Topic of Presentation:

30th Buchanan Lecture “Geotechnical Engineering Marriage between Theory and Practice”

About Speaker:

Marc Ballouz is a PRESIDENT, ISSMGE, 2022 – 2026 Int’l Soc. for Soil Mech. & Geotech. Eng’g Board Member Governor Geo-Institute of ASCE, 2021-2022 Board Member, ISSMGE, 2013-2017 Chair, Board Level Committee Public Relations, ISSMGE, 2011-2013 Vice-Chair, Board Level Committee Innovation, ISSMGE, 2009-2011 Member, American Soc. of Civ. Eng’rs ASCE & Geo-Institute, since 2010 Member, Lebanese Order of Engineers & Architects, since 1987

EDUCATION:

• Ph.D. Geotechnical Engineering, Texas A&M University, 1994 M.Sc.
• Geotechnical Engineering, Texas A&M University, 1991
• B.Sc. Civil Engineering, American University of Beirut, 1987
• Lebanese Baccalureate Part I & II, Jesuit N.D. Jamhour College, 1983

President, Int’l IGM, a company with 5 divisions (Investigation, Design, Contracting, Software, & Research) specialized in Geotechnical & Forensic engineering. More than 150 projects accomplished with Design & Build & Supervision in 3 main countries where IGM has presence, and Consultancy missions around the Globe. Expertise mainly in: Shoring Deep Excavations, Deep Foundations (Vert. & Lateral Loading), Underpinning & Micropiling, Landslide & Ground Stabilization, and Forensic Geotechnics.1994-1996, Project engineer ATSER Eng’g, Houston Texas.1987 & 1997, Project Engineer, E.Acar Entreprise for Civil Works, Lebanon ACADEMIA: Senior Lecturer, Texas State University, San Marcos, USA – Spring 2022 Ass. Professor, at LAU & NDU & LU, Lebanon- 1996 to 2006 Invited Lecturer at UT, TAMU, UMich in USA. Keynote Lecturer at major conferences worldwide (USA, France, Japan,..)

AWARDS:

• PRC Award ISSMGE Paris (2013)
• Medals (2) from Sheriff & Fire Dept, Harris County, 2017
• Trophy for Achievements from Lebanese Forces Engineers, 2018

PUBLICATIONS: > 100 Professional Design Reports and Forensic Remediation Reports 6 ASCE Papers, 6 Research Reports, 2 Magazine Articles, ISSMGE Video

Topic of the presentation:

Impact mechanisms and rational design of debris flow resisiting multiple barriers

About Speaker:

Professor Charles W. W. Ng is a Vice-President of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) in Guangzhou campus. He is also the Dean of HKUST Fok Ying Tung Graduate School.  Professor Ng is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and the immediate Past President of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (2017–2022).

He has delivered more than 90 keynotes and state-of-the-art reports across the six continents. He is the main author of three reference books: “A Short Course in Soil-structure Engineering of Deep Foundations, Excavations and Tunnels” published by Thomas Telford in 2004, and “Advanced Unsaturated Soil Mechanics and Engineering” and “Plant-Soil Slope Interaction” by CRC: Taylor & Francis in 2007 and 2019, respectively.

He has received many awards such as the 2020 National Natural Science Award by the State Council of China (國家2020年度自然科學二等奖), 2022 Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation Prize for Scientific and Technological Progress (何梁何利基金科學與技術進步獎), the 2022 Varnes Medal by the UNESCO-International Consortium on Landslides (联合国教科文组织下属国际滑坡学会), 2015 Scientific Technological Advancement Award by the State Council of China (國家2015年度科技進步獎二等獎), the 2017 Telford Premium Prize from the Institution of Civil Engineers, and the R. M. Quigley Award from the Canadian Geotechnical Society three times in 2007, 2012 & 2016.

Topic of the presentation:

Thoughts on Faults and Slope Instability

About Speaker:

Born on November 13, 1954

Bachelor, Master, and Ph. D. of civil engineering at University of Tokyo. Working at Univ.British Columbia CANADA, Asian Institute of Technology THAILAND, University of Tokyo JAPAN and now a visiting professor at Kanto Gakuin University in Yokohama JAPAN Formerly, President of the Japanese Geotechnical Society and Vice President for Asia of ISSMGE Distinguished visiting professor at IIT Bombay: July – December 2016 Life Fellow of the Indian Geotechnical Society Major fields of study Geotechnical earthquake engineering concerning intensity of ground motion, liquefaction problems, coseismic landslides, and tectonic subsidence/uplift, Slope monitoring for early warning of rainfall-induced landslides, Social aspects of geotechnical engineering such as importance of subsoil investigation in georisk management, adaptation to what is called climate change, etc.

