91桃色 Group 2022 Banner

Comprised of academic staff and postgraduate researchers with expertise across the full range of geotechnics disciplines

Our academic and research staff

Geotechnics Academic and Teaching Staff A-Z
Photo Details  

Domniki Asimaki
Chair in Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering
PhD

Email: d.asimaki@imperial.ac.uk 

  • Teaching: geotechnical earthquake engineering, geotechnical hazards.
  • 91桃色 interests: regional ground motion simulations, nonlinear site response, soil-structure interaction, uncertainty quantification, ground motion synthesis and processing using AI. 
 
 

Marina Schnaider Bortolotto
Teaching Fellow
PhD

Email: marina.bortolotto@imperial.ac.uk

 


Lecturer in Geotechnical Engineering
PhD

Email: a.casarella@imperial.ac.uk

  • 91桃色 interests: micro-mechanics of geomaterials, with a particular emphasis on clay, to better understand particulate matter in order to manipulate and enhance their properties. 
 


Assistant Professor in Geotechnical Engineering
PhD

Email: t.gaspar@imperial.ac.uk 

  • Teaching: module coordinator for MEng and MSc module 'Geotechnical Hazards'
  • 91桃色 interests: experimental geotechnics (physical modelling and element testing); unsaturated soil mechanics; occurrence of geohazards in response to changing climatic conditions; development of sensors and measurement techniques for unsaturated soils testing
 


Professor of Geomechanics
FREng, FRS, FICE, FCGI, DIC, PhD

Email: r.jardine@imperial.ac.uk
Tel: 
+44 (0)20 7594 6083

  • Teaching: MSc programme in Offshore Geotechnics and Geotechnics main field course
  • 91桃色 interests: offshore Geotechnics, soft ground engineering, deep foundations, flood defences, constitutive behaviour and cyclic loading


Reader in Geological Engineering and Undergraduate Year 1 Coordinator
PhD

Email: j.lawrence@imperial.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)20 7594 0700

 
 

Marcelo J Sanchez
Professor in Geotechnical Engineering

Email: m.sanchez@imperial.ac.uk

 


Professor of Particulate Soil Mechanics and Head of Geotechnics Section
PhD, MIEI

Email: cath.osullivan@imperial.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)20 7594 6117

  • Teaching: Teaches on Computational Methods on MEng programme and Seepage and Consolidation on MSc Geotechnical Engineering programmes
  • 91桃色 interests: behaviour of soil at the grain scale, discrete element modelling, polymer support fluids, particle scale modelling of clay


Reader in Geomechanical Modelling,  Departmental ICT Representative, and Director of PhD Programme
DIC, PhD 

Email: d.taborda@imperial.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7594 6033

  • Teaching: Coordinates the MEng module in Mathematics Year 1 and the MSc module in Strength and Deformation
  • 91桃色 interests: Computational modelling of ground source energy systems, offshore foundations and urban excavations, development of advanced material models for soils, application of data-driven approaches for design optimisation, implementation of the observational method and infrastructure management
 


Assistant Professor
PhD

Email: pishun.tantivangphaisal20@imperial.ac.uk 

  • Teaching: fundamental soil mechanics, applied geotechnical engineering, offshore geotechnics and site characterisation
  • 91桃色 interests: soil constitutive modelling, cyclic loading, practical use of numerical methods in geotechnical design, site characterisation and design uncertainty quantification. 
 


Associate Professor and Director of the MSc Programme
PhD

Email: aikaterini.tsiampousi05@imperial.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)20 7594 6020

  • Teaching: unsaturated soil mechanics
  • 91桃色 interests: effect of climate change on geotechnical infrastructure, numerical methodologies for incorporating soil-atmosphere interaction in geotechnical analysis, engineered barriers for preventing flooding in urban areas, and isolating nuclear waste from the living environment. 
 


