Marc Ballouz, born in 1965 in Beirut, Lebanon, earned his Bachelor's in Civil Engineering from the American University of Beirut in 1987. He obtained MS and PhD degrees in geotechnical engineering from Texas A&M University in 1994. In 1997, he founded the Institute for Geotechnics & Materials (IGM), which grew internationally with over 200 employees. IGM specializes in solving geotechnical engineering challenges, from lab testing to large-scale construction projects. Dr. Ballouz is renowned for his expertise in deep foundations for structures like bridges and high-rise buildings.

He has published extensively on deep foundations and landslides and teaches soil mechanics and foundation engineering. An ISSMGE board member, he has received the ISSMGE Outstanding Public Relations Award for promoting geotechnical engineering globally.

Keh-Jian (Albert) Shou is the VP Asia of ISSMGE (2022~2026), the Chairman of International Society for Trenchless Technology (ISTT), Honorary Chairman of CTSTT, and Distinguished Professor of Department of Civil Engineering, National Chung-Hsing University, Taiwan. His research interests include rock mechanics/engineering, engineering geology, and trenchless technologies. He has published more than 200 papers on these topics and is now the editor of Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology, and the associate editor of the ASCE Journal of Pipeline Systems Engineering and Practice. He obtained his Ph.D. degree (Civil Engineering) from University of Minnesota, U.S.A. in 1993.

His major experience includes: 

1.Visiting Professor, CNR-IRPI, Perugia, Italy (2013/8~2014/1).
2. Senior Principal Engineer,Shannon & Wilson, Seatlle, USA (2008/2~2008/9).
3. Visiting Professor, TTC, Louisiana Technical University, USA (2006/1~2006/2).
4. Visiting Professor, RCUSS, Kobe University,Japan (2003/10~2004/3). 
5. Research Engineer, CSIR/Miningtek, South Africa(1998/2~1999/1). 
6. Geotechnical Engineer, National Expressway Engineering Bureau,Taiwan (1993-1994).

Sh. Vijay Singhal is an IAS officer of 1997 batch. He holds BTech in Civil Engineering from IIT-Roorkee, MTech from IIT-Delhi and Master’s in Public Service Policy & Management from King’s College, London.
Currently he is the Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of CIDCO Maharashtra.
He has held key roles, including Chairman and MD of Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co Ltd. (2021-23), Municipal Commissioner of Thane (2020), Additional Municipal Commissioner at BMC (2017-20), and Commissioner of Maharashtra (2011-14), Municipal Commissioner of Kolhapur (2008-11), among others. He has extensive governance and public administration experience across Maharashtra.

Dr. Mukherjee holds degree in Public Administration and Finance from Toronto University, Short-Term course on Public Finance from IIM Ahmedabad, Chartered Financial Analyst and MBBS.

He is the Metropolitan Commissioner, MMRDA. He has been Vice Chairman and Managing Director City & Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra Limited (2020-23), Chairman(Additional Charge) Nagpur Smart and Sustainable City Development Company Ltd (2020-), Secretary Medical Education, Food & Drugs Administration and Cultural Affairs Departments (2018-20), Additional Municipal Commissioner (Projects), Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (2015-18) and Commissioner, State Excise, Government of Maharashtra (2011-14).

Prof. M.R Madhav Institute Fellow & Distinguished Teacher, IIT, Kanpur, AICTE-INAE Distinguished Visiting Professor, Visiting Professor, IIT, Hyd. & Professor Emeritus, J.N.T.U, Hyderabad. He has guided more than 45 doctoral and several master’s theses. He authored more than 600 publications in refereed international and national journals and conferences.

Prof. Madhav is Fellow of INAE, IGS & IE (India), President, Int. Assoc. of Lowland Tech. (2010-18), Vice President for Asia, ISSMGE (2005-2009), recipient of Keucklemann, Prof. Mehra Research, Pt. JN Birth Centenary, Visweswaraya, Gopal Ranjan Research, CIDC, Dinesh Mohan, ASCE Outstanding Civil Engineer, D. Sc. & Distinguished Alumnus of IISc.

Prof Narendra Kumar Samadhiya is a Professor of Geotechnical Engineering at the Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee. He is an accomplished academician, researcher and consultant. He has published several papers in national and International journals and conferences. He served as President Indian Geotechnical Society for the term 2021-2022. He has organised IGC-2003, IGC-2013 and IGC-2023 at Roorkee. He has received various IGS awards including IGS-Prof Leonard Prize for best PhD thesis in Geotechnical Engineering submitted in India during 199-2000.