Among many awards,

• 1998-1999 Shamsher Prakash Research Award, USA, of Soil Dynamics,
• 2005 Heritage Lecturer for ICSMGE in Osaka,
• 2019 Ishihara Lecturer, TC203 on earthquake, International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, 7th Int. Conf. Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering, Rome are important.

More than 500 publications in international journals and conference proceedings Authored books: Ikuo Towhata (2008) Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering, publ. Springer. Chief editor for Coseismic landslides: phenomena, long-term effect and mitigation (2022) Ed. Ikuo Towhata, Gonghui Wang, Qiang Xu, Chris Massey, publ. Springer Nature..

Topic of the Presentation:

Spatial Assessment and Mitigation of Landslide Hazards in Mountain Area

About Speaker:

Keh-Jian (Albert) Shou is the VP Asia of ISSMGE (2022~2026), the Chairman of International Society for Trenchless Technology (ISTT), Honorary Chairman of CTSTT, and Distinguished Professor of Department of Civil Engineering, National Chung-Hsing University, Taiwan. His research interests include rock mechanics/engineering, engineering geology, and trenchless technologies. He has published more than 200 papers on these topics and is now the editor of Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology, and the associate editor of the ASCE Journal of Pipeline Systems Engineering and Practice. He obtained his Ph.D. degree (Civil Engineering) from University of Minnesota, U.S.A. in 1993. His major experience includes: 1. Visiting Professor, CNR-IRPI, Perugia, Italy (2013/8~2014/1). 2. Senior Principal Engineer, Shannon & Wilson, Seatlle, USA (2008/2~2008/9), 3. Visiting Professor, TTC, Louisiana Technical University, USA (2006/1~2006/2), 4. Visiting Professor, RCUSS, Kobe University, Japan (2003/10~2004/3), 5. Research Engineer, CSIR/Miningtek, South Africa (1998/2~1999/1), 6. Geotechnical Engineer, National Expressway Engineering Bureau, Taiwan (1993-1994).

Professor, L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University. Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering (SPBGASU), Moscow State University of Civil Engineering (MGSU)

 Topic: The Experience of Geotechnical Construction and Testing of Piles of Megastructures on Problematical Soil Ground of Kazakhstan

 Short CV:

 Askar Zhussupbekov is a Professor of Department of Civil Engineering of Eurasian National University (ENU, Kazakhstan) and also adjunct professors of Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering (SPBGASU), and Moscow State University of Civil Engineering (MGSU), Russia, and Director of Geotechnical Institute of ENU (2012-2023), Kazakhstan. Askar Zhussupbekov received his bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in civil engineering from Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering (SPBGASU), Russia, in 1977. After working for the Karaganda State Industrial University (1977-1982), Kazakhstan, as an assistant professor, he entered the geotechnical engineering graduate program at the Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering (SPBGASU), Russia in 1982. In 1985, he received his Ph.D. from SPBGASU. In 1986, he was hired as an Associate Professor in Karaganda State Industrial University (Kazakhstan), where he became to Professor and First Vice-Rector of Karaganda State Industrial University. He is now President of Kazakhstan Geotechnical Society and as well as consulting work for civil and geotechnical projects at new capital Nur-Sultan (Kazakhstan), West Kazakhstan (Caspian Sea area), Almaty (old capital of Kazakhstan), Saint-Petersburg, Moscow, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (Russia). He delivered many keynote lectures in international conferences including the 16th Asian Regional Conference of Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE). He is a chair of TC 305 «Geotechnical Infrastructure for Megacities and New Capitals» of ISSMGE. His research interests are geotechnical engineering (piling and deep foundations), Geo monitoring, undermining soil ground, disaster prevention and reduction, in situ testing, preservation of historical sites. He has published more than 380 scientific papers, including 6 books on Geotechnical Engineering. He has been supervised more than 45 Dr. Ph. dissertations and 10 Dr. Engineering dissertations (included foreign students from Japan, Turkey, South Korea, Cambodia, Tanzania, Tajikistan, China, Mongolia, Russia). He was Chair of 17ARC (14-18 August 2023) on Geotechnical Engineering, Astana, Kazakhstan.  He is member of ASCE, GGS, SEAGS, RSSMGE, IALT, IACR, KGS.

