Isabella Novais Silva is a Geotechnical Engineer at KBR. She recently completed her PhD at the Transport Research Centre, University of Technology Sydney, and holds a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Brazil. Her research focuses on enhancing the stability and resilience of railway infrastructure, with particular emphasis on the behaviour of soft soils, soil stabilisation techniques, and sustainable infrastructure solutions. Her work addresses critical challenges in subgrade performance under dynamic loading, examining the role of fabric in influencing soil behaviour. Furthermore, she explores sustainable alternatives to ground improvement, including the use of recycled glass in subgrade applications. Isabella’s contributions have been recognised through high-impact publications and awards, including the ISSMGE Bright Spark Lecture Award in 2024, reflecting her commitment to advancing safe, sustainable, and innovative geotechnical practices.

Maria Julieta Rottemberg is a passionate Civil Engineer from Argentina, currently completing her PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). She moved to Sydney in 2019 to pursue a Master of Engineering Science, and her outstanding academic performance earned her a prestigious Research Training Program (RTP) scholarship to continue into doctoral research.

Julieta’s research focuses on the thermo-hydro-mechanical behaviour of energy geostructures, with a particular emphasis on energy tunnels—an innovative approach to integrating geothermal energy with underground infrastructure. Her work sits at the forefront of energy geotechnics, leveraging advanced numerical modelling techniques to investigate the coupled interactions between heat transfer, moisture flow, and mechanical behaviour in underground structures. It draws on advanced expertise in simulating multi-phase porous media, including the implementation of state-of-the-art constitutive soil models and coupled multiphysics analyses, offering novel insights into the complex behaviour of energy tunnels under realistic environmental and loading conditions.

Beyond theoretical contributions, Julieta’s work provides a scientifically rigorous and practically oriented framework for the design and optimisation of tunnels with geothermal capabilities. By integrating high-fidelity numerical simulations with experimental validation, she advances sustainable geotechnical solutions with direct applications in infrastructure resilience, renewable energy integration, and climate-adaptive urban planning.

She is an active member of the Australian Geomechanics Society (AGS) and the Australian Tunnelling Society (ATS), through which she continues to engage with industry and academic leaders in geotechnical and tunnel engineering. Julieta aspires to help bridge the gap between engineering practice and sustainability, contributing to a future where underground infrastructure strengthens urban environments, enhances quality of life, and accelerates the transition to clean energy.

Farshad Bahootoroody is a PhD student in Geotechnical Engineering at the University of Newcastle, entitled “Efficient Geotechnical Risk Management of Scenic Rock Cliffs”. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering and a Master’s degree in Civil-Geotechnical Engineering. Farshad has actively collaborated on diverse research projects with institutions and universities across Italy, Finland, the Netherlands, the UK,  and Australia. His research contributions have resulted in the publication of ten peer-reviewed journal papers and two conference papers, collectively cited 243 times on Google Scholar. In 2024, he was awarded a Postgraduate Research Prize by the School of Engineering at the University of Newcastle.

Sajjad Vaseghi is a final year PhD student at UTS and an experienced geotechnical engineer at Geotesta Pty Ltd with expertise in unsaturated soils, soil dynamics, deep and shallow foundations, bio-geotechnics, and transportation geotechnics. His research has been focused on improving the understanding of soil behavior under complex loading and environmental conditions and enhancing predictive capabilities for geotechnical performance.

Throughout his career as a Geotechnical Engineer, he has contributed to numerous geo-infrastructure projects across Australia, including the design of shoring and retaining systems, slope stabilization measures, seepage and drainage analysis, tunneling, pavement systems, piling design, and geotechnical risk assessments for transportation corridors and underground facilities. His work has been driven by a strong commitment to integrating academic research with practical engineering applications.

In addition to his professional roles, Sajjad has been actively involved in teaching various university courses, including modelling of underground structures, geotechnical engineering, soil mechanics, design of timber and steel structures, and civil and environmental engineering.

Guilherme Barros holds a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the Fluminense Federal University (UFF) and a Master’s degree from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio). He completed his PhD in Civil Engineering at the University of Newcastle, Australia, in 2024, with a thesis titled “Fully Dynamic Coupling of the Boundary and Discrete Element Method for the Simulation of Large-Scale Geotechnical Problems.” Drawn by the mathematical elegance and practical impact of computational mechanics, Guilherme has dedicated his research career to this field. He has worked on geometric modelling through boundary representation, topological data structures, and mesh generation, as well as on numerical simulation techniques including the Finite Element Method (FEM), the Boundary Element Method (BEM), and the Discrete Element Method (DEM). He has applied these methods to a range of mechanical problems, such as elastostatics, elastodynamics, elastoplasticity, and limit analysis. He is currently a Research Associate at the University of Newcastle, where he is involved in projects focused on advanced numerical modelling in geomechanics.