Organisers
Local Organising Committee
Rudolph Kotze
Holmes
Rudolph has been involved in bridge and structures design and asset management for over 40 years, working in various technical and management roles in South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia. His previous experience from his role with KiwiRail as their Professional Head Structures Engineering, gives him valuable insight in KiwiRail processes and standards. He is an expert in providing technical advice on structures asset management to the wider business and clients and is focused on ensuring that best-practice asset and risk management principles are developed and implemented.
Moustafa Al-Ani
NZTA
Moustafa is the Lead Advisor Structures at the New Zealand Transport Agency. He completed his PhD at the University of Auckland and his experience spans across design, assessment and research for bridges in particular and structures in general. He has experience working with codes from New Zealand, Australia, USA, Canada and Europe.
Moustafa is also committed to contribution to advancement of the engineering industry, through presentation of industry seminars and involvement in professional organisations. He is the current President of the Concrete NZ – Learned Society, is NZ Head Delegate for fib, and has ongoing involvement in technical activities within Austroads, fib, IABSE, and the TRB.
Philip Robins
Beca
Philip has over 30 years’ international experience in geotechnical engineering, with wide-ranging involvement across the infrastructure, buildings and industrial sectors. He is a Technical Director and Principal Geotechnical Engineer at Beca in Wellington, leading multi-disciplinary teams on large-scale, high profile and complex projects.
Luke Storie
NZTA
Luke is NZTA Waka Kotahi Lead Advisor – Geotechnical Engineering, providing strategic leadership, technical expertise in geotechnical engineering, guidance for national standards, and geotechnical advice on risk and investment decisions. He has previous experience in consulting as a Principal Geotechnical Engineer and Technical Director in Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering as well as PhD research and experimental testing in Soil-Foundation-Structure Interaction (SFSI) and earthquake performance of structures.
He has a particular interest in SFSI and collaborating closely with structural engineers for more effective and efficient foundation design. Luke has a keen interest in natural hazards and resilience, including landslides and liquefaction, and how we respond and prepare for these hazards to build resilience now and in the future.
Jono Watkins
WSP
Jono is a Chartered Structural Engineer with extensive international experience in the design and construction of civil infrastructure. He has expertise in bridge design and assessment for road, rail bridges, retaining structures of many types from culverts to D-walls and audits. His PhD focused on seismic behaviour of concrete structures. Jono is committed to the advancement of the bridge engineering industry, demonstrated through organising conference and industry sessions, publishing research and guidance documentation.