Topic of the Presentation:

Rapid and long runout landslides triggered by different liquefaction mechanisms

About Speaker:

Fawu Wang is a Professor at the college of Civil Engineering at Tongji University. He is chairholder of UNESCO Chair on Geoenvironmental Disaster Reduction, professor on geo-disaster reduction in School of Civil Engineering, Tongji University, China and Emeritus Professor of Shimane University, Japan. Prior to joining Tongji University in 2020, he has studied and worked in Disaster Prevention Research Institute of Kyoto University in Japan for more than 10 years, in Kanazawa University for 4 years, and in Shimane University for 10 years. He has been working on challenging problems in landslides, such as the mechanism of rapid and long runout landslides, the transformation mechanism from landsliding to flow-sliding, motion prediction of landslides, motion behavior of submarine landslides, and landslides triggered by earthquakes, heavy rainfall, and water impoundment. His primary research interests are to clarify the common mechanisms of landslides initiated by different triggers, and to find a way to predict the occurrence and motion of landslides, for the purpose of landslide disaster mitigation. Besides the teaching and research activities, he is also working as the President of the International Consortium on Geo-disaster Reduction (ICGDR) Life Membership Since 2013 Prof. Fawu Wang Tongji University, China.

Roles related to the Geo-disaster Reduction:

• President, International Consortium on Geo-disaster Reduction
• Chairholder, UNESCO Chair on Geoenvironmental Disaster Reduction
• Professor Emeritus, Shimane University, Japan
• Foreign Fellow, THE ENGIEERNIG ACADEMY OF JAPAN
• Editor-in-Chief, Geoenvironmental Disasters

Keywords of his research: Mechanism of rapid and long runout landslides; • Landslides triggered by earthquakes, heavy rainfall, and water impoundment

Topic of the Presentation:

Lightweight Cellular Concrete (LCC) – Sustainable Solution to Geotechnical Applications

About Speaker:

Dr. Binod Tiwari is the Associate Vice President for Research and Sponsored Projects/Chief Research Officer at California State University, Fullerton (CSUF), the largest campus within the California State University System. He also holds the position of Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at CSUF. He has served at CSUF in different capacities including department chair, program coordinator, graduate advisor, and an academic senate member. He has published over 250 articles in various areas of his research interest, delivered nearly 100 keynote or invited lectures, and has supervised over 250 students on their graduate or undergraduate research theses/projects. He, as an external panel of
expert, has reviewed design reports of dozens of large geotechnical engineering and dam projects in USA and world-wide. He has received over two dozen awards for his research publications as well as service to higher education and profession including the ASCE 2022 Edmund Friedman Professional Recognition Award, ASCE 2019 Thomas Middlebrooks Awards, and CSU Fullerton 2017 Outstanding professor Award. Dr. Tiwari served as a Vice President of the International Consortium on Landslides, Executive Board Member for the Council on Undergraduate Research, and Chair of American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Geo-Institute Los Angeles Chapter. He is the current president of Southern California Conference for Undergraduate Research (SCCUR). Dr. Tiwari serves as an executive editor, associate editor, or editorial board member of various flagship international journals on geotechnical engineering including ASCE Journal of Geotechnical and Geo-environmental Engineering, Landslides, and
Geo-environmental Disasters; and is an assistant editor-in-chief of ICL Book Series – Progress in Landslide Research and Technology. He is a licensed professional civil engineer in California and is a fellow of ASCE. Dr. Tiwari received his B.Eng. in civil engineering from Tribhuvan University Nepal, M.Sc. in geo and biosphere science from Niigata University Japan, Ph.D. in environmental management science from Niigata University Japan, and post-doctoral fellowship from Virginia Tech USA.

Topic of the Presentation:

Net Zero Initiatives: A Geomechanical Perspective

About Speaker:

Dr. D. N. Singh was born in 1965 at Shahjahanpur, UP, India. He has been a faculty member of Civil Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay since 1994. Before joining IIT Bombay, he served Central Road Research Institute, New Delhi, and Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur for short durations. His early education was completed at Lucknow, UP, India. He obtained his bachelor’s, master’s and Doctoral degrees from IIT Kanpur in 1986, 1989 and 1993, respectively.

His teaching and research & developmental activities are in quite diversified areas of geotechnical engineering (viz., environmental geotechnology, mechanics of unsaturated soils, soil characterization based on thermal and electrical properties, contaminant transport in porous media, mineralogical characterization, utilization and recycling of industrial waste, geotechnical centrifuge modeling, CCUS & CCU, etc.). He has published 359 technical articles, of which 269 are in refereed journals. He has supervised 42 Doctoral (and 5 ongoing) dissertations and 35 Masters theses. He has successfully filed 37 patents, out of which 29 (including 1 US) patents have been granted. He has also successfully filed 4 Copyright applications.

Apart from teaching and research, Dr. Singh has been very actively associated with some of the most prestigious business houses as an in-house instructor and retainer consultant. He has taken up sponsored projects from Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), the Department of Science and Technology (DST-TIFAC), All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE), and the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB). With financial aid from these and several other organizations, he has established a state-of-the-art Environmental Geotechnology Laboratory in the department.

