Conference Speakers

Education and Affiliations: Buddhima is a Civil Engineering graduate from Imperial College, London, with a MSc in Soil Mechanics also from Imperial College. He obtained his PhD from University of Alberta in Canada in 1987. Currently, Buddhima Indraratna is a Distinguished Professor of Civil Engineering, and Director of Transport Research Centre, at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). Formerly, he was a Distinguished Professor and the Founding Director of Australian Research Council’s Training Centre for Rail Infrastructure (ARC ITTC-Rail) at the University of Wollongong. He is also an Honorary Professor at the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, India, Shanghai University of Science & Technology and Beijing Jiaotong University, China.

Recognitions and Honours: Buddhima’s contributions to geotechnical and railway engineering have been acknowledged through many national and international awards. In recognition of his outstanding and selfless services, the Australian Geomechanics Society bestowed its highest honour of Life Membership in 2023. On Australia Day (26th January 2024), Buddhima received the most prestigious honour of being inducted as Member of Order of Australia for his contributions to infrastructure development, Ground Improvement and Transportation Geotechnics.

In 2023 October, Buddhima received the prestigious Sir Visveswaraya Prize from the Institution of Civil Engineers, London for the most outstanding contribution to Civil Engineering outside the United Kingdom. This was followed by the 2024 International Civil Engineer Award received in Madrid, Spain and then a couple of weeks ago, Sir John Holland Civil Engineer of the Year 2024 awarded by Engineers Australia. These are remarkable recognitions, honouring his eminent contributions to the field of Civil Engineering with global impact, especially in advancing transportation infrastructure through geotechnical expertise.

The other significant awards include the 1st Ralph Proctor and 4th Louis Menard lecture Awards from the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE) in 2016 and 2017, respectively. He also delivered the 2009 EH Davis Memorial Lecture of the Australian Geomechanics Society for contributions to Theory and Practice of Geomechanics and the 2022 Stephen Marich lecture on Advances in Railroad Engineering. He also received the pinnacle recognition from the International Association of Computer Methods and Advances in Geomechanics (IACMAG), the Medal of Excellence for life-time contributions.

For his pioneering contributions, he was also honoured with the 2009 Business and Higher Education award by the Australian Commonwealth government, Institution of Engineers Australia Transport Medal in 2011 and the Australia-New Zealand Railway Technical Society’s Outstanding Individual Award in 2015. Other numerous international awards include Thomas Telford Premium by the Institution of Civil Engineers (UK) and thrice the recipient of Robert Quigley commendation awards by the Canadian Geotechnical Society.

Research Leadership, Publications and Supervision: Buddhima currently leads numerous projects worth over $ 1.5 million per year. In the past 3 decades he had earned a research income over $40 million. He has been a consultant to various infrastructure organisations worldwide, and a former United Nations expert representing Australia. He has published over 1000 papers including 14 books, about 500 journal papers, and over 90 invited Keynote papers in all continents. He has successfully supervised over 80 PhD students, >30 MSc/MEng students, and > 50 Postdoctoral Fellows. Buddhima was the past Chair of the Ground Improvement Advisory Board of Inst. of Civil Engineers (UK), and the Chief Editor of the ICE (UK) Journal of Ground Improvement, and an Associate Editor of Canadian Geotechnical Journal and ASCE J. of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, and an EBM of 7 other journals.

Professional Fellowships: 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 the American Society of Civil Engineers (FASCE), Fellow of Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (FAusIMM), and a Fellow of the Geological Society of UK (FGS). He is a Chartered Professional Engineer of Australia, United Kingdom, and Sri Lanka.