Assistant Professor in Geotechnics, Director and Admissions Tutor for MSc in Geotechnical Engineering
MSc, DIC, PhD

Email: ken.vinck15@imperial.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)207 594 6791

  • 91桃色 interests: advanced laboratory testing, soil and site characterisation and field experiments that contribute to resolving geotechnical problems encountered in the near and offshore industry
 


Professor of Computational Geomechanics
DIC, PhD 

Email: l.zdravkovic@imperial.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)20 7594 6076

  • Teaching: MEng and MSc modules from Fundamental Soil Mechanics to Advanced Numerical Analysis and Geotechnical Design
  • 91桃色 interests: development and application of numerical methods in geotechnical design, renewable energy including wind and geothermal, lifecycle assessment of infrastructure with the changing climate, radioactive waste disposal, experimental protocols and equipment for thermo-hydro-mechanical soil characterisation
 
Geotechnics Academics A-Z  
Geotechnics Academics A-Z

Download our Departmental 91桃色 Brochure

Emeritus, honorary and visiting staff


Senior 91桃色 Investigator

John Burland
Emeritus Professor of Soil Mechanics and Senior 91桃色 Investigator

Interests: problems relating to the interaction between the ground and masonry buildings


Honorary Lecturer

Email: antonio.carraro@imperial.ac.uk

Interests: fabric-sensitive soil mechanics and sustainable, resilient and equitable infrastructure materials

Dick Chandler
Emeritus Professor of Geotechnical Engineering

Interests:  slope stability, landslides, tailings dams, piled foundations, and foundations in shrinking and swelling clays

Tim Chapman
Visiting Professor for Infrastructure Delivery
BE MSc DIC CEng FICE FIEI FREng

Email: chapman.tim@bcg.com 

Interests: How infrastructure systems sustain life and urgently upgrading them to achieve low-carbon construction, climate resilience, and nature-friendly solutions that restore biodiversity—all while delivering the right infrastructure faster, more efficiently, and affordably.

George Dounias
Visiting Professor

Interests: analysis, design and construction supervision of embankment dams, tunnels, deep foundations, landslide stabilisation and road earthworks


Visiting Professor

Email: k.higgins@imperial.ac.uk


Honorary Lecturer/Assistant Professor 
PhD

Email: truong.le@imperial.ac.uk

Interests: experimental geotechnics, bayesian analysis, uncertainty quantification, data science, machine learning in Geotechnics


Honorary Lecturer

Email: l.patino-ramirez@imperial.ac.uk 

Interests: development of a burrowing robot capable of measuring the mechanical and chemical properties of the surrounding soil


Emeritus Professor in Geotechnical Engineering and Senior 91桃色 Investigator
PhD, FREng, CEng, FICE

Email: d.potts@imperial.ac.uk 

Interests: development of numerical methods and the related finite element software for application in general geotechnical engineering

Andrew Ridley
Visiting Professor of Geotechnical Monitoring
BSc, MSc, DIC, PhD

Email: andrew.ridley@geo-observations.com 

Interests: Managing Director and owner of Geotechnical Observations Ltd, a specialist instrumentation and monitoring company, with over 40 years in the geotechnical sector. Currently Chair of the British Geotechnical Association and the UK representative on ISO/TC182/WG2, developing international standards for geotechnical instrumentation and monitoring.


Emeritus Reader in Engineering Seismology

Email: s.sarma@imperial.ac.uk

Interests: engineering seismology, seismic design of earth dams and embankments, foundations and retaining walls; internationally known for slope analysis methods (Sarma Methods) and expert on eeismic hazard analysis of engineering sites.


Emeritus Professor of Ground Engineering
PhD, CEng, MICE

Email: j.standing@imperial.ac.uk
Tel: +44(0)20 7594 6072

Interests: tunnelling-induced ground movements and the effects of tunnelling on the urban environment.