Dr. Singh has founded Environmental Geotechnics, ICE Publishing, London, UK, and has been its Editor-in-chief. He has been an Editorial Board Member of several journals of repute. He is the recipient of Young teachers’ award instituted by the AICTE, New Delhi and JUNIOR/SENIOR Paper Award from the International Association for Computer Methods and Advances in Geomechanics (IACMAG) for the year 2005. He was Chairman, 12^th IACMAG, GOA, India, 1-6 October 2008.

He is the recipient of (i) Outstanding Contributions Medal, 2022, IACMAG, for individuals who have made outstanding and seminal research contributions in geomechanics for a longer time, which have been adopted for basic research and practical applications, (ii) Richard Feynman Prize 2014, for the best paper published by the ICE journal, (iii) John R. Booker Excellence Award-2011, which is given by the IACMAG for the advancement of research, education and practice of Environmental Geotechnology and development of novel techniques to simulate contaminant transport in geomaterials, under laboratory and in-situ conditions, (iv) Excellent Contributions Award 2008, IACMAG, to individuals who have a record of significant contributions in research, academic activities, and professional service in different regions of the globe, and (v) Canadian Geotechnical Journal Fredlund Award 2019, for the paper with the highest number of citations among all those published by the journal in previous five years.

Dr. Singh is Fellow of:

1. Indian National Academy of Engineering, New Delhi
2. American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
3. Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), London, UK

Topic of the Presentation:

Comprehensive Subsurface Characterization in Extreme Regions

About Speaker:

Jong-Sub Lee is a Professor at the School of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering at Korea University, and had served as a Vice-Dean at the Graduate School, KU (2017-2019). Jong-Sub Lee received his bachelor’s degree in in civil and environmental engineering from Korea University in 1991 and his master’s degree in civil and environmental engineering from KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology), Korea in 1993. After working for the Hyundai Engineering and Construction Company for seven years (1993~1999) as a research engineer, he entered the civil and environmental engineering graduate program at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) in 2000. In 2003, he received his Ph.D. from Georgia Tech. In 2005, he was hired as an Assistant Professor in Korea University, where he is currently a professor. He is a Principal Investigator (PI) of Hyper-converged Forensic Research Center for Infrastructure (ERC sponsored by National Research Foundation of Korea). He delivered many keynote lectures in international conferences including the 19th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ICSMGE) and the 17th Asian Regional Conference (ARC) on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering. He is fellow of the National Academy of Engineering of Korea. He published more than 276 journal papers (163 international and 113 national) and 320 conference papers. His research interests are non-destructive testing and evaluation with advanced sensing, in-situ subsurface characterization, and foundations

Topic of the Presentation:

Forensic Analysis in Infrastructure Projects and Vibration Measurement in the Construction Industry: Case Studies

About Speaker:

Dr. Anil Joseph is the Managing Director of Geostructurals (P) Ltd. a leading
foundation & structural consultancy firm based at Cochin. He has provided foundation and
structural consultancy for more than 3000 High rise structures including many land mark
multistoried and Infrastructure projects in India and abroad in the last 30 years. His design
of Nippon Toyota showroom at Kalamassery, Platynum Mall at Maradu, Lulu Grand Hyatt
Hotel & Convention Centre, Bolgatty Island, Kochi, and Hyatt Regency, Trichur has won
the ICI- UltraTech Award for Outstanding Concrete structures of Kerala in the building
category in the year 2012, 2017, 2018 and 2020 respectively. He is the Managing Director of
CECONS (P) Ltd. a construction firm specialized in the execution of pile foundations and
also the Director of Engineers Diagnostic Centre (P) Ltd a firm specialized in Geotechnical
investigation and Retrofitting works.

He is the President of Indian Geotechnical Society for the year 2023 and 2024,
National Council Member of Institution of Engineers India in Civil Division for the term
2021 to 2025, Chairman of IEI Civil Division Board for 2024. He is a Governing Council
member of Indian Association of Structural Engineers, the Chairman of Indian Concrete
Institute, Kochi Centre, the Vice Chairman of Builders Association of India, Cochin
Chapter and the Hon. Secretary of Kerala Management Association. He is representing
India in International Technical Committee TC – 220 on “Field Monitoring in Geo
Mechanics” and in Asian Technical Committee AsRTC-14 on Smart Observation Methods.
He is the Immediate past President of Association of Structural and Geotechnical
Consultants, Kerala, Immediate Past State President of Graduate Association of Civil
Engineers, the Past President of Association of Piling Specialists, Kerala, Member of
Association of Contracting Engineers, Executive Committee Member of Deep Foundation
Institute India, and an adjunct faculty of Albertian Institute of Science & Technology,
Cochin, TocH institute of Science and Technology, Cochin, Federal Institute of Science
and Technology, Angamaly. As per the direction of Supreme Court, it was decided to raze
5 high rises at Maradu, Cochin and Dr. Anil Joseph was appointed as the Geotechnical and
Structural expert in the technical committee by the Govt of Kerala in the year 2019. He also
played vital role in demolition of Supertech Twin tower Noida in August 2022.

