Keynote Lectures

INNOVATIVE USE OF WASTE MATERIALS INCLUDING RECYCLED RUBBER IN RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE

by Prof. Buddhima Indraratna, PhD

Distinguished Professor of Civil Engineering and the Director of Transport Research Centre, at University of Technology Sydney

Professor Buddhima Indraratna is a Distinguished Professor of Civil Engineering and the Director of Transport Research Centre, at University of Technology Sydney. Buddhima is a Civil Engineering graduate from Imperial College, London.

Since his PhD at University of Alberta in 1987, his contributions to geotechnical and railway engineering have been acknowledged through numerous national and international awards, including 1st Ralph Proctor Lecture and 4th Louis Menard Lecture of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering.  

For his pioneering contributions, he was honoured with numerous awards and acknowledgments in Australia, New Zealand, UK and Canada. Recently, he was inducted as Honorary Life Member of Australian Geomechanics Society for his lifetime contributions to geomechanics through research and higher education, and service to the Australian geomechanics community.

Buddhima currently leads numerous projects worth over $ 2 million per year. He has been a consultant to various infrastructure organisations worldwide, and a former United Nations expert. He has published over 900 papers including 12 books, over 450 journal papers, and more than 70 invited Keynote papers in all continents. He  has supervised over 100 PhD and Master’s graduates and over 40 Postdoctoral Fellows.

He is the Chair of the Ground Improvement Advisory Board of Inst. of Civil Engineers, UK, and the Chief Editor of the Journal of Ground Improvement. Buddhima is a Fellow of the prestigious Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (FTSE), Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Australia (FIEAust), Fellow of American Society of Civil Engineers (FASCE), Fellow of Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (FAusIMM), and Fellow of the Geological Society of UK (FGS). He is a Chartered Professional Engineer of Australia, United Kingdom, and Sri Lanka.

FROM RESEARCH TO PRACTICE: INVESTIGATIONS OF THE TRANSPORTATION NETWORK ASSETS THROUGHOUT THE EUROPE

by Prof. Meho Saša Kovačević, PhD 

Full-time professor at Faculty of Civil engineering, University of Zagreb

Meho Saša Kovačević (PhD) is a full-time professor at Department of Geotechnics, Faculty of Civil Engineering University of Zagreb, and is currently Head of the Department.

His area of interest includes soil and rock mechanics, monitoring, NDT investigation methods and risk analysis of infrastructure assets. Prof. Kovacevic is an editor of 3 books, has published more than 150 journal and conference papers, has held 12 invited lectures and is a mentor on 6 PhD thesis. 

He is coordinator of two UCPM projects (oVERFLOw and CROSScade) and national leader of three H2020 projects (DestinationRAIL, GOSafe RAIL and SAFE 10-T) where he deals with innovative condition assessment methods for road, rail and flood protection infrastructure. He also participated in several COST Actions, EUREKA projects, a project from Croatian bussiness-innovation agency and a research project funded by German Ministry of commerce.  

For more than 30 years he is involved as a designer, leader of investigation works, supervisor or consultant on more than 200 projects in Croatia, Netherlands, Ireland and Slovenia, with some innovative solutions. He developed and implemented many soil, rock and geotechnical structure investigation methods into the practice, where he has established strong connection with the industry. Prof Kovacevic is President of Croatian Society for Underground Construction and a member of many other professional societies.

He is member of Croatian Academy of Technical Sciences, where he acts as a Secretary of Department for Civil Engineering and Geodesy, as well as the leader of Center for Development studies and projects. He is member of editorial board of Journal Građevinar and guest editor of Journals Geosciences and Sensors.