AGS Victoria 2024 PhD Research Award

Sejani Mediliye Gedara
, Rene Kurniadi
 and Elissar Mikhael

The Australian Geomechanics Society (Victoria Chapter) is pleased to announce the 2024 AGS Victoria PhD Award. This forms part of its ongoing support of academic institutions and researchers and to foster increased collaboration between academia and industry. The award aims to provide a forum for PhD researchers to showcase their research to the geotechnical profession.

Eligibility

This award is open to those currently undertaking PhD research at a Victorian university in the field of geotechnical engineering, geo-environmental engineering or engineering geology. Nominees must be a member of the Australian Geomechanics Society and a resident of Victoria at the time of application. Nominees must also have their supervisor’s consent to apply for this award.

Nomination & Judging Criteria

Nominees are required to submit an extended abstract of between 1000 and 1500 words. Supporting figures and tables (not more than three total) may be included. The extended abstract should include; title, name(s) and affiliations of the author(s), keywords, introduction, methodology, results, conclusions, acknowledgement (optional) and references (not counted in word limit). Three candidates will be short listed and asked to present a 15 minute presentation at the August meeting of the Victorian Chapter.A judging panel comprising practising geotechnical engineers and academics will evaluate the extended abstracts and presentations. The extended abstracts submitted by the short listed candidates will be published in Australian Geomechanics. Candidates will be assessed based on the following criteria:

The winner will be announced at the conclusion of the meeting and in Australian Geomechanics. The winner will receive a $1500 cash prize.

Nomination Form

Applications close July 19 at 11:59pm.

Nominations have now closed

About the selected finalists

Sejani Mediliye Gedara
 PhD Candidate Victoria University

Investigation of sustainable residential waffle rafts on reactive soils

Sejani completed her Bachelor of Civil Engineering (Honours) at Victoria University, Melbourne, in 2019. After graduating, she worked as a student engineer and later as a traffic and transport engineer at two local councils in Melbourne. She began her PhD studies in 2021 at the Institute for Sustainable Industries and Liveable Cities (ISILC) at Victoria University and is currently in her third year, under the principal supervision of Dr Wasantha Liyanage. Her expertise lies in geotechnical engineering, with a focus on sustainable residential waffle raft systems on reactive soils. Her PhD research aims to enhance the understanding of the behaviour of residential foundations built on reactive soils, specifically waffle rafts, through laboratory experiments, field investigations, and advanced numerical simulations. The outcomes are expected to inform relevant Australian standards to address the long-standing cracking issues of houses built on reactive soils in Australia.

Rene Kurniadi
 PhD Candidate University of Melbourne

Cyclic responses of horizontal circular plate anchors in sand

Rene is a graduate researcher in the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology at the University of Melbourne, Australia. He received the Australia Government Research Training Program Scholarship in 2021 and the Len Stevens Scholarship in 2022. Before his doctoral research, he worked as a geotechnical engineer in Melbourne. His research focuses on the cyclic response of horizontal circular plate anchors in dense sand for application in offshore floating renewable energy devices. This research applies centrifuge tests and numerical modelling to simulate different relative cyclic loading characteristics and drainage conditions in offshore environments. The findings from this research are expected to make a positive contribution to the advancement of plate anchors.

Elissar Mikhael PhD Candidate Monash University

The fate, transport, and containment of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in geosynthetic composite liners

Elissar is currently undertaking a PhD in Civil Engineering at Monash University in Victoria, investigating the fate and migration of Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) through geosynthetic composite liners. The scope includes investigating the partitioning behaviour of various PFASs found in landfill leachate within components of modern composite lining systems, such as geosynthetic clay liners and geotextiles.

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