Xuanmei Fan is director of State Key Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and Geoenvironment Protection (SKLGP) at Chengdu University of Technology, China. She received her PhD in Engineering Geology from the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observations (ITC) at the University of Twente in 2013. In 2015, she became a leading professor at SKLGP. Prof. Fan’s research focuses on the earthquake- and climate change-induced chains of geological hazards, long-term landscape evolution and disaster risk reduction. Her work has been widely applied in the emergency response and rescue operations following major earthquakes. Due to her significant scientific achievements and contributions to society, she has recently received Chinese Young Women Scientists Award, Scientific Exploration Award, and the Science and Technology Awards of the International Association for Engineering Geology and the Environment (IAEG). As chair, she co-founded the Global Partnership for Smart Informatics and Multi-hazard Reduction (SIMR), aiming to address the global challenges created by increasing multi-hazard risk and climate change in a fast-changing world. She has published more than 140 ISI papers in Nature Geoscience, Reviews of Geophysics, GRL, JGR etc.

Dr Burt Look completed his master’s degree at Imperial College, London, and his PhD part time at The University of Queensland while also working at Queensland Main Roads. He also has a Graduate Certificate in Philosophy. Burt has over 42 years professional Engineering experience. He was previously the Global Practice Leader in SKM (now Jacobs), and also at Aurecon. He was a previous director at FSG – Geotechnics + Foundations. Burt is the 2014 Queensland Professional Engineer of the year and the Australian Geomechanics Society (AGS) Practitioner 2018. Burt was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 2020. Burt has published 4 geotechnical engineering books and over 100 technical publications focused on industry practice developments. His latest book is Earthworks: Theory to Practice - Design and Construction.

Kyle Rollins received his BS degree from Brigham Young University and his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. After working as a geotechnical consultant, he joined the Civil Engineering faculty at BYU in 1987 following his father who was previously a geotechnical professor. His research has involved deep foundation behavior, geotechnical earthquake engineering, soil improvement techniques, gravel liquefaction, bridge abutment resistance, and collapsible soils. He pioneered the use of blast-induced liquefaction testing to evaluate ground improvement effectiveness and pile performance in full-scale field tests. ASCE has recognized his work with the Huber research award, the Wellington prize, the Wallace Hayward Baker award, and the H. Bolton Seed Medal. He was Cross-Canada Geotechnical lecturer for the Canadian Geotechnical Society in 2009 and Cross-USA lecturer for the ASCE Geo-Institute in 2023-24.

Rolando is a Professor in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at the University of Auckland. He received his BSCE (cum laude) and MSCE degrees from the University of the Philippines and Doctor of Engineering degree from the University of Tokyo (Japan). His research interest is in geotechnical earthquake engineering and ground disaster mitigation engineering. He is a registered professional engineer in the Philippines and Oregon (United States) and a Fellow of Engineering New Zealand.

Andy O’Sullivan has gained technical and management experience over more than 30 years on medium to large, heavy civil engineering projects – working with both contractors and consultants. Andy completed his ME thesis in 2010 at the University of Auckland and has continued to maintain a close relationship, including as a part-time Professional Teaching Fellow for a number of years.

Luke is a Principal Geotechnical Engineer and Technical Director in Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering at Tonkin + Taylor, where he has been working for almost 10 years. Prior to that he completed his PhD at the University of Auckland on Soil-foundation-structure interaction and has continued to have a passion for bringing rocking foundations and nonlinear foundation effects from research into practice. 

Dr Mark Stringer is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Canterbury.  Mark’s current research focusses on the behaviour of the pumiceous deposits of the North Island through a range of experimental methods including laboratory testing on undisturbed samples as well as dynamic centrifuge modelling.  Mark read engineering at the University of Cambridge where he also received his PhD in 2008 for work on the axial load capacity of piled foundations in liquefiable soils. 

Liam is a Professor in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering and the University of Auckland. He received his BE and PhD from the same institution, with his initial research focussing on soil-foundation-structure-interaction. His research interests have evolved and expanded, now cutting across multiple aspects of geotechnical earthquake engineering and translation to practice.