Dr Simon Loew (Löw) has been full Professor of Engineering Geology at the Institute of Geology of the ETH Zurich since September 1996. Simon studied geology at the University of Basel (Switzerland). After completing his dissertation in 1985 on the tectonic and metamorphic history of a crystalline nappe in the Alps, he took up a post as project geologist with Motor Columbus Consulting Engineers (today COLENCO Ltd.), working in the area of energy and environmental technology. In the late 1980s Dr Loew became project leader of several large interdisciplinary projects related to the final storage of nuclear and toxic wastes, large traffic tunnels (NEAT, AlpTransit) and natural hazards. From 1993 to 1996 he was director of the Profit Center “Groundwater Management and Waste Disposal” in the same company.

At ETH Simon is responsible for the MSc Program majoring in Engineering Geology and the Continued Education Program in Applied Earth Sciences. His research group includes about 20 scientists from geology, geophysics, chemistry and geotechnical engineering, who jointly study hydro-mechanical and hydrothermal processes and properties of fractured rock masses at project relevant scales. Current research projects concern ground settlements above deep tunnels, hydro-mechanical processes around repository drifts for nuclear wastes, permeability structure, groundwater and heat circulation systems in fractured rocks, and the formation of large rock slope instabilities. Simon is an executive member of many national and international boards and commissions. Currently he is president of the Swiss Commission of Nuclear Waste Disposal KNE.

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Born in Costa Rica, Dr Sergio Mora obtained BSc and MSc degrees in Engineering Geology at the Central American School of Geology, University of Costa Rica, and MSc and PhD degrees in Engineering Geology (Rock Mechanics) at the National School of Engineering Geology, Nancy, France. Dr Mora was Professor of Geotechnical Geology, Soil and Rock Mechanics and Natural Hazards Assessment at the Central American School of Geology, University of Costa Rica for some 15 years between 1983 and 1998. In the latter part of this period, he lead the Engineering Geology Department of the Costa Rican National Electricity Company (1996-1998), focusing on Hydroelectric Development and Natural Hazards Assessment. Sergio extended his interest in hazards and disaster risk in his role as Environmental, Natural Resources and Risk Management Specialist at the Inter-American Development Bank based in Bolivia, with assigned duties at the Bank’s Headquarters (Washington, DC), Dominican Republic, Haiti, El Salvador and Bolivia from 1998 to 2007. Since 2008, he has worked as an independent consultant to the World Bank (Central America, Haiti, Djibouti) and lecturer in Engineering Geology, specialising in the fields of Environmental, Natural Resources and Disaster Risk Management. He now resides in Argentina.

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Mr Tim Sullivan graduated from Macquarie University, Australia, in 1973 with a degree in Geology. He joined Coffey, Australia in 1974 and was employed with them until 1993. While at Coffey, Mr Sullivan became a Director of the firm and established the Mining Geotechnics Group. In 1979 to 1980 Mr Sullivan undertook post-graduate studies in London and was awarded an MSc from the University of London and a DIC from the Imperial College of Science and Technology. From 1992 to 1993, he was a Visiting Professor at the School of Mines, University of New South Wales. He is currently Adjunct Professor in the School of Geotechnical Engineering, University of New South Wales.

In 1993, Tim established his own firm and is currently a Director and Principal Consultant of Pells Sullivan Meynink Pty Ltd. He has developed a particular interest in the fields of mine stability and design, landslides and the engineering geological/ geotechnical model. Mr Sullivan has worked throughout Australia, New Zealand, Asia and the Pacific. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Australia and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.

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Dr Susumu YASUDA is Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Tokyo Denki University. He was born in Hiroshima. He received his B.S. in Civil Engineering from the Kyushu Institute of Technology, and his Doctorate in Civil Engineering from the University of Tokyo in 1975. Following his Doctorate, he worked at Kiso-jiban Consultants Co. as a geotechnical consulting engineer. He joined the Kyushu Institute of Technology in 1986 and Tokyo Denki University in 1994.

His main research interest is in soil liquefaction during earthquakes. He has visited many countries to investigate the damage due to liquefaction, and most recently China following the Wenchuan earthquake of May 2008. He was the Vice President of the Japanese Association for Earthquake Engineering from 2005 to 2006, and Vice President of the Japanese Geotechnical Society from 2006 to 2007. Dr Yasuda is Chairman of the Asian Technical Committee No.3 on Geotechnology for Natural Hazards, formed by the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering.

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Dr Hamish Campbell will present an introduction to the geology and structure of New Zealand. He is a senior research scientist with GNS Science and is based at Avalon, Lower Hutt. He is a New Zealander with qualifications in geology and paleontology from Otago, Auckland and Cambridge (UK) universities. He gained some experience in engineering geology in the late 1980s, in the context of the Clyde Dam and Cromwell Gorge landslide projects (Central Otago, New Zealand). Then in 1990, he worked for some months in the Santa Cruz Mountains as a consulting geologist with Smith-Evernden Associates based in Davenport, California. His current research interests relate to the provenance (original sources) of the older sedimentary and metamorphic rocks of New Zealand, the geological history of the Chatham Islands, and geological constraints on the antiquity and origins of the New Zealand native terrestrial biota. He and his colleagues have recently advanced the controversial idea that New Zealand may have been totally submerged 23 million years ago and in 2008 he published a popular book that embraces this idea (‘In Search of Ancient New Zealand’). However, he is perhaps best known as a science communicator and ‘resident GNS Science geologist’ at the National Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in Wellington.

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