring surface crusts of disturbed soil sites, groundwater remediation of chlorinated solvents or heavy metals, nutrient removal from surface water and the development of microbial enhanced permeable reactive barriers. His mission is to integrate the fields of environmental biotechnology and geotechnical engineering, aiming to develop sustainable solutions, which improve resource efficiency and reduce the environmental impact of civil and mining engineering industry.
Title of the Talk: Field trials on bio-based ground improvementTime: 6 PM - 7 PM (AEST), 25th February 2022 (AEST)

2nd Edition of AGERP (2021)

Lecture 1: Mechanically Stabilised Earth (MSE) Walls

Professor Emeritus Richard J. BathurstProfessor Emeritus,Department of Civil Engineering,GeoEngineering Centre at Queen's-RMCRoyal Military College of Canada, Canada

Lessons learned from laboratory and field measurements of MSE wall performance


Bio of the lecturer:Dr. Bathurst is Professor Emeritus of Civil Engineering at the Royal Military College of Canada where he has taught since 1980 and holds a cross-appointment at Queen's University. He is a past-President of the Engineering Institute of Canada, Canadian Geotechnical Society, International Geosynthetics Society and the North American Geosynthetics Society. Dr. Bathurst has authored or co-authored more than 200 journal papers and 250 other contributions. He has made contributions in the areas of micromechanics of granular soils, railway ballast and track dynamics, pavements, unsaturated soil-geotextile behaviour, constitutive modelling of geosynthetic soil reinforcement materials, new test methods and the development of transparent granular soil surrogates for geotechnical testing. Dr. Bathurst’s current research activities are focused on geosynthetic and metallic reinforcement in earth retaining wall systems, numerical modelling, seismic performance and design of these systems, probabilistic design of reinforced and unreinforced soil structures, reliability-based design, and load and resistance factor design (LRFD) calibration of soil-structures. Dr. Bathurst has served on committees of the Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code and the National Building Code of Canada. He has received national and international awards for his technical contributions and has been invited speaker and keynote lecturer at learned society conferences and symposia on many occasions. Dr. Bathurst is editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed technical journal Geosynthetics International and associate editor of the International Journal of Geomechanics. He is Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering and the Engineering Institute of Canada. Dr. Bathurst was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2017.
Time: 12 PM – 1 PM (AEST), 16th April 2021
Ms. Chaido (Yuli) Doulala-RigbyChief Civil Engineer,Tensar International Corporation, England

Good practice, lessons learned & unusual fills in MSE design & construction





Bio of the lecturer:Yuli is a Chartered Engineer (CEng) and a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers (FICE) with 25+ years’ experience in a variety of geotechnical and civil engineering projects. She obtained her first degree in Civil Infrastructure Engineering in Greece and her Master of Science (MSc) in Rock Mechanics and Foundation Engineering from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. Her work experience includes working as a tunnelling engineer for Balfour Beatty/AMEC JV at the Jubilee Line Extension Tunnelling project in London (1995), as a geotechnical engineer for Mouchel Asia Limited in Hong Kong (1996-2005) and as the Chief Civil Engineer for Tensar International, the inventor of polymeric soil reinforcing and stabilising geogrids (2005-present). Yuli is based in Tensar’s UK HQ and for > 10 years she held the overall responsibility of the Tensar Eastern Hemisphere Design Team with offices in Germany, Holland, France, Russia, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, India, Malaysia, Indonesia and China and representatives in Africa, Australia and New Zealand. While she is still involved in delivering training, project risk management and troubleshooting, she has recently diverted her focus largely towards Business Development and educating the Industry globally on the benefits of geosynthetics in Construction.Yuli is a past Chair of the UK Committee of the International Geosynthetics Society (IGS), an elected member of the British Geotechnical Association (BGA) Executive Committee and has authored and delivered several publications about reinforced and stabilised soil around the world. She is a judge for the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) Engineering Awards, the UK Ground Engineering Awards and she is the co-ordinator and a judge of the Baroness Platt of Writtle Awards on behalf of the Worshipful Company of Engineers, of which she is a Liveryman and a Court Assistant. She is a registered STEM Ambassador and a Governor of Welbeck Defence Sixth Form College. She is the first female Engineer in the North West of the UK to obtain Fellowship of the ICE in September 2011 and the first non-military Engineer, to become a Fellow of the Institution of Royal Engineers (FInstRE) in May 2018.

Time: 5 PM – 6 PM (AEST), 16th April 2021

Lecture 2: AI and Big Data in Geotechnics

Dr. Robert C. BachusSenior Principal Engineer, Geosyntec ConsultantsKennesaw, Georgia, USA

The Geotechnical Response to Big Data: Reactive or Proactive…. You Can Choose




Bio of the lecturer:Dr. Bachus is a civil engineer with more than 40 years of experience, with an expertise in geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering. He started his professional career as a member of the faculty at the Georgia Institute of Technology where he taught for 11 years before joining Geosyntec Consultants in 1990, where he is a Senior Principal. The firm specializes in geotechnical, environmental, and water resource engineering, with >1,200 employees in its 75 offices in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. His research and project activities cover a wide range of topics, including dams and levees, landslide assessment, landfill design and performance, soil/rock properties, geosynthetics, and forensic engineering. He has worked extensively on the properties and beneficial use of coal combustion residuals (CCRs) and geotechnical data management and visualization. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at Georgia Tech and Chairman of the Transportation Research Board’s Standing Committee on Soil and Rock Properties.
Time: 12 PM – 1 PM (AEST), 03rd May 2021
Professor Sarat Kumar DasProfessor and Head of DepartmentDepartment of Civil Engineering,Indian Institute of Technology (ISM) Dhanbad, India

Scope and challenges in applications of AI techniques to Geotechnical Engineering