Dr. Anil Joseph is also involved in various social activities such as Vice President
of the Regional Sports Centre, Kadavanthara, Cochin, He is an active Rotarian and was
the Former Assistant Governor of Rotary District 3201 and past president of Rotary Club
of Cochin Downtown. He was one among the top 10, Diamond Hall of Fame, New Age
Icon Change Makers 2020.

Topic of the Presentation:

Physical and numerical modeling of Debris Flow Behavior, Runout, and Deposition: Insights from Indian Case Studies

About Speaker:

Dr. Neelima Satyam, is currently Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at IIT Indore, and she holds a Ph.D. and M.Tech from IIT Delhi and a B.Tech from SV University, Tirupati. Before joining IIT Indore, she served as an Assistant Professor at the Earthquake Engineering Research Centre, IIIT Hyderabad. Dr. Satyam was also a visiting researcher at Kyushu University (2023), the University of Stuttgart (2018), and the University of Tokyo (2013), and she is actively involved in teaching, research, and consultancy in Geotechnical Engineering. Her expertise lies in Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering, Microzonation, Site Response studies, Landslide hazard, monitoring, Microseismic data processing, and Rock engineering. Dr. Satyam received research grants from DST, MHRD, AICTE, ITRA, DAE, NIOT, NRDMS, ISRO, and MoES. She published 150+ papers in International/National Journals and Conferences. Her research publications have received best paper awards from IGS, AGU, and IIT Indore. She is the Co-opted member of PAC Civil and Mechanical Engineering SERB, DST (2015-2018). She has been the Chairperson of the selection committee for MEXT Scholarships of Japan since 2015. She is a recipient of IEI Young Engineers Award 2011; BRNS Young Scientist Research Award 2011; AICTE Career award 2012 and JSPS fellowship in 2013, Young Woman Engineer award from INWES in 2012, CIDC Vishwakarma award in 2021, ISET Shamsher Prakash Mid Career Research award 2022, SERB – POWER Fellowship 2022, IGS-Sardar Resham Singh Memorial Award 2022, Best Woman Researcher in Geotechnical Engineering Award 2022 and JSPS – Bridge Fellowship 2023. She is a fellow of JSPS, IGS, ISET and IEI, and she is presently the editorial board member of several reputed journals including Nature Scientific Reports (I.F. 4.6), Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (I.F. 7.3) etc

Topic of the Presentation:

Bio-stabilisation of Soil for Ground Improvement

About Speaker:

Graduate Certificate in Education:

Academic practice (2011-2012)

Completed the following courses.

o EDUC 5120: Introduction to University Teaching (SP2/2011)

o EDUC 5122: Supervising Research Students (SP2/2012)

PhD in Civil Engineering (2009) University of New South Wales (UNSW), Canberra

Thesis title: “Modelling the effect of fines on liquefaction behaviors of sandy soil.”

BSc in Civil Engineering (2002) Rajshahi Uni. of Engg. & Technology, Bangladesh

1st class 1st (honors), 3.88 out of 4.00

(University Gold Medal)

Thesis title: “Lateral load resistance of laterally loaded pile on sandy soil.”

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

Date Position Institution

Jan 2022-to date Professor in Geotch. Engg.University of South Australia Adelaide, Australia

Jan,2018-Dec 2021 Associate Professor in Geotch.Engg.University of South Australia Adelaide, Australia

Jan 2014-Dec 2018 Senior Lecturer University of South Australia Adelaide, Australia

Dec, 2010-Dec, 2013 Lecturer University of South Australia Adelaide, Australia

April, 2009-Nov, 2010 Post-Doctoral Fellow University of Canterbury Christchurch, New Zealand

Feb, 2009-April, 2009 Visiting Research Associate University of New South Wales at ADFA

Canberra, Australia

Feb 2005- Feb 2009 PhD candidate University of New South Wales at ADFA

Canberra, Australia

Feb 2003-Feb 2005 Lecturer Rajshahi University of Engg. & Tech. (RUET) Rajshahi, Bangladesh

Jan 2003-Feb 2003 Part Time Teacher Rajshahi University of Engg. & Tech. (RUET) Rajshahi, Bangladesh

Topic of the Presentation:

Sustainable gabion technology adapted to developing countries

About Speaker:

1999-: M.A. from Chuo University

2005: Ph. D (Engineering) from Chuo University Work Experiences:

1999-2003: NEWJEC Co., Ltd., Osaka Head Office, Technology Development Department, Civil engineer