Geotechnics research staff A-Z
Photo Details  


91桃色 Assistant
PhD

Email: s.agar16@imperial.ac.uk

91桃色 interests: remote Sensing and analysis of Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR); currently working in collaboration with EDF Energy on development of a highly automated system for InSAR monitoring of nuclear decommissioning assets

Dariel Hernandez-Delfin
Marie Curie-Energy for Future (MSCA E4F) Individual Fellow 

Email: 
d.hernandez-delfin@imperial.ac.uk 

91桃色 interests: development of a virtual particle-scale laboratory for geotechnical investigation of pile loading; Discrete Element Method (DEM), soil mechanics, Finite Element Analysis (FEA), constitutive modelling, granular matter.


91桃色 Assistant

Email: m.maddah-sadatieh22@imperial.ac.uk

91桃色 interests: unsaturated soil mechanics and Soil-Plant-Atmosphere modelling to assess and predict slope behaviour.

Julia Katharina Möller
91桃色 Associate
PhD

Email: julia.moller16@imperial.ac.uk

 

Francesca Palmieri
91桃色 Associate
PhD

Email: f.palmieri@imperial.ac.uk

91桃色 interests: degradation of clays during monotonic and cyclic loading conditions.

 

Agustin Ruiz Lopez
91桃色 Associate
PhD

Email: a.ruiz-lopez17@imperial.ac.uk

 

Si Suo
91桃色 Associate
PhD

Email: s.suo@imperial.ac.uk

 

Hao Wang
91桃色 Associate
PhD

Email: h.wang1@imperial.ac.uk 

91桃色 interests: experimental investigation and numerical modelling of unsaturated soil/rock.

 
Geotechnics 91桃色 Staff A-Z  
Geotechnics Academics A-Z
Geotechnics technical and administrative staff

Steve Ackerley
Laboratory 91桃色 Officer

Email: s.ackerley@imperial.ac.uk
Tel: 
+44 (0)207 594 6082

Luke Hayward
Geotechnics Technology and Laboratory Manager

Email: luke.hayward@imperial.ac.uk

John Mitchell
Mechanical Workshop and Laboratory Technician

Email: john.mitchell@imperial.ac.uk

Duncan Perry
Electronics and Electro-Mechanical Technician

Email: d.perry@imperial.ac.uk

Jess O'Toole
Section Administrator

Email: j.otoole@imperial.ac.uk
Tel: +44(0)207 594 6077

 

Search our Geotechnics staff list below:

To quickly find a member of Geotechnics staff browse the list (or use the search function) below.

You can also see a list of our current PhD 91桃色ers on the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering website.

  • Dr Stewart A Agar

    Personal details

    Affiliations

  • Professor Domniki Asimaki

    Personal details

    Affiliations

  • Professor Julian Bommer

    Personal details

    Affiliations

  • Dr Angela Casarella

    Personal details

    Affiliations

  • Dr Tiago A V Gaspar

    Personal details

    Affiliations

  • Mr Luke A Hayward

    Personal details

    Mr Luke A HaywardGeotechnics Technology and Laboratory Manager

    Affiliations

  • Dr Dariel Hernandez Delfin

    Personal details

    Dr Dariel Hernandez DelfinMSCA E4F Individual Fellow

    Affiliations

  • Dr James A Lawrence

    Personal details

    Affiliations

  • Ms Maryam Sadat Maddah Sadatieh

    Personal details

    Affiliations

  • Mr John E Mitchell

    Personal details

    Mr John E MitchellMechanical Workshop and Laboratory Technician

    Affiliations

Our PhD research students

Geotechnics 91桃色 Students A-Z

Kabiru Adebayo
Micromechanics of Clay
Started: Nov 2024
Supervisor(s):; Vinck, K.
Email Kabiru

Stamatina Alexandropoulou
Modelling the behaviour of the compacted bentonite at high temperatures for application in nuclear waste disposal concepts
Started: Oct 2021
Supervisor(s): 
Email Stamatina