Bio of the lecturer:Dr. Sarat Kumar Das is a professor and head of the department of Civil Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad, India. Professor Das obtained his bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from College of Engineering and Technology Bhubaneswar, India followed by his master's and Ph.D. degrees in Geotechnical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK), India. Supported by the Endeavour Research Fellowship of the Australian Government, he undertook his postdoctoral training at James Cook University, Townsville, Australia. Professor Das has about 30 years of experience in Civil and Geotechnical Engineering both in the fronts of academia and industry. His research interests include AI and optimisation methods in Geotechnical Engineering, Geoenvironmnetal Engineering and Biogeotechnics. Professor Das has published 100+ technical articles in journals, conferences and as book chapters, and has supervised 6 Ph.D. students to completion. He is editorial board members of Environmental Geotechnics, ICE and International Journal of Geotechnical Engineering and reviewed for 60+ technical journals (top 1% in Crossfield reviewer). He is a founding co-convener of the AGERP lecture series, an ex-executive committee member of the Indian Geotechnical Society, and a technical committee member of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering. Professor Das has delivered many invited and distinct keynotes including a theme lecture on AI methods in the Asian Regional Conference of ISSMGE.
Time: 1 PM – 2 PM (AEST), 03rd May 2021
Dr. Nick MachairasFounder and Principal,Groundwork A.I. - Next-gen GeotechnicsLecturer, Columbia University in the City of New YorkBrooklyn NY, United States

AI, Data & Geotechnics: The Exciting Future of Human-Machine Synergy and the Digital Transformation of the Geoprofession

Bio of the lecturer:Nick is a geoprofessional, lecturer and entrepreneur who ventured into software engineering, modern data management and predictive analytics, operating at the forefront of the digital transformation of the Geoprofession. He is the founder of Groundwork AI (groundwork.ai), a high-tech/engineering venture dedicated to empowering Geoprofessionals by offering custom Data Management and Machine Learning solutions that can facilitate smarter, safer and more cost-effective infrastructure monitoring, design and construction. Nick's initial research and project efforts focused on applying advanced data analytics to deep foundations and have now evolved to include intelligent assistants that enable synergistic human-machine engineering design workflows. He is currently a lecturer at NYU and Columbia University teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in Computer Programming, Machine Learning, Modern Database Management Systems and Engineering Ethics. Nick is an active member on the ASCE G-I DIGGS, Deep Foundations and INNC committees as well as the Transportation Research Board Standing Committees on Geotechnical Instrumentation and Modeling (AKG60) and Foundations of Bridges and Other Structures (AKG70).
Time: 2 PM – 3 PM (AEST), 03rd May 2021

Lecture 3: Geotechnics of Tailings Dams

Professor Scott Michael OlsonProfessor,Civil & Environmental Engineering Department,University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA

The shear strength of liquefied soils: updates and new developments


Bio of the lecturer:Prof. Scott M. Olson, PhD, PE is a Professor and Faculty Excellence Scholar in the CEE Department at the University of Illinois, where he joined the faculty in 2004. Prior to joining Illinois, Scott worked in practice for Woodward-Clyde Consultants and URS Corporation. Prof. Olson has researched static and seismic liquefaction for over 25 years, and has been involved in dozens of research and consulting projects involving geotechnical earthquake engineering, tailings dam engineering, in situ and laboratory testing, and geohazards analysis. From these activities, Scott has published over 150 journal papers, conference articles, and reports, and has received numerous awards, including the ASCE Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize and the Canadian Geotechnical Society R.M. Quigley Award. Recently, Scott became a founding member of the U.S.-based Tailings and Industrial Waste Engineering (TAILENG) Center. Prof. Olson remains active in consulting with clients in the civil infrastructure, power, transportation, and mining industries.
Time: 12 PM – 1 PM (AEST), 28th May 2021
Mr. Michael Jefferies Consulting Engineer, England

Improving governance will not be sufficient to avoid dam failures

Bio of the lecturer:Mr. Michael Jefferies is a registered civil engineer (Canada: PEng) with some 45 years of experience, mostly consulting but ten years of that with resource companies. It was the time with Gulf Canada Resources that led to the most significant of his contributions to engineering. Building on the approach pioneered by the Corps of Engineers at Franklin Falls dam, Mike directed hydraulic fill construction in the offshore Arctic for structures exposed to long-duration and large cyclic loads from moving ice. Putting ‘the math’ to the measurements produced the state parameter approach, which remains one of the most cited contributions published by Geotechnique, and then to NorSand which was the basis for analyzing and understanding the catastrophic dam failures at Fundao, Cadia, and Brumadinho. These technological developments have been documented in Mike’s book Soil liquefaction, a critical state approach which stands out as providing detailed derivations based in theoretical plasticity, accompanied by open-source software and full release of all data used. The Canadian Geotechnical Society’s Fall/2012 Cross-Canada Lecturer, the Slovenian Geotechnical Society’s Šuklje Lecturer in 2014, awarded a Telford Premium in 2016, and the South African Institution of Civil Engineers Jenning’s Lecturer in 2018, Mike has published some eighty papers ranging across ice loading of offshore platforms through to rock fracture grouting; this work has attracted more than 6500 citations.
Time: 5 PM – 6 PM (AEST), 28th May 2021

Lecture 4: In-situ Testing in Geotechnical Engineering

Professor Emeritus Peter K. RobertsonGeotechnical Consultant (PK Robertson Inc.)Technical Advisor, Gregg Drilling LLC, USA

Advances in CPT applications



Bio of the lecturer:Dr. Peter Robertson brings more than 40 years of experience as an educator, researcher, consultant and practitioner specializing in the areas of in-situ testing and site investigation, earthquake design of geotechnical structures, and soil liquefaction. Peter is recognized as an expert both nationally and internationally in the areas of in-situ testing and soil liquefaction. He has been a consultant to various clients around the world for projects involving liquefaction evaluation for major structures, stability of on-shore and off-shore structures, landslides, stability of natural slopes and tailings dams, and use and interpretation of in-situ tests. He is the co-author of the primary reference book on Cone Penetration Testing (CPT). He has also authored or co-authored over 250 publications as well a popular CPT Guide that is freely available on several websites. Peter has also assisted in the development of several inexpensive CPT-based interpretations software programs and has presented a series of free webinars in an effort to enhance education and practice. Peter continues to provide private consulting to a wide range of clients and currently resides in southern California.
Time: 12 PM – 1 PM (AEST), 11th June 2021
Eng. Diego MarchettiCEO, Marchetti DMT, Italy