2003-2005: Chuo University, Faculty of Science and Technology, Department of Civil Engineering, Research Assistant

2005-2007: Fixed-term Research Associate, Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, Chuo University

2007-2009: Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental and Urban Engineering, Wakayama National College of Technology

2009-2010: Associate Professor, Department of Environmental and Urban Engineering, Wakayama National College of Technology

2010-2014: Associate Professor, Department of Natural Sciences, Faculty of Education and Research, Kochi University

2012-: United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Doctoral Course, Ehime University, Visiting Faculty

2014-t: Professor, Department of Natural Sciences, Faculty of Education and Research, Kochi University

2014-: Vice director of Disaster Prevention Division, Kochi University Research Center

2019-: Visiting researcher of National Research Institute of Earth Science and Disaster Resilience

2022-: Lecture of The Open University of Japan (in charge of interview classes)

2022-: Director of Japanese Geotechnical Society

2023-: Director (Head of Survey and Research Dept.) of Japanese Geotechnical Society

2024-: Part-time lecturer, University of Kochi Health Sciences

Topic of the Presentation:

The Importance of Multi-Sectoral Collaboration

About Speaker:

Alex Baumgard, Ph.D., P.Eng. (BC, AB, ON), P.Geo. (BC, AB), has provided consulting to both private industry as well as government organisations throughout North and South America, Europe, and Africa. His experience includes assessing geohazards for both onshore and offshore pipelines and other linear infrastructure, seismic soil analysis, as well as traditional geotechnical and geo-environmental areas. Dr. Baumgard has participated in the hazard assessment of more than a dozen major pipelines, in such environments as steep mountains and regions subject to earthquakes; and evaluated and mitigated sites subject to landslides in North and South America and Europe. Since 2001, Dr. Baumgard has participated in the assessment and management of more than 10,000 km of pipeline in North and South America, and in 2017, Dr. Baumgard was awarded the Canadian Geotechnical Society’s A.G. Stermac Award. Since 2006, Dr. Baumgard has been a member of Public Safety Canada’s Canada Task Force 1 (CAN-TF1) team partnered with the City of Vancouver and the Province of BC as an engineer during rescue and recovery operations in emergencies and disasters.

Topic of the Presentation:

Key aspects of the liquefaction potential of gravelly soils: insights from laboratory investigations

About Speaker:

Gabriele Chiaro is an Associate Professor of Geotechnical Engineering in the Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering, University of Canterbury, New Zealand. His research focuses on “Geotechnical Engineering for Resilience and Sustainability” with special interests on earthquake geotechnical engineering and related problems, geo-disaster risk assessment and mitigation, experimental geotechnics (i.e., soil behaviour from very small to large strain levels); environmental geotechnics; GSI systems for seismic-resilient structures; computational geotechnics (constitutive, DEM and FEM modelling). He holds a BEng and MEng degree in civil engineering (University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, Italy), and a PhD degree in geotechnical earthquake engineering (University of Tokyo, Japan). His research career involves 16 years of work in the academy, including 5 years in Japan, 3 years in Australia and 8 years in New Zealand. His research has been sponsored through competitive grant awards from a diverse range of funding agencies, including EQC, MBIE (Smart Ideas Endeavour Fund), QuakeCoRE, DEVORA, JSPS and JST. To date, he has secured over NZ$ 3 million in external research funds (of which NZ$ 2+ million as a primary investigator). He has authored or co-authored over 150 technical publications. His honours include 2 JGS Best Paper Awards (2022), IABSE Outstanding Scientific Paper Award (2021), NZSEE Otto Glogau Award (2020), and a JSPS Research Fellowship (2014). Gabriele served as the Team Leader of the 2016 NZSEE “Learning from Earthquake” Mission in Kumamoto, Japan, and Team Co-Leader of the 2015 JGS/JSCE “Learning from Earthquake” Mission in Nepal. Currently, he is an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering. He is representing the NZGS as a member of the ISSMGE AsRTC1 “Geotechnical Mitigation and Adaptation to Climate Change-induced Geo-disasters in Asia-Pacific Regions”..

Topic of the Presentation

Landslide Risk Evaluation: Tools and Tips for Risky Decisions

About Speaker:

Alex Strouth studied Geological Engineering at Colorado School of Mines (B.A.Sc.) and the University of British Columbia (M.A.Sc.).  Since 2007 he has worked as a consulting engineer with BGC Engineering Inc. from their offices in Vancouver (Canada), Santiago (Chile), and Colorado (USA).  His experience includes assessment and mitigation designs for debris flows, landslides, rockfall, snow avalanche, and floods, at scales ranging from site-specific to broad regions. He has worked in a wide variety of settings, including arid, temperate, and tropical climates across North and South America for linear infrastructure, municipal, and major industry developments. His research interests are related to management of risks posed by landslides and floods.

