Keynote Speakers

Dr Nick O’Riordan

Arup

Dr Nick O’Riordan is a Principal of Arup, based in San Francisco, and the Global Geotechnics Skills Network Leader.

He has over thirty years experience of risk assessment associated with contaminated and derelict land, earthquake and storm hazards and collapses of underground excavations. He is experienced in the aggregation of technical, financial and programme risks associated with all aspects of ground engineering.  He has acted as an expert witness on matters relating to geotechnical analysis and ground contamination.

Dr O’Riordan is an expert on ground treatment techniques such as vibroconcrete columns, deep soil mixing (wet and dry injection methods), vibro-compaction and the acceleration of consolidation in very soft soils.  Several of his projects have pioneered the use of embodied energy calculations and carbon footprinting of construction.

Dr O’Riordan has worked on many aspects of soil/structure interaction, including long-term cyclic loading effects, ranging from thin-shelled tanks, offshore and railway structures to the construction of embankments on very soft clays and the performance of piles in very stiff clays.  He is experienced in the instrumentation of both ground and structures and in the design, construction and testing of all types of foundation.

Dr O’Riordan is a regular presenter of technical papers and chairman of technical sessions at ICE and CIRIA seminars and conferences. He is an invited speaker at postgraduate courses at Imperial College London, at Birmingham, Nottingham and Cambridge Universities and is an external examiner of PhD’s at several universities. He is a Visiting Professor at University of Southampton.  He speaks Italian and has fluent technical French.

Professor Jean-Louis Briaud

President of ISSMGE
International Society for Soil Mechancis and Geotechnical Engineering
Professor, Texas A&M University

Professor Jean-Louis Briaud is Professor and Holder of the Spencer J. Buchanan Chair in the Zachry Department of Civil Engineering at Texas A&M University and the President of Briaud Engineers. He received his Bachelors degree from the Ecole Speciale des Travaux Publics in France in 1972 and his Ph.D. degree from the University of Ottawa in Canada in 1978. His expertise is in foundation engineering and more generally geotechnical engineering. He has served as President of the Association of Geotechnical Engineering Professors in the USA, President of the Geo-Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and is the current President of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering. Among other awards, he has received the ASCE Ralph Peck Award, the CGS Geoffrey Meyerhof Foundation Engineering Award, the ASTM Hogentogler Award, the ASCE Huber Research Prize, and the ASCE Martin Kapp Award. Over the last 30 years, Dr. Briaud has conducted about 8.5 million dollars of research most of which was on foundations and retaining walls. He has supervised 37 PhD students and 81 Master students. He is the author of a book on the pressuremeter and has published about 300 articles and reports in geotechnical engineering.

Frances Badelow

Senior Principal 
Coffey Geotechnics

Frances Badelow has over twenty years’ experience in the geotechnical consulting field.  She has a wide range of experience including analysis and design of deep foundations and excavations and geotechnical design for major road and railway infrastructure projects.  Originally from the UK where she studied Civil Engineering at Manchester University, she has worked in the UK, Europe, Australia and Southeast Asia.  She gained chartered engineer status with the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1995 and served on the Australian Geomechanics Society Sydney Chapter committee between 2008 and 2010.

Having joined Coffey Geotechnics in 1998, Frances has been based in Sydney for 12 years and is currently a Senior Principal.  She leads Coffey’s Design & Analysis Group in Sydney and her particular areas of interest include in-ground structures design and foundation design for tall towers.

David Bell

Senior Lecturer in Engineering Geology, University of Canterbury, Christchurch
Principal and Director, Geoconsulting Ltd, Christchurch

David Bell employed by Australian Consolidated Industries Limited and its New Zealand subsidiary Alex Harvey Industries Limited on aspects of exploration, mining and mineral processing of both metallic and non-metallic minerals in New Zealand, Australia and Papua-New Guinea. Projects included quarry design; restoration & development of underground workings; and processing design.

Since 1972 he has been a lecturer and senior lecturer in Engineering Geology at University of Canterbury, with particular responsibility for undergraduate engineering geology courses in both Geology and Civil Engineering departments; postgraduate programme in engineering geology (BSc Hons; Dip Eng Geol; MSc Eng Geol; PhD Eng Geol); postgraduate teaching in hydrogeology, mining & exploration geology, environmental science; and thesis research supervision (100+ MSc projects).

He has also been an engineering geology consultant on civil construction projects, including The Remarkables Skifield Road, Dillmans Hydro Scheme, Christchurch-Woolston LPG Pipeline project, Claverley-Oaro railway stabilsation, brine leakage at Lake Grassmere solar salt works, Coronet Peak snowmaking pond design & construction, and Black Rock subdivision roading.

David Bell is an engineering geology consultant on land subdivision & development in various parts of New Zealand, including Queenstown, Christchurch, Kaikoura and the Marlborough Sounds, Havelock North and Tauranga. He is advisor to Marlborough District Council on ferry wake effects in Tory Channel. He is also a consultant on water resource evaluation and groundwater contamination at various sites, and on various mining & quarrying projects, including Canterbury Coal Ltd (2000-2010; resources, open-pit design, & environmental management) and Omya/Transform Minerals Ltd (2000-2011; bentonite quarry design & environmental management). Limestone quarry resource evaluation, design of stable batters, and environmental management (North & South Islands).

Dr Michael Heibaum

MERCER LECTURE

Federal Waterways Engineering and Research Institute

Dr Heibaum has many years of experience with the evaluation and application of geosynthetics in hydraulic engineering and currently heads up the Geotechnical Engineering Department of the Federal Waterways Engineering and Research Institute in Germany. He has also been heavily involved in research, consulting and teaching in geotechnical engineering, bank protection including impervious linings, geosynthetics and sheet piles; using physical and numerical models. Special works among others, include geotextiles in revetments, coastal protection works, geosynthetic containers for scour protection and all kind of revetments and impervious linings of navigation canals.

Please click on the following link to be directed to a dedicated website for the Mercer Lecture Series www.mercerlecture.com