The Flat Dilatometer (DMT) and Seismic Dilatometer (SDMT) for in-situ testing

Bio of the lecturer:Engineer Diego Marchetti worked since 2001 in association with Professor Silvano Marchetti, the original inventor of the Flat Plate Dilatometer (DMT) in 1980, used in over 80 countries world-wide. Together they developed and patented the Seismic Dilatometer (SDMT) in 2004 and the fully automated dilatometer (Medusa DMT) completed in 2019 and employed today in four continents. In 2009 they founded Studio Prof. Marchetti, the company where Diego became director in 2016, after Silvano passed away.The main activities of the company consist in the design, production and distribution of patented geotechnical and geophysical equipment for in situ testing. In particularly challenging surveys, such as offshore DMT and SDMT surveys, Diego provides coordination and assistance on site for ensuring high quality testing with the supplied equipment.His research activities are mainly in cooperation with the University of L’Aquila and also with other world-wide universities and institutes. He is author/co-author of over 70 publications in technical journals and conference proceedings.Diego was invited and delivered technical presentations in over 60 countries at national and international conferences and to Universities, Research Institutes and private companies.
Time: 5 PM – 6 PM (AEST), 11th June 2021

Lecture 5: Soil Erosion

Professor Jean-Louis BriaudUniversity Distinguished Professor and Buchanan Chair Holder,Zachry Department of Civil Engineering,Texas A&M University, USA

Soil erosion and design applications



Bio of the lecturer:ASCE President Jean-Louis Briaud is a distinguished professor and holder of the Spencer J. Buchanan Chair in the Zachry Department of Civil Engineering at Texas A&M University, a Distinguished Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and a licensed professional engineer in Texas. He has served as president of the Association of Geotechnical Engineering Professors and president of the Geo-Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers.Briaud’s expertise is in foundation engineering and more generally geotechnical engineering. He has also worked as a consultant on numerous projects, including highway embankments, oil tanks, dams, bridges, levees, shallow and deep foundations and soil erosion.
Time: 12 PM – 1 PM (AEST), 23rd July 2021
Mr. Amir ShahkolahiTechnical Manager,Global Synthetics Pty Ltd., Australia

Erosion control techniques for drainage channels: From traditional methods to latest sustainable techniques

Bio of the lecturer:Amir has a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Civil Engineering. As a designer, project manager and researcher, he has been involved in Civil and Geosynthetic industry over the last 20 years. He is the Technical Manager for Australia and New Zealand at Global Synthetics. Amir is the Vice-Chair of the Australian Geomechanics Society (AGS) Queensland chapter, member of the International Geosynthetic Society Technical Committees for reinforcement (TC-R) and Stabilisation (TC-S), Board member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)-Australian Section, member of the ASTM Committee D35 on Geosynthetics, Industry Board member of the Australian Pavement Research Hub, Board member of ARC Training Centre for Advanced Technologies in rail Track Infrastructure (ITTC- Rail), and member of the Standards Australia Technical Committee CE/032-Reinforced fill structures working group. He is also a Board member of the International Geosynthetic Society Technical Committees for Barriers (TC-B), board member of the QLD Landfill Working Group, Board member of the Waste Management and Resource Recovery of Australia in QLD, guest lecturer at Sunshine Coast University and University of Wollongong (UOW), part time PHD researcher at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), and the industry supervisor and advisor for several Geosynthetic research projects in Australia and overseas.
Time: 5 PM – 6 PM (AEST), 23rd July 2021

Lecture 6: Design of Foundations

Emeritus Professor Harry PoulosEmeritus Professor, University of SydneySenior Consultant, Tetra Tech CoffeySydney, Australia
Bio of the lecturer:Professor Harry Poulos is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Sydney, and also a Senior Consultant with Tetra Tech Coffey In Sydney, Australia. He has been involved in a large number of high-rise projects in Australia and overseas, including the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. He was the Australian Civil Engineer of the Year in 2003, and is a Distinguished Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers. In 2014, he was inducted into the US National Academy of Engineering, and in 2020, he received the Peter Nicoll Russell Medal from Engineers Australia for lifetime achievement in engineering.

Session 1

Foundation Design - Basics and Shallow Foundations

Time: 5 PM – 6:30 PM (AEST), 23rd September 2021

Session 2

Foundation Design - Deep Foundations

Time: 5 PM – 6:30 PM (AEST), 24th September 2021

1st Edition of AGERP (2020)

Lecture 1: Mining Geotechnology

Professor David WilliamsProfessor and Director,Geotechnical Engineering Centre,School of Civil Engineering, The University of Queensland, Australia

Learnings from the Brumadinho tailings dam failure


Bio of the lecturer:Professor David Williams is Professor and Director of the Geotechnical Engineering Centre within the School of Civil Engineering at The University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. David obtained a BE with First Class Honours in Civil Engineering from Monash University and a PhD in Soil Mechanics from Cambridge University. He worked for the Victorian State Road Authority and for Golder Associates before joining The University of Queensland in mid-1983. He has an international reputation in the application of geomechanics principles to mine waste management and mined land rehabilitation, and associated issues. He has made important contributions to the development and implementation of pumped co-disposal of coal mine washery wastes, store and release covers over potentially contaminating waste rock dumps in semi-arid climates, capping soft tailings, the hydrology of waste rock and tailings storage facilities, the settlement of high coal mine spoil piles, understanding problematic clay-rich coal mine tailings, and risk assessment and cost-effectiveness analysis applied to mining.
Time: 5 PM – 6 PM (AEST), 8th June 2020
Mr. Mark RynhoudSr. Engineering Geologist ,KCB Australia Pty Ltd., Australia

Design and construction of the Hamata tailings dam, Hidden valley mine, Papua New Guinea

Bio of the lecturer:Mark is a senior engineering geologist who has twelve years geotechnical experience in Australia and the Pacific, and in excess of fifteen years earth-science and environmental experience in South Africa. Mark has practised in the fields of engineering and environmental geology and has provided earth-science input for a broad client base. The Australasian and Pacific experience includes field work in remote locations under challenging conditions, including varying proficiencies with geotechnical and hydrogeological field programmes. Mark currently provides engineering geological direction to major mining engineering projects and has been involved in senior project management.