Topic of the Presentation:

Application of PSHA in High-Seismicity Areas: A Case Study from the Sichuan-Yunnan Region

Topic of the Presentation:

Data-driven post-earthquake recovery estimation

About Speaker:

Dr. Liu holds a Ph.D. in geotechnical engineering and MSc degrees in computational science & engineering as well as civil engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in the US. His research focuses on analyzing and mitigating geohazards and improving the performance of resilient infrastructures for post-disaster mitigation and community reconstruction. Dr. Liu is an internationally recognized expert in rapid sensing and responses to natural disasters. He has served as the co-chair of the virtual disaster responses program and the reorder for the US NSF- funded Geotechnical Extreme Event Reconnaissance (GEER) Association to investigate the geotechnical impacts of natural disasters worldwide.

Topic of the Presentation:

Roadside Slope Stability in Nepal: Challenges and Way Forwards

Topic of the Presentation:

Safeguarding the Himalayas: leveraging geohazard investigation for sustainable risk mitigation

About Speaker:

Basanta Raj Adhikari holds a Ph.D. degree in Earth Sciences from the University of Vienna, Austria. His main research interest are disaster risk reduction and management, Climate change and hill slope dynamics, tectonic geomorphology, landslide, floods, and Earthquakes in the mountain. He is the author of more than 40 scientific papers and book chapters and received various recognitions for his work in the field of earth science i.e. Young Scientist (Integrated Research on Disaster Risk) and “young affiliates” (The World Academy of Sciences). He has been contributing to the policy documents for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in planning and implementation at both national and international levels.

Topic of the Presentation:

Engineering Geomorphology and Geotechnics in Roads of Nepal

About Speaker:

He is a seasoned Engineering Geologist based in Nepal, with comprehensive expertise in landslides, debris flow, earthquakes, engineering geomorphology, landslide simulation, hazard assessment, disaster management, foundation analysis, and the engineering geology of roads and dams. His academic journey includes a B.Sc and MSc in Geology from Tribhuvan University and a PhD in Engineering from Kagawa University, Japan, complemented by a Post-Doctorate in Geodisaster Management from Ehime University, Japan.

An Associate Professor at Tribhuvan University and a visiting professor at prestigious Japanese universities, he is dedicated to advancing engineering geological research in Nepal, promoting sustainable development, and enhancing environmental standards in the Himalayas. He actively contributes to professional organizations, holding significant positions, and has garnered multiple accolades for his contributions to the field.

Topic of the Presentation:

Hazard, Exposure and Vulnerability – A Framework for Geohazard Risk Management in Challenging Terrain

About Speaker:

Emily Mark is a geological engineer and project manager within proven experience in geohazard assessment and geohazard mitigation design for communities, mining and transportation sector clients. She is focused on finding cost-effective and practical solutions for geohazard management challenges. Emily’s M.Sc. thesis presented an international review of debris-flow and debris-flood mitigation techniques and provided guidance for the design of debris-flow and debris-flood mitigation in Canada. Her analysis and design experience includes geohazard assessment, qualitative and quantitative risk assessment for geohazard and dam projects, numerical landslide runout modelling, and design of geohazard mitigation systems, including functional, hydrotechnical and geotechnical design aspects. With BGC Engineering, Emily has worked on projects in Alberta and British Columbia, Canada, as well as in Chile, Argentina, Nepal and the Dominican Republic; she has also completed field work in Europe, Japan and Hong Kong to develop her understanding of international best practices for steep creek hazard mitigation.

Topic of the Presentation:

Challenges in foundation design of long elevated highway corridor in soft soil

About Speaker:

Topic of the Presentation:

Dam Safety Emergency Management Program for Residual Risk Reduction Global Perspective with Nepalese Context

About Speaker:

Keshab Sharma is a Geotechnical Engineer at BCG Engineering Inc., Canada. He completed BE in Civil Engineering from Pulchowk Campus, Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University, Nepal, and master’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Tokyo, Tokyo Japan as an ADB scholar. He holds a Ph.D. in Geotechnical Engineering from the University of Alberta, Canada.

Dr. Sharma has authored dozens of papers published in national and international journals and presented more than ten papers in international conferences. He is also a well-known columnist in Nepal’s National Daily wherein he writes about socio-technical issues.

Previously, Dr. Sharma was a lecturer at Kathmandu Engineering College (KEC) and Institute of Engineering (part-time). He also worked as a project engineer at Save the Children International where he involved in designing retrofitting of school buildings.

Topic of the Presentation:

Translating multi-hazard risk assessment to compounding and cascading disaster risk management for resilient infrastructure

Topic of the Presentation:

Construction of Pilot Low-Cost High Performance (Base Isolation) School Building in Nepal

About Speaker:

Dr. Marasini, Deputy Executive Director at National Society for Earthquake Technology-Nepal (NSET) has PhD in Disaster Mitigation and Management with specialization on Geodisaster from Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Ehime University, Japan. Dr. Marasini has a long experience in the field of disaster risk management including development of strategy for Disaster resilient communities, coordination with central levels government authorities, community mobilization, coordination with local authorities and develop partnerships with national and internationals partner organizations. Dr. Marasini also have expertise on disaster risk reduction program design and Implementation with sound knowledge in program management and coordination skills with technical knowledge on DRRM, development of guidelines, training materials and conducting trainings. He possesses leadership quality with optimization of human and financial resource mobilization. He has published number of journal paper on theme of liquefaction potential analysis and mitigation measures. He has a rich work experience in Nepal, Iran, Pakistan, Japan and shortly in other countries in South/south-east Asia. He has implemented several projects as the team leader and/or deputy team Leader. Currently, He is working as a Team Leader (International position) for the Design and Supervision consultant of the Disaster Resilient of School Project (DRSP) funded by Asian Development Bank (ADB) and implemented by Central Level Project Implementation (CLPIU) , Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Government of Nepal.

Topic of the Presentation:

Planning of infrastructures on the Dynamic landscape of Himalayas

About Speaker:

Mohan Acharya Senior Geotechnical Engineer at NEA Engineering Company (NEC), Nepal. He holds the BE Civil and MSc in Geotechnical Engineering from Pulchowk Campus, Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University, Nepal and a Ph.D. in Geotechnical Engineering from the University of Alberta, Canada.

Dr. Acharya has a long experience in the field of Geotechnical engineering. He has worked in the design of buildings foundations, more than 300 bridge foundations, High voltage tower foundations, slope stability analysis, design of deep excavation protection work. At NEC he is leading the design and supervision of large hydropower projects that includes surface and underground structures, large embankment and rockfill dams, and dam foundations etcs. He has been involved in the preparation seismic guidelines of design of dam in Nepal for World Bank, the Geotechnical investigation guideline for the Department of buildings and Department of Road. Currently he is providing expert services in the field of Natural and cut slope stability, tunnel stability, foundation settlement, and foundation in complex ground condition.

Dr. Acharya has lectured courses in Msc in Geotechnical engineering, supervised several MSc students, and authored and published journal papers in international journals and conferences.

Topic of the Presentation:

Climate change and geotechnical structures on expansive soils, challenges and opportunities – An Australian perspective

About Speaker:

Dr. Karim completed his PhD in 2011 and worked in the area of soft soil engineering and ground improvement. After his PhD and before joining UNISA, he has worked as researcher in different institutions in Australia and United Kingdom.

Dr. Karim’s area of research interest includes, climate change, soil-atmospheric boundary interaction, expansive soils, ground improvement, soft soil engineering, constitutive modelling, numerical modelling, soil struture interaction, granular material behaviour, pavement engineering, tailing material behaviour, liqueafaction and bio cementation.

Title of the Presentation:

Assessment of Water Leakage in Low-Pressure Headrace Tunnel: A Case Study of the Sanjen Hydroelectric Project

Topic of the Presentation:

Impact Assessment of Overlooking Geotechnical Risk on sustainable road design and construction in challenging terrain throughout the project cycle – A Practice based Approach

Topic of the Presentation:

Ethical Geotechnical Practices by Engineering Consulting Firms for Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure

About Speaker:

Er. Sharma, who has more than 39 years of experience in the engineering is a graduated of National Institute of Technology (NIT), Warangal, India. He completed his Master of Science in Water Resources Engineering in 2003 from Tribhuwan University, Institute of Engineering, Nepal. He is currently the President of Society of Consulting Architectural and Engineering Firms (SCAEF), Nepal – Member Association of FIDIC for the period 2024~2025 AD. Professionally he holds a position of Managing Director of Full Bright Consultancy (Pvt.) Ltd, a leading infrastructure firm of Nepal and is associated with the firm since 2004. A Water Resource Engineer by profession has moved to a management position. He was actively involved with SCAEF since last 4 years contributing to the cause of SCAEF. In the past, as a professional engineer, he has provided inputs for different government and private sectors alike in various capacities from design engineer, irrigation engineer, water resource engineer, and later stage of his career as Team Leader, Project Coordinator/Director for various infrastructure development projects of Roads, Railways, Water Resources, Irrigation etc. in which his firm is associated with national and
international partners. His areas of interest are procurement of consulting services, career counselling to engineering graduates, networking with national and international institutions of engineering fields etc.

Topic of the Presentation:

Developing a Framework for Sustainable and Scientific Extraction of Riverbed Materials from the Chure-Terai Rivers in Nepal

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