Katharine holds a PhD in soil science and areas of expertise are in soil survey and land evaluation, mine soil management strategies and mine closure. Katharine will be presenting on the impact of disturbance on a range of soil materials used for post-mining soil profile construction.

Sevda has been working as a Rock Mechanics Engineer since 2005 in Australia and the Middle East. She has completed her PhD degree with UQ, utilising Pulsed Water Jets for rock breakage. Her contribution toward this technology has attracted investment from many industries. Sevda currently leads cutting edge research in the rock mechanics/breakage area. The topic of her talk is “Water wins out over hard rock”.

Dr Nazife Erarslan is a Lecturer in Rock Mechanics at UQ. She completed her Bachelor and Masters degrees in Turkey, and her PhD at UQ, for which she was awarded the Dean’s Award for Research Higher Degree Excellence in 2011. Naz’s key research interests include rock fracture mechanics and rock fatigue. Nazife will be presenting on: “Static and cyclic laboratory testing of Brisbane rocks”, and will tell you a little of her journey so far.

Sarah will present on her work as part of AECOM’s Ground Engineering and Tunnelling team, which has been designing geotechnical aspects for the rebuilding of flood damaged roads across South East QLD. Sarah will also reflect on her experiences as a graduate to provide insight to how young professionals can engage with their workplace to build rewarding careers.