Dr. Ashish Juneja is a professor at IIT Bombay. He earned his doctorate from NUS, Singapore, holds master’s degree from IIT Delhi and bachelor’s degree from University of Roorkee (now IIT Roorkee). His research interests are in dynamic soil behaviour, underground structures and ground improvement works. He has supervised doctoral and postgraduate students and has co-authored many journal and conference publications.

Prof. Juneja has received research grant from Railways, DST, MoES, DRDO and many other public and private organisations. He also serves as a consultant to government agencies, national and international organisations.

Prof. Murty has been associated with IIT Bombay since 2007 and currently holding the position of Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering. He has published several research articles in journals of high repute, and guided several PhD and Masters students. He is currently serving as Chairman, Indian Geotechnical Society Mumbai Chapter, and Secretary of TC 302- Forensic Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE).

Dr. Anil Joseph is Managing Director of Geostructurals (P) Ltd. He has provided foundation and structural consultancy for more than 3000 High rise structures including many land mark multistoried and Infrastructure projects in India and abroad in the last 30 years.

His design of Nippon Toyota showroom at Kalamassery, Maradu, Lulu Grand Hyatt Hotel & Convention Centre, Bolgatty Island, has won the ICI- UltraTech Award for Outstanding Concrete structures of Kerala in the building category in the year 2012, 2017 and 2018 respectively. His other construction firm specialises in the execution of pile foundations, Geotechnical investigation and Retrofitting works.

Madhavi Latha Gali is a Professor of Civil Engineering and the Chair of the Centre for Sustainable Technologies at IISc. Her areas of specialization include geosynthetics, earthquake geotechnical engineering and rock engineering.

She is the primary geotechnical consultant to the world’s highest railway bridge constructed across river Chenab in Jammu.

She is the first recipient of the Best Woman Researcher in Geotechnical Engineering award from IGS and Prof.S. K. Chatterjee outstanding researcher award of IISc. She is listed among the top 75 women in STEAM of India.

Professor (Dr.) Anand Katti, Managing Director NYSS Airoli and NHES Navi Mumbai, Professor Emeritus Datta Maghe College of Engineering and Professor Civil Engineering, NHITM, graduated from Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda in 1985, Master in 1987, followed by a Ph.D. from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi in 1991.

He has held several positions as Principal of Datta Meghe College of Engineering, Chairman of Institution of Engineers (India) Navi Mumbai Local Centre and IGS Mumbai Chapter. Published more than 100 papers and executed more than 200 consultancy projects of national importance.

Prof. Ayothiraman joined Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Delhi in December 2008 and is currently working as Professor. Prior to joining IIT Delhi, he worked as Assistant Professor at IIT Guwahati for 4 years.

He completed his B.E. (Civil Engineering; 1998) from PSNACET and M.E. (Soil Mech. & Foundation Engg; 2000; Gold Medal) from CEG. He obtained his Ph.D. (Soil Dynamics; 2005) from IIT Madras.

He has published about 110 papers in journals and conferences. He is serving as member of BIS for revising codes related to soils and foundations, machine foundations and rock mechanics.

A Practising Geotechnical engineer by profession.  Obtained Civil Engineering Degree from JNTU Kakinada and Completed Postgraduation in Geotechnical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai. Started his professional journey in 2006 as a geotechnical engineer with Keller India, world’s largest geotechnical specialist contractor.

Presently heading the business development team and responsible for the Business for Keller Indian Operations. Instrumental in expanding the business in India during the last 16 years.  Hands on experience in Design and Built projects with Key expertise in ground improvement works and heavy foundations.

Dr. Sunil S. Basarkar, is working as Vice President (Design) at Afcons Infrastructure Limited., Mumbai, covering pan-global infrastructural projects.   He has industry experience of 19 years in areas of heavy infrastructural geotechnical & foundation engineering and academic and research experience of 16 years.

Basarkar is a graduate from National Institute of Technology Rourkela, post-graduate from Pune University and doctoral research in Pile foundations from IIT Bombay. He is Fellow several professional organizations including Indian Geotechnical Society & The Institution of Engineers (India).  