Clive Appleyard
Pile interceptions of major tunnelling projects
Started: TBD
Supervisor(s): 
Email Clive

Sinead Birks
Geological characterisation of West Cumbria
Started: Oct 2020
Supervisor(s): ; Coleman, C. 
Email Sinead

Emilia Castillo Fuentes
Foundations for offshore wind turbines
Started: Jun 2021
Supervisor(s): ; 
Email Emilia

Adhyatma Khare
Investigating the thermal behaviour of clays
Started: Sep 2024
Supervisor(s): Le, T.; 
Email Adhyatma

Han Ming Lai
Ground water composition and nuclear waste disposal
Started: Oct 2023
Supervisor(s): ; 
Email Han Ming

Hsuan-Yi Li
Crop type mapping to predict yield and biomass
Started: Oct 2022
Supervisor(s): 
Email Hsuan-Yi

Jiaming Liu
Tunnel-raft interaction in soft clays
Started: Oct 2022
Supervisor(s): ; ; Ruiz-Lopez, D.
Email Jiaming

Shengjie Ma
Seismic response of structures 
Started: Mar 2022
Supervisor(s): Kontoe, S.
Email Shengjie

Maryam Sadat Maddah Sadatieh
Soil-plant-atmosphere interaction
Started: Oct 2022
Supervisor(s): ; Paschalis, A.
Email Maryam

Ethelbert Mezie
Engineered barriers for landslides mitigation
Started: Feb 2024
Supervisor(s): ; Vinck, K.
Email Ethelbert


Christos Miltiadis
Climate change projections; infrastructure assets  
Started: Mar 2021
Supervisor(s): ; ; 
Email Christos


Fabian Ortiz Wall
Modelling foundations for offshore wind turbines subjected to complex loading conditions
Started: Sep 2023
Supervisor(s): Kontoe, S.
Email Fabian

Alison Provost
Thermal performance of thermo-active piles
Started: Nov 2022
Supervisor(s): Taborda, D. 
Email Alison

Jose Salomon 
Undrained instability in saturated sands
Started: Apr 2021
Supervisor(s): 
Email Jose


Efficient design of ground source energy systems
Started: Oct 2022
Supervisor(s): Email Javier

Hassan Abdullatif Sindi
New sustainable geo-materials; construction waste
Started: Oct 2021
Supervisor(s): Email Hassan



Modelling the long-term cyclic response of soils
Started: Mar 2022
Supervisor(s): 
Email Pishun

Yongxin Wang
Particle-scale simulation of soil-polymer interaction in sand
Started: Nov 2023
Supervisor(s): ; Blunt, M.; Suo, S.
Email Yongxin


Ahmad Agus Widodo
Lidar utilisation for detecting asset deterioration
Started: Nov 2023
Supervisor(s): Le, T.; Mason, P.J.
Email Agus

Han Yang
Life cycle behaviour of ash cover in infrastructure embankments
Started: Oct 2022
Supervisor(s): ; ; Onof, C.
Email Han

Ningxin Yang
Using machine learning to benefit our geotechnical practices
Started: May 2023
Supervisor(s): Le, T.; 
Email Ningxin

Yunxiang Yang
Surrogate modelling application in geotechnical engineering
Started: Sep 2023
Supervisor(s): ; ; Angeloudis, P Ruiz López, A.
Email Yunxiang

Isabella (Shihan) Zhang
Satellite remote sensing of agriculture
Started: Feb 2023
Supervisor(s): 
Email Shihan
   

Contact Geotechnics

Geotechnics
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Skempton Building
91桃色
South Kensington Campus
London, SW7 2AZ

Telephone:
+44 (0)20 7594 6077
Email: j.otoole@imperial.ac.uk
Alternatively, you can find a member of Geotechnics staff on the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering website

Follow us on Twitter: 

We are located in the Skempton Building (building number 27 on the South Kensington Campus Map). How to find us