Time: 6:30 PM – 7:15 PM (AEST), 8th June 2020

Lecture 2: Geophysics for Geotechnical Engineers

Professor J. Carlos SantamarinaProfessor,Energy Resources and Petroleum EngineeringAssociate DirectorAli I. Al-Naimi Petroleum Engineering Research Center,King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi ArabiaGroup website: https://egel.kaust.edu.sa/

Geophysical properties of soils







Bio of the lecturer:J. Carlos Santamarina (Professor - KAUST) graduated from Universidad Nacional de Córdoba and completed graduate studies at the U. Maryland and Purdue U. He taught at NYU Polytechnic, U. Waterloo and at Georgia Tech. before joining KAUST.His team explores hydro-chemo-thermo-mechanical coupled processes and advances innovative characterization techniques for soils and fractured rocks, with applications in energy geoengineering and deep-sea mining. The team’s research results are summarized in two books and more than 300 publications. Former team members are faculty members at more than thirty universities, researchers at national laboratories, or practicing engineers at leading organizations worldwide. Dr. Santamarina is a frequent keynote speaker at international events, a member of both Argentinean National Academies, and has participated in several Committees of the USANational Academies. He is the recipient of two ASTM Hogentogler Awards, was the 2012 British Geotechnical Association Touring Lecturer, and delivered the 50th Terzaghi Lecture in 2014.
Time: 3 PM – 4 PM (AEST), 25th June 2020
Dr. Andreas A. PfaffhuberChief Executive Officer,EMerald Geomodelling, Norway
Mr. Craig W. ChristensenVice President (Technology),EMerald Geomodelling, Norway

Airborne geoscanning: combining artificial intelligence and airborne geophysics for more efficient site investigation

Bio of the lecturers:Pfaffhuber has extensive leadership experience in innovation, research, project management, business development and scientific consulting. Pfaffhuber is the visionary behind airborne geo-intelligence. He introduced airborne geophysics to NGI in 2007 initially for resource exploration and later for the unique application in geotechnical projects. Pfaffhuber established the NGI Geosurveys section in 2012 based on a strategic research project. Geosurveys develops, adapts and implements geophysical, remote sensing and GIS methods in NGIs advanced geotechnical projects. For one year he contributed with Business Development to NGIs newly established daughter company in Perth, Australia. Pfaffhuber holds a PhD in Applied Geophysics from Bremen University (2006) and an MSc in Applied Geoscience from Technical University Berlin (2001).
Just like EMerald Geomodelling, Craig Christensen has a talent for bridging the gaps between seemingly disparate fields within applied geoscience. In his MSc thesis, he combined geophysical measurements and geomorphological observations to analyse patterns in mountain groundwater distribution. Likewise, at both EMerald Geomodelling and NGI, he has led development of geostatistical algorithms that model bedrock topography using both geophysical data and borehole data. Christensen started his career at NGI as a summer intern in 2013 and completed his MSc in Geology and Geophysics at the University of Calgary (2017). He also holds a BScE in Geological Engineering from Queen’s University (2014). His talents have been recognized by major academic awards from (among others) the National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and Queen’s University.
Time: 4:30 PM – 5:30 PM (AEST), 25th June 2020

Lecture 3: Advanced Numerical Methods and Modelling in Geotechnical Engineering

Professor Catherine O'SullivanProfessor of Particulate Soil Mechanics,Department of Civil and Env. Engineering,Faculty of Engineering,Imperial College London, England

A particle-scale perspective on Dam engineering

Bio of the lecturer:Catherine O’Sullivan is a Professor in Particulate Soil Mechanics at Imperial College London. Originally from Ireland, she obtained her PhD from the University of California at Berkeley in 2002. Since arriving at Imperial College in 2004 she has continued to develop research that examines soil behaviour focussing on the particulate scale.Catherine has authored a textbook on the use of discrete element modelling in geomechanics and has authored/co-authored over 80 contributions to international journals. In 2015 she delivered the Géotechnique lecture. Funding for her post-graduate studies and research has been provided by the Fulbright Programme, the O’Reilly Foundation, the IRCSET, the EPSRC, the ICE, the Leverhulme Trust and ARUP. Catherine was a member of the Géotechnique Advisory Panel 2010-2012 and is currently a member of the editorial boards of Soils and Foundations, Computers and Geotechnics, Granular Matter and an Editor of the ASCE Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering. She served on the BGA Executive Committee from 2009-2012 and is currently a member of the committee of the British Dam Society.
Time: 6 PM – 7 PM (AEST), 09th July 2020
Mr. David WinesPrincipal Geotechnical Engineer and Director, Itasca Australia Pty Ltd, Australia

Numerical modelling for slope stability analysis


Bio of the lecturer:David is a Principal Engineer and Director with Itasca Australia. He has a Bachelor of Geological Engineering from RMIT University and a Master of Mining Engineering from Curtin University. He also has the status of Chartered Professional Engineer with Engineers Australia. David has over 20 years of experience in geotechnical investigation and analysis for both mining and civil projects, including operational and consulting roles. Since joining Itasca 13 years ago, David has undertaken numerical back analyses and forward analyses for numerous open pit operations around the world.

Time: 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM (AEST), 09th July 2020

Lecture 4: Design of Pile Foundations

Emeritus Professor Malcolm BoltonEmeritus Professor,Schofield CentreGeotech. and Environmental Research Group,Department of Engineering,University of Cambridge, England

The performance-based design of bored piles (drilled shafts) in clay

Bio of the lecturer:Malcolm graduated in Engineering from Cambridge in 1967 with a leaning towards Civil Engineering. While pursuing research and teaching in both structures and soil mechanics at Manchester University he picked up the “bug” of centrifugal modelling from Andrew Schofield, assisting him in establishing the UK’s first geotechnical centrifuge in 1969. He returned to Cambridge in 1980 as a lecturer, later becoming Professor of Soil Mechanics, Director of the Schofield Centre for Geotechnical Process and Construction Modelling, and Head of the Geotechnical and Environmental Group. He retired from the University in 2013.He is an author of 250 publications covering both the fundamental mechanics of granular materials and a wide variety of civil engineering applications from pipelines to tunnels, from foundations to embankments, and from earthquake effects to landslide hazard reduction.He was the founding chairman of the ISSMGE Technical Committee Geomechanics from Micro to Macro (GM3) dedicated to the practical application of a granular approach to soils, and the founding President of the International Press-in Association (IPA) dedicated to the hydraulic pressing-in of tubular piles for walls and foundations.Professor Bolton holds various prizes from the UK Institutions of Civil Engineers and Structural Engineers: a British Geotechnical Association Prize, a Telford Premium, the T K Hsieh Award (twice), an Oscar Faber Award, and the Sir Benjamin Baker silver medal. He delivered the 52nd Rankine Lecture (2012) and the 1st Schofield lecture (2014).
 Time: 5 PM – 6 PM (AEST), 24th July 2020
Dr. Chris HaberfieldPrincipal Geotechnical Engineer,Golder Associates Pty Ltd., Australia;Adjunct Research Associate,Monash University, Australia

Pile design in practice




Bio of the lecturer:Dr Chris Haberfield is a Principal Geotechnical Engineer with Golder Associates Pty Ltd. He is internationally recognised for his work on foundation structure interaction and soft, weak and weathered rock and in particular the analysis, design, laboratory and field testing, construction techniques and response of engineering works (e.g. foundations) in these materials. Chris has extensive experience in piled foundation design and analysis, numerical (including advanced finite element) and analytical modelling, laboratory and field testing of geo-materials, stress analysis, ground structure interaction problems and slope stability analyses.Chris has high level engineering skills and technical knowledge and provides a practical approach which has been developed through 30 years of research and teaching and high level consulting to industry as an academic followed by 20 years as a consultant solving high level technical issues for a wide variety of projects. Chris has been responsible for value engineering, engineering design, analysis, construction and testing advice for numerous low to high rise commercial and residential towers, deep basements, road/rail separations, bridges, embankments, tunnels, mines and other developments and infrastructure projects in a wide range of ground conditions from soft soil to hard rock. Some examples include many high rise and/or deep basement developments in Melbourne, SE Queensland and the Middle East (including the 1.2 km high Nakheel tower in Dubai and numerous 20 m to 30 m deep basements in Melbourne and Brisbane), tender design for the Gateway Bridge duplication, Middleborough road – rail grade separation and the tender and final design for the New Royal Adelaide Hospital.Chris has published over 150 refereed papers many of them dealing with ground structure interaction problems, pile performance and analysis. Chris was awarded the EH Davis Memorial Lecture (2007) by the Australian Geomechanics Society, Gregory Tschebotarioff Lecture (2017) by the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, and is an awardee of the Inaugural Honorary Life Membership of the Australian Geomechanics Society (2020).

Time: 6:30 PM– 7:30 PM (AEST), 24th July 2020

Lecture 5: Geohazards

Professor Sarah SpringmanProfessor of Geotechnical Engineering,Rector,Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), Switzerland

Rainfall-induced slope processes and failures


Bio of the lecturer:Sarah Springman has been Professor for Geotechnical Engineering at ETH Zurich since January 1997 and Rector of the university since January 2015. She studied engineering sciences at Cambridge University. She then worked for five years as an engineer on several geotechnical projects in England, Fiji, and Australia before returning to Cambridge, where she earned her PhD in soil mechanics in 1989 and established an academic career. Her main interest in research is soil-structure interaction and the geotechnical aspects of natural hazards, in particular landslides and melting permafrost. She uses geotechnical modelling to develop solutions that can improve the design of structures. Professor Springman has published numerous journal articles and monographs, as well as co-editing and reviewing submissions for a range of scientific publications and has given many keynote lectures. She has supervised two dozen doctoral students, and has inspired many young women to take up studies in engineering and science. As Rector of ETH Zurich and within the Executive Board, she is responsible for education and as such for 22,000 students. She is in charge of admissions to study programmes at all levels and for the organisation and management of study-related matters.
Time: 5 PM – 6 PM (AEST), 14th August 2020
Dr. Barnali GhoshTechnical Principal (Seismic),Mott MacDonald, London;Visiting Professor Geoseismic Engineering,Cambridge University, England

What do we learn from seismic geotechnical failures?

Bio of the lecturer:Dr. Barnali Ghosh is a Technical Principal at Mott MacDonald (London) and a Royal Academy visiting professor at Cambridge University . She was recently selected for the top 50 Women in Engineering awards (2020) by WES. She is a chartered civil engineer with specialization in Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering through her PhD at Cambridge University. During her career, she has acted as a seismic designer and reviewer for high-profile projects around the world. Formerly, honorary lecturer of University College London she now teaches earthquake courses across Europe, contributing to professional excellence.


Time: 6:30 PM– 7:30 PM (AEST), 14th August 2020

Lecture 6: Mechanics of Unsaturated Soils

Professor Emeritus Delwyn G. FredlundProfessor Emeritus,University of Saskatchewan,Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

An applied science for unsaturated soil mechanics


Bio of the lecturer:Delwyn G. Fredlund has spent over 50 years conducting research into the behavior of unsaturated soils. Most of his career was spent at the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, where he organized the Unsaturated Soils Group for the study of all areas of unsaturated soil behavior. Del Fredlund obtained his B.Sc. degree from the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon in 1962. In 1966 Del Fredlund joined the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada. In 1973 he obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Alberta. Dr. Fredlund’s research studies have resulted in the authorship of two books, namely, “Soil Mechanics for Unsaturated Soils”, and “Unsaturated Soil Mechanics in Engineering Practice” published by John Wiley & Sons. Dr. Fredlund published approximately 500 journal and conference research papers and has delivered many keynote lectures at conferences. He has been the recipient of numerous awards, amongst them the; Legett Award, 1999, the Terzaghi Lecture Award, 2005, and the Quigley Award, 2009. He is also a recipient of the Order of Canada and is a member of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.

Time: 9 AM – 10 AM (AEST), 29th August 2020
Dr. Murray FredlundStrategic Advisor (Geotechnical)Bentley Systems,Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

Numerical modeling of unsaturated soils problems



Bio of the lecturer:Dr. Fredlund received his training from the University of Saskatchewan and Texas A&M University and has published over 50 research papers on topics related to database design, finite element modeling, and unsaturated soil knowledge-based systems. In 1997 he started SoilVision Systems Ltd. with a database software product called SoilVision which could be used to estimate unsaturated soil behavior. He has since directed the development of eight finite element software packages covering areas of groundwater flow, contaminant transport, geothermal analysis, air-flow analysis, stress / deformation, and slope stability.More recent work has involved supervising the development of the 2D/3D SVSLOPE slope stability software and the SVDESIGNER conceptual modeling software. This work has continued with the expansion of 3D slope stability analysis into the areas of mining such as the analysis of open pits, tailings dams, power dams and performing landslide risk analysis. If you would like to hear more about soilvision, you can do so by reaching out to Bentley in the following link: https://tinyurl.com/soilvision


Time: 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM (AEST), 29th August 2020

Panel Discussion 1: Career Prospects in Geotechnical Engineering: Academia and Industry

20:00-21:30, 11th September 2020 (AEST)

Ms. Lydia GentleEngineering Manager, BHP Australia
Lydia is a high skilled and experienced Chartered Professional Engineer. Her career spans the engineering consultancy, construction and mining industries across multiple continents. Lydia is currently the Engineering Manager at BHP where she utilises her significant experience in project leadership to adopt innovative and collaborative approaches to engineering design and project delivery. Lydia enjoys promoting and advancing programs and policies that build and support the creation of stable and innovative engineering practices.Lydia was recently awarded the Order of Australia Medal for her contribution to Engineering. Lydia also holds a Master of Engineering Science, a Bachelor of Civil Engineering and is an Engineering Executive and Fellow of Engineers Australia. Lydia is Co-chair of the National Civil College Board and also sits on the UQ Engineering Civil College Board and the Advisory Board for Top 100 Women. Lydia is also a member of the Infrastructure Advisory Committee and Professional Standards Committee for Engineers Australia, illustrating her passion to the engineering community and increasing the profile of the profession.
Professor G.L.S. BabuProfessor, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Science President, Indian Geotechnical SocietyIndia
G L Sivakumar Babu completed Ph.D.(Geotechnical Engineering) in 1991 from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, after Masters Degree (Soil Mechanics Foundation Engg.) in 1987 from Anna University, Madras and B.Tech. (Civil Engineering) in 1983 from Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati.He worked as Humboldt Fellow in Germany during June 1999- July 2000 and as Visiting Scholar, Purdue University, Lafayette, USA during 2/95 - 2/96. He is presently the Chairman of Indian Geotechnical Society, Chairman of International Technical Committee (TC-302) on Forensic Geotechnical Engineering (FGE) of (ISSMGE). He is a Fellow of ASCE and is also serving a Governor, ASCE, Region 10.He guided 22 research degrees (Ph.Ds-17, M. Sc (Engg.)-5) and wrote a book on soil reinforcement and geosynthetics, edited eight books and proceedings and has several publications (International and national Journals -180, International and national conf. more than 130 Total over 300). He received several awards such as John Booker award from IACMAG, Humboldt fellowship from Germany, DST Boyscast Fellowship, and a few awards for the best papers from Indian Geotechnical Society and American Society of Civil Engineers.
Dr. Anne-Catherine DieudonnéAssistant Professor, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft University of TechnologyNetherlands
Anne-Catherine Dieudonné is Assistant Professor of Engineering Geology at Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands. She obtained a BSc in Civil Engineering (2009), MSc in Geological and Mining Engineering (2011) and PhD in geomechanics (2016) from the University of Liege, Belgium. Between 2015 and 2017, Anne-Catherine was a scientist at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland, where she led the numerical analysis activities of the Laboratory of Soil Mechanics. Since arriving at TU Delft in 2017, Anne-Catherine has continued to develop research that focuses on assessing the impact of environmental loads on the behaviour of geomaterials and on the performance and resilience of geotechnical structures, including geological disposal facilities for radioactive waste, dykes and landfills. In particular, Anne-Catherine favours a combined approach of experimental testing, imaging, constitutive modelling and numerical analysis (FEM, DEM). In 2017, Anne-Catherine received the prestigious Ioannis Vardoulakis Prize from ALERT Geomaterials and, in 2019, she was awarded an NWO-Veni grant to investigate the self-healing capacity of clays. Anne-Catherine serves as the secretary of the Dutch association of engineering geologists and geo-engineers (Ingeokring) and is a member of ISSMGE technical committees TC105 (Geo-Mechanics from micro to macro) and TC308 (Energy geotechnics).

Dr. Luis Alberto Torres-CruzSenior Lecturer, University of the WitwatersrandJohannesburg, South Africa
Luis obtained his first degree in Civil Engineering at the Universidad del Valle, Colombia. In 2009, he began lecturing and studying at the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering of Wits University in South Africa, where he obtained a PhD in Geotechnical Engineering. His thesis looked into the use of the CPT to assess the liquefaction potential of tailings dams. He has a keen interest in studying soil mechanics and geotechnical engineering from a fundamental, non-dogmatic approach in which absolutely every "truth" can be questioned. He recognises the importance of empiricism in his field, but also recognises the importance of understanding the rationale and limitations behind the correlations on which geotechnical designs/procedures are based. Luis sees collaboration with industry as essential to keeping his research grounded and relevant. He has conducted academic exchanges at universities in Brazil, Canada, and Saudi Arabia. Currently, he is a Senior Lecurer on Geotechnical Engineering at Wits University

Dr. Robert C. BachusSenior Principal Engineer, Geosyntec ConsultantsKennesaw, Georgia, USA
Dr. Bachus is a civil engineer with more than 40 years of experience, with an expertise in geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering. He started his professional career as a member of the faculty at the Georgia Institute of Technology where he taught for 11 years before joining Geosyntec Consultants in 1990, where he is a Senior Principal. The firm specializes in geotechnical, environmental, and water resource engineering, with >1,200 employees in its 75 offices in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. His research and project activities cover a wide range of topics, including dams and levees, landslide assessment, landfill design and performance, soil/rock properties, geosynthetics, and forensic engineering. He has worked extensively on the properties and beneficial use of coal combustion residuals (CCRs) and geotechnical data management and visualization. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at Georgia Tech and Chairman of the Transportation Research Board’s Standing Committee on Soil and Rock Properties.

Lecture 7: Biogeotechnics

Professor Jason T. DeJongProfessor,Civil and Environmental Engineering,University of California, Davis, USA

Emerging opportunities in biogeotechnics


Bio of the lecturer:Jason T. DeJong is a Professor at the University of California, Davis. He received a B.S.C.E. from UC Davis and an M.S.C.E. and Ph.D. at the Georgia Institute of Technology. After working at the Centre for Offshore Foundation Systems at the University of Western Australia and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Jason moved back to his hometown of Davis, CA in 2005. Jason directs and coordinates research on biogeotechnics, soil and site characterization, earthquake engineering, and sustainability through the NSF ERC Center for Bio-mediated and Bio-inspired Geotechnics (w/ ASU, GT, NMSU), UC Davis Soil Interactions Laboratory, and UC Davis Center for Geotechnical Modeling. Results from his research program have been disseminated through more than 200 publications. Jason is also actively engaged with industry in implementing research advancements into practice. His contributions have been recognized through the ASTM International Hogentogler Award (2x), ICE TK Hsieh Prize, ASCE Huber Research Prize, ASCE Casagrande Professional Development Award, Prakash Research Award, ICE Telford Premium Prize, and as an ASCE Fellow.

Time: 10 AM – 11 AM (AEST), 3rd October 2020
Dr. Dimitrios TerzisManaging Director,MeduSoilScientist and Lecturer,Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland

The essentials for successful biogeotechnical practice


Bio of the lecturer:Dimitrios is a Scientist and Lecturer at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne (EPFL) and Managing Director of MeduSoil SA of Switzerland. He holds a PhD from EPFL and a Civil Engineering diploma from the Aristotle University (Greece). Since co-founding MeduSoil, two years ago, Dimitrios has led the design, development and application of bio-cementation systems and their integration into mainstream geo-technical and geo-environmental applications. In 2020 Dimitrios was included in the prestigious Forbes 30Under30 list in "Manufacturing & Industry" for Europe. He is the recipient of grants and awards which sum up to over USD 1 Million for supporting his research and technology transfer activities. Since 2019, he is in charge of the semester course "Innovation for construction and the environment" at EPFL which seeks to instill in its graduates the necessary skills to innovate.


Time: 11:30 AM – 12:30 AM (AEST), 3rd October 2020

Lecture 8: Sensors and NDT Techniques in Geotechnical Engineering

Professor Kenichi SogaThe Donald H. McLaughlin Chair of Mineral Engineering, Chancellor’s ProfessorUniversity of California, Berkeley;Faculty Scientist,Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA

Geotechnical infrastructure sensing


Bio of the lecturer:Kenichi Soga is the Donald H. McLaughlin Chair and a Chancellor’s Professor at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also a faculty scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He obtained his BEng and MEng from Kyoto University in Japan and PhD from the University of California at Berkeley. He was Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Cambridge before joining UC Berkeley in 2016. He has published more than 400 journal and conference papers and is the co-author of "Fundamentals of Soil Behavior, 3rd edition" with Professor James K Mitchell. His current research activities are Infrastructure sensing, Performance based design and maintenance of underground structures, Energy geotechnics, and Geomechanics. He is a Fellow of the UK Royal Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers. He is the recipient of several awards including George Stephenson Medal and Telford Gold Medal from the Institution of Civil Engineers and Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize from the American Society of Civil Engineers. He is the chair of Technical Committee TC105 "Getechnics from Micro to Macro" of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering and the chair of the emerging technologies committee of ASCE Infrastructure Resilience Division . He is a Bakar Fellow of UC Berkeley, promoting commercialization of smart infrastructure technologies. More details can be found at: http://geomechanics.berkeley.edu/

Time: 4 PM – 5 PM (AEST), 16th October 2020
Dr. Wayne MullerProduct Development Manager,CodedRADAR, Queensland, Australia

Rapid non-destructive assessment of transport infrastructure

Bio of the lecturer:Dr. Wayne Muller is a civil engineer and researcher with more than 20 years’ experience, having worked in various roles within government, research agencies, academia, and the private sector within Australia, the USA and UK. His areas of research interest primarily focus on real-world use of non-destructive evaluation (NDE) methods to assess the condition of roads and bridges. In particular, he has focused on the development and use of 3D and multi-offset ground penetrating radar (GPR) techniques; advanced surface imaging methods; and traffic-speed techniques of measuring pavement deflection. Dr Muller has received a PhD from the University of Queensland in the area of civil engineering, a BEng (Civil) degree from the University of Southern Queensland and is currently a Chartered Professional Engineer with Engineers Australia and a Registered Professional Engineer within Queensland.