Basarkar serves as Vice -Chairman of Deep Foundations Institute of India and Editorial Board of DFI journal, USA.

Dr. A P Singh is Director of Explore Engineering Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and Honorary Secretary of IGS national body.  He completed his B. Tech (Civil) from NIT Calicut, ME (Geotechnical Engineering) from IIT Roorkee with University medal and PhD from IIT Delhi. Is Member Board of Studies (BOS) of Civil Engineering Dept. of GLA University, Mathura, member managing committee of World Education Mission (WEM) Noida.

Nominated member to BIS for Construction and Related Engineering Services Sectional committee, nominated member of technical committee of ISSMGE for Deep Foundations (TC212) and Editorial board member of Indian Geotechnical Journal.

Sandip Deshpande is graduate in civil engineering has 25+ years of experience in the field of Geotechnical Investigations and Foundation Design. He currently heads the Projects Division of Renuka Consultants.

He has monitored numerous GI sites and provided optimum solutions for projects such as Atal Bridge, numerous high-rise building projects and Offshore projects for Jetties and Coastal Roads, Sea bridges like MTHL, Versova Bandra Sealink, Mumbai Coastal Road Project.

He is an expert in the field of Geophysical investigations and its applications for geotechnical engineering problems. He has created assessment solutions by way geophysical investigations for various geotechnical engineering problems.

Dr. Pinom Ering is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.

Dr. Ering earned her Doctoral degree as well as a Master’s degree in Civil Engineering from IISc BangaloreDr. Ering’s research interests are in the field of computational geomechanics, large deformation modelling problems, landslides, probabilistic and risk analysis of geotechnical engineering structures.

She is the corresponding member of Technical Committee-304 on Engineering practice of risk assessment and management of ISSMGE.

Dr. Savoikar is working as Professor in Civil Engineering in Goa Engineering College. He earned his PhD from IIT Bombay in 2009. He is having industry experience of 04 years and teaching experience of 26 years.

He was visiting faculty in IIT Goa and NIT Goa in 2018. He has served as Secretary (Board of Technical Education) Goa and Deputy Director (Technical Education) Goa from 2001 to 2006 and was member of Goa State Expert Appraisal Committee.

He is Chairman, Board of Studies Goa University and Member of Board of studies of Sanjay Ghodavat University and Gogte institute of Technology.

She completed her graduation in Civil Engineering from B V M Engineering College, V V Nagar, Anand, Gujarat (2005), post graduation with Gold Medal in Soil Mechanics & Foundation Engineering from SVNIT Surat (2008) and PhD in Earth Retaining Structures from SVNIT Surat (2013).

Her areas of interest are Soil Improvement Techniques, Reinforced Earth Retaining Structures, Grouting Techniques, Pavements and Pile Foundation. She has 1 year of Industry and 11 years of Teaching Experience in subjects like Engineering Mechanics, Strength of Materials, Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Environmental Studies and published several research papers in Journals and Conference proceedings.

Dr Vinay Kumar Pandey is Post Doctorate (D. Sc.) in Earth Science; having 23 years of experience in Geological, geotechnical, ground improvement, landslide mitigation and disaster mitigation field.

He contributes his experience in the geological & geotechnical field and various Infrastructure projects all over India- Himalayas (Siwalik to greater Himalaya) to Western Coast India.

He is an author of 4 books, 4 book Chapters and 35 research papers with reputed National and International publishers. He has received 4 professional awards for his achievements.

Dr. Kshitija Nadgouda completed her BE from Mumbai University, MS from Lehigh University, USA, and PhD from IIT Bombay. She has four years of industry experience in the US, one year industry experience in Mumbai/Thane region and over fourteen years of teaching experience.

She is a reviewer for the International Journal of Geomechanics, ASCE and has also published several papers in International Journals and Conferences. She is involved in soil testing and consultancy for various private agencies through Sardar Patel College of Engineering.

She was actively involved as Treasurer in IGS Mumbai Chapter from 2009 to 2016.

Mr. Ravikiran Vaidya, Principal Engineer of Geo Dynamics has been instrumental in popularizing the concept of Deep Foundation Testing in India. His work has resulted in the methods being accepted by all major bodies including metro rails, Highways, Railways, power, marine etc.  

He has worked on all almost all the prestigious projects in the country and in more than 20 countries worldwide. He is the recipient of the prestigious Dinesh Mohan Award for Excellence in Geotechnical Practice for the year 2018-2020 and has also won best paper awards. He has done his M.E.(Structures) in 1994 from M.S. University of Baroda.

Dr. Akanksha Tyagi is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee since July 2019. She earned her Ph.D. from the National University of Singapore in 2018. At IIT Roorkee, her research areas include tunnelling and excavations in soft soils, in-situ ground improvement techniques, cut-off walls/seepage barriers,modelling spatial variability, random finite element analysis, and use of industrial wastes as geomaterials.

She is also an associated faculty at International Centre of Excellence for Dams at IIT Roorkee.

Subhadeep Banerjee is currently serving as the Professor of the Department of Civil Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India. He received his PhD in Civil Engineering from National University of Singapore in 2010. His research interests include seismic soil-foundation interactions, cyclic behaviour of geomaterials and finite element analysis of complex dynamic problems.

At IIT Madras, he has formed three research groups to study the following attributes, (i) Cyclic characterization of various types of geomaterials., (ii) Development of constitutive models of soils emphasizing on their performance under seismic loadings, and (iii) Application of fundamentals of dynamics to soil-structure problems.

Dr. T. Thyagaraj is a Professor of Civil Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology Madras. He obtained his B.E. (Civil) from Osmania University and M.Sc. (Engg.) and Ph.D. in Geotechnical Engineering from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.
He is actively engaged in teaching, research and consultancy at IIT Madras. His research interests include unsaturated soil behaviour, ground improvement, geoenvironmental engineering and use of waste materials.
He has supervised 10 Doctoral Theses and published over 50 papers in reputed international and national journals.
Dr. Thyagaraj received the prestigious IGS Prof. Dinesh Mohan Award in 2016 for excellence in geotechnical practices.

Dr. Sumanta Haldar is a Professor in Civil Engineering, School of Infrastructure at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bhubaneswar. Dr. Haldar earned his Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore.
Dr. Haldar is the recipient of the Prof. Leonards Best Ph.D. Thesis Award from the Indian Geotechnical Society. With over 15 years of research experience, Dr. Haldar has expertise in offshore geotechnics, soil-structure interaction, and the dynamics of soils and foundations, especially in the context of offshore renewable energy foundations.
His work has significant practical applications in geotechnical engineering, particularly focusing on innovative and sustainable solutions for complex infrastructure challenges. He has published extensively in high-impact journals and conferences.
Beyond his academic and research achievements, Dr. Haldar is deeply involved in various professional societies, contributing to the broader civil engineering community through leadership roles and collaborations.

Ajanta Sachan is Professor in Civil Engineering at IIT Gandhinagar. She has received her Bachelors from IIT Roorkee and PhD from University of Tennessee Knoxville. She has worked as faculty at IIT Guwahati and IIT Gandhinagar.
She has created a high-quality Geotechnical laboratory at IITGN facilitated with high end research equipments including basic testing for UG and PG teaching. Her research area includes Liquefaction, Cyclic Instability, Dynamic properties, Unsaturated Soils and Desiccation Cracking.
She has published more than 50 journal and 60 conference papers. She has created virtual Geotechnical laboratory (http://research.iitgn.ac.in/stl/) to help geotechnical engineers across the country.

Dr. Arindam Dey is currently serving as an Associate Professor at Civil Engineering Department of IIT Guwahati, India. He received his Ph.D. from IIT Kanpur in 2009, and was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at University of Molise, Italy from 2009-2011.

His research interest includes soil dynamics and earthquake engineering, slope stability and landslides,geosynthetic engineering and numerical modelling in geotechnics.

He is an active researcher in experimental and numerical earthquake geotechnics. His research group has published more than 300 technical contributions of national/international repute. He has completed prestigious research projects and is an active research consultant in the area of geotechnical engineering.

Dr. Neelima Satyam, Professor of Civil Engineering at IIT Indore, holds a Ph.D. and M. Tech from IIT Delhi. Her expertise encompasses Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering, Landslide hazard, and Rock engineering. Dr. Satyam secured grants from DST, MHRD, AICTE, etc., and authored 110 international journal papers.

She is a recipient of IEI Young Engineers Award 2011; BRNS Young Scientist Award 2011; AICTE Career award 2012 and JSPS fellowship in 2013,  ISET Shamsher Prakash Mid-Career award 2022, SERB - POWER 2022, IGS-Sardar Resham Singh Award 2022, Best Woman Researcher Award 2023 and JSPS - Bridge Fellowship 2023.