Time: 5:30 PM – 6:30 PM (AEST), 16th October 2020

Lecture 9: Energy Geotechnics

Professor Marcelo SanchezProfessor,Zachry Department of Civil Engineering,Texas A&M University, USA

Coupled multiphysics analysis of geo-energy problems


Bio of the lecturer:Dr. Marcelo Sanchez is a Professor in the Zachry Department of Civil Engineering TAMU. He obtained his first degree in Civil Engineering from the Universidad Nacional de San Juan (Argentina). His Master and Ph.D. (2004) degrees are from the Universidad Politecnica de Catalunya (UPC, Barcelona, Spain). His expertise lies in the area of advanced geomechanics, considering problems involving thermal, hydraulic, mechanical and geo-chemical (THMG) couplings. His research interests also cover the study of the behavior of unsaturated soils and expansive clays. The main areas of applications are: ‘Energy Geotechnics’; ‘Geo-environmental Engineering’, and ‘Transportation Geotechnics’. He is acting as an Associated Editor for six international journals. Among other awards, in 2012 he received, along with his co-authors, the “George Stephenson Medal” from the Institution of Civil Engineers in the United Kingdom. He is the founder and current Chairman of the ISSMGE (Int. Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Eng.) Technical Committee TC308 on “Energy Geotechnics”. More information about Dr. Sanchez’s activities can be found at: https://ceprofs.civil.tamu.edu/msanchez/index.html

Time: 4 PM – 5 PM (AEST), 30th October 2020
Dr. Fleur LoveridgeAssociate Professor in Geostructures,University of Leeds, England

The thermal behaviour of foundation piles used for heat exchange and storage

Bio of the lecturer:Fleur has over twenty years of experience in civil engineering covering both industry and academia. Fleur graduated from the University of Oxford in Earth Sciences and the University of Leeds in Engineering Geology before spending the best part of a decade as a consulting engineer for Babtie Group and Mott MacDonald. During this period Fleur's work included investigation, design and construction supervision for a variety of infrastructure projects and applied research and development in engineering geology and geotechnical engineering. In 2009 Fleur returned to academia and completed a PhD in the "Thermal performance of foundation piles used as heat exchangers in ground energy systems" at the University of Southampton. In 2013 she became a Lecturer in Geomechanics in Southampton before being awarded a five year Research Fellowship from the Royal Academy of Engineering. She is currently an associate professor in geostructues at University of Leeds.Fleur is a Chartered Engineer and a Chartered Geologist. She was a contributing author to the Ground Source Heat Pump Association Thermal Pile Standard and is a member of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering Technical Committee on Energy Geotechnics (TC308), where she leads to Task Force on Energy Geostructures.

Time: 5:30 PM – 6:30 PM (AEST), 30th October 2020

Lecture 10: Improvement of Soft Soils with special reference to Transport Infrastructure

Professor Buddhima IndraratnaDistinguished Professor of Civil Engineering and Director,Transport Research Centre,University of Technology Sydney, Australia;Founding Director,Australian Government’s Industrial Transformation Training Centre for Advancing Rail Infrastructure (ITTC-Rail);Distinguished Honorary Professor,Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Thailand; Shanghai University of Science and Technology, China; Harbin Institute of Technology, China

Soft soils stabilisation through improved drainage and consolidation


Bio of the lecturer:Prof Buddhima Indraratna is a Civil Engineering graduate from Imperial College, London. Since his PhD (University of Alberta) in 1987, his contributions to geotechnical and railway engineering have been acknowledged through numerous national and international awards, including 1st Ralph Proctor Lecture and 4th Louis Menard Lecture of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE). In 2009, he delivered the prestigious EH Davis Memorial Lecture of Australian Geomechanics Society for distinguished contributions to theory and practice of geomechanics.For his pioneering contributions, he was honoured with the 2009 Business and Higher Education award by the Australian Government, 2011 Engineers Australia Transport Medal and 2015 Australasian Railway Technical Society’s Outstanding Individual Award. His numerous international awards include Thomas Telford Premium by the Institution of Civil Engineers (UK), Robert Quigley Award by the Canadian Geotechnical Society, and 2017 Medal of Excellence for life-time contributions by the International Association of Computer Methods and Advances in Geomechanics (IACMAG). Prof Indraratna currently leads numerous research projects at a research income of $2 million per year. He has been a consultant to various geotechnical and rail organisations worldwide. He has published over 800 papers including 11 books, over 400 journal papers, and more than70 invited keynote papers in all continents. So far, he has supervised 65 PhD graduates and 35 Postdoctoral Fellows.Professor Indraratna is a Fellow of the prestigious Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (FTSE), as well as a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Australia (FIEAust), American Society of Civil Engineers (FASCE), and Geological Society of UK (FGS).

Time: 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM (AEST), 13th November 2020
Dr. AHM Kamruzzaman (Zaman)Specialist Geotechnical Engineer,Geotechnical Engineering Unit,Pavements & Geotechnical Section,Transport for NSW, Australia;Adjunct faculty,University of Technology Sydney, Australia

Semi-rigid and consolidation ground improvement techniques for embankment on soft clay-Lessons learnt from projects

Bio of the lecturer:Dr. AHM Kamruzzaman (Zaman) is a Fellow and Chartered Professional Geotechnical Engineer of Australia (FIEAust, CPEng). He holds a PhD degree from National University of Singapore (NUS), MEng from Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) and BScEng from Khulna University of Engineering & Technology, Bangladesh (KUET). He has over 27 years of working experience in consulting, construction, public and research industries in the provision of providing expert geotechnical advice and the management of technical risk in major infrastructure, tunnelling and building projects in Australia and Southeast Asia.Currently, Zaman is working with Transport for NSW (formerly Roads and Maritime Services) as a specialist geotechnical engineer. He is a subject matter expert in the field of soft soil and ground improvement techniques. His other field of specializations include: geotechnical design of civil structures (e.g. embankment, slopes, pile foundation, earth retaining walls), geotechnical investigations and geotechnical model parameters on a wide range of geological condition. He is highly regarded in the industry for his ability to solve challenging geotechnical problems using practical and theoretically sound solutions.He is also an adjunct faculty of the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), and a principal fellow of the University of Wollongong, Australia. He has written over 100 technical papers in reputed journals and conferences, several specifications/technical directions/ technical notes for practicing engineers, and was an invited speaker at a number of national and international conferences in Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and Bangladesh. He is an editorial board member of the ICE Journal of Ground Improvement, and committee member of the Australian Geomechanics Society (AGS), Sydney.

Time: 16:15-17-15 (AEST), 13th December 2020