Sangseom Jeong is a professor of Yonsei University, a former president of Korean Geotechnical Society, a vice chair of TC212 (Deep foundations) and a chair of Asian TC-18 (Mega foundations) in ISSMGE.
The main field of expertise is mega foundation of long span bridges and high-rise buildings, deep excavation, landslides. He has co-edited 32 geotechnical engineering textbooks and authored about 115 papers in major reputable SCI & SCIE listed international journals.

Askar Zhussupbekov is a Professor of Civil Engineering at Eurasian National University (Kazakhstan) and adjunct professor at SPBGASU and MGSU (Russia).
He earned his degrees and Ph.D. from SPBGASU. A former Vice-Rector at Karaganda State Industrial University, he now leads the Kazakhstan Geotechnical and Geosynthetic Societies.
As chair of ISSMGE TC 305, he specializes in geotechnical engineering, disaster prevention, and historical site preservation. He has published over 400 papers, supervised 50+ Ph.D. dissertations, and delivered keynotes globally.
He consults on projects across Kazakhstan and Russia and is a member of ASCE, ISSMGE, and other professional bodies.

S. K. Prasad is the Professor & Head of Civil Engineering at Vidyavardhaka College of Engineering, Mysuru having over 37 years of teaching and research experience. He obtained his Bachelor degree from the University of Mysore securing First Rank in 1982, Master degree from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur in 1985 and doctoral degree from University of Tokyo in 1996.

He has published over 180 technical papers in National and International Journals and Conferences, guided over 70 Masters’ Dissertations and three doctoral students. Presently, he is guiding five Ph.D students. He completed sponsored projects from JSSMFE, AICTE, DST and others.

Associate Professor Dominic Ong is currently Deputy Dean (Research) at Griffith University, Queensland, Australia. He obtained his Civil Engineering degree from University of Western Australia and PhD from National University of Singapore.

He specialises in soil–structure interactions, trenchless technology and sustainable construction materials. He is a Fellow of Engineers Australia and IEM Malaysia.

He is currently Joint Editor-in-Chief of the Institution of Civil Engineers’ (ICE) Geotechnical Research, Associate Editor of Underground Space (Elsevier), and sits on the ISSMGE’s TC104 Physical Modelling and TC207 Soil-Structure Interactions.

He is a registered Professional Engineer in Queensland and Malaysia, involving in many consulting projects.

Dr. Benson Hsiung got his PhD from University of Bristol in the UK and then moved to London to work for several large-scale infrastructure projects in both the UK and Taiwan. 

He went back to Taiwan in August 2003 to join the university. His main research activities are deep excavations and soft ground tunneling. Simultaneously, he is also involved in some underground & offshore wind projects as technical consultant or advisor.

Dr. Hsiung is a well-qualified British chartered civil engineer. He is the chair of AsRTC6 as well as member of TC204 and TC305 of ISSMGE, currently working for the Department of Civil Engineering of National Chung-Hsing University in Taichung, Taiwan.
 

Prof. Yao Kai obtained his PhD from National University of Singapore in 2017, and then joined the School of Qilu Transportation at the Shandong University as a Full Professor in 2020, with Humboldt Fellowship in 2023.

His core expertise is on urban underground space development, in particular in the areas of soft ground improvement, deep excavation as well as tunnelling. Prof. Yao has published over 70 journal papers (including 3 ESI highly cited papers), and he has also composed 3 book chapters.

He is an co-editor for Geomechanics and Geoengineering, editor for ICE-Geotechnical Engineering/ICE-Ground Improvement/ICE-Geotechnical Research. Prof. Yao received ICTIM2017/GeoChina2021 Best Paper Award, as well as Shandong Highway Society First Prize.

Dr. Taeseo Ku earned his PhD from Georgia Tech in 2012. His primary research interests are on the related areas of in-situ geotechnics & geophysical site investigations. In 2022, he joined the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Konkuk University as an Associate Professor. 

Before this appointment, Dr. Ku was an Assistant Professor at the National University of Singapore (NUS). He has been the lead principal investigator on several geotechnical and geophysical research projects funded by National Research Foundation of Korea and various Singapore government agencies.

He also served as a nominated member for TC 101 and TC 102, International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE).