Hehua Zhu 
Tongji University, China

Title: 
Inaugural GEOAI Distinguished Lecture 
Biography：
Prof. Hehua Zhu is an expert in tunnels and underground space. He is currently the Distinguished Professor of Tongji University and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Prof. Zhu was the former dean of the School of Civil Engineering, Tongji University, and now serves as the director of State Key Laboratory of Disaster Reduction in Civil Engineering. He is also the chairman of the Data Standards Committee of the International Geotechnical Engineering Union, the vice chairman of the China National Group of the International Society of Rock Mechanics. Prof. Zhu established the international academic journal Underground Space (JCR Q1). He won honors such as the second prizes of the National Science and Technology Progress Award, the German Humboldt Research Prize, the T. Pian Medal for International Academic Contribution, the Outstanding Contribution Award for the Implementation of the “Eleventh Five-Year Plan” Science and Technology Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the National Outstanding Science and Technology Worker, and the Shanghai Famous Teaching Teacher, etc.

Chuan He 
Southwest Jiaotong University, China

Title: 
Intelligent Construction for Drilling and Blasting Tunnels: Dynamic and Intelligent Decision of Supporting Structures
Biography：
Prof. Chuan He is Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Vice President and Chief Professor of Southwest Jiaotong University, Director of the National Engineering Research Center of Geological Disaster Prevention Technology in Land Transportation, and Director of the Key Laboratory of the Transportation Tunnel Engineering Ministry of Education. He serves as the Vice Chairman of the China Railway Society, the Vice Chairman of the Chinese Society of Rock Mechanics and Engineering. He has been committed to the structural analysis and safety control research of large and complex tunnel projects. He has published 7 monographs and more than 300 SCI/EI indexed articles in academic journals, acted as the Chief Editor of one national railway industry standard and one local standard. He has also received many awards including one first prize and two second prizes of the National Science and Technology Progress Award, one second prize of National Technological Invention Award, and the Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation Science and Technology Progress Award, and the First National Innovation Award.

Limin Zhang 
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong SAR, China

Title: 
AI Empowered Landslide Risk Assessment
Biography：
Dr. Limin Zhang is Chair Professor and Head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Director of Digital Cities and Smart Hazard Mitigation Laboratory at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. His research areas include slopes, dams, foundations, and geotechnical risk assessment and management. Dr. Zhang is Chair of International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE)’s TC210 on Embankment Dams, Past Chair of ASCE Geo-Institute’s Risk Assessment and Management Committee, Editor-in-Chief of Georisk, Associate Editor of ASCE’s Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, and editorial board member of Engineering Geology, Computers and Geotechnics and other journals. He is recipient of ASCE Ralph Peck Award, Chinese National Engineer Award, and ISSMGE’s Lacasse Lecture Award.

Brian Sheil 
University of Cambridge, UK

Title: 
Digital Underground Construction: Measurement & Monitoring
Biography：
Dr. Brian Sheil is a Civil Engineering and PhD (geotechnics) graduate from the National University of Ireland, Galway. Joining the University of Oxford in 2014, he progressed from postdoctoral researcher to departmental lecturer in geotechnical engineering. He was awarded a Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellowship and a Junior Research Fellowship at St Catherine’s College, Oxford, in 2018, eventually attaining the title of Associate Professor in 2022. In 2022, he moved to University of Cambridge to take up the Laing O'Rourke Associate Professorship in Construction Engineering and recently transitioned to become the Director of the Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction (CSIC). Noteworthy recognition of his work includes the ‘Young Researcher Award 2022’ from the Civil Engineering Research Association of Ireland and the ‘Bright Spark Lecture Award’ from the International Society for Soil Mechanics & Geotechnical Engineering. His research is focused on 'digital underground construction,' leveraging digital twins, machine learning, advanced sensing technologies, and modelling to revolutionize underground infrastructure delivery, with a focus on sustainability, productivity, and safety enhancements.

Lining Zheng 
China Southwest Geotechnical Investigation & Design Institute Co., Ltd., China

Title: 
Digitalized and Intelligent Technologies for Site Investigation of Large-Scale Airport Engineering and Applications
Biography：
Dr. Lining Zheng is an expert in the fields of geotechnical engineering, underground space development, utilization and construction. He is the Chief Engineer of China Southwest Geotechnical Investigation & Design Institute Co., Ltd., Senior Engineer, and Adjunct Professor of Southwest Jiaotong University. He is the Vice Chairman of Sichuan Society of Architect & Civil Engineer, Deputy Director of Geotechnical Engineering Branch of China Association of Construction Enterprise Management, and Deputy Chairman of Survey Committee of China Association for Engineering Construction Standardization. He has won many honors, including Sichuan Tianfu Ten-Thousand Talents Program, Chinese Construction Craftsman, Sichuan Craftsman, and Science and Technology Innovation Talent of the Ministry of Transport. He serves as the principal investigator of 11 national and provincial-level projects, contributed to the editing of 16 technical standards, and published 5 books and 75 academic papers. He won 12 science and technology awards, managed dozens of major projects as PI, and won more than 30 provincial survey and design outstanding engineering awards.

Hongwei Huang 
Tongji University, China

Title: 
ML-based Decision on Safety Risk in Tunnel Driving
Biography：
Prof. Hongwei Huang is the Distinguished Chair Professor of Tongji University, China. He is mainly engaged in risk assessment on Geo-structural system, underground infrastructure safety and health monitoring and inspection, etc. Currently, he is the director of Shanghai Institute of Disaster Prevention and Relief, the founding director of International Joint Research Centre for Resilient Infrastructure of Tongji University. And also, he has been the Founding Chair of Engineering Risk and Insurance Research Branch of China Civil Engineering Society since 2009. While serving as core members for international academic committees including GeoSNet, Geo-Institute on Risk Management of ASCE, TC304 of ISSMEGE, WG2 of ITA, etc., Prof. Huang is also the Associate editor or EBM of several top International Journals in risk and tunnel fields. And with more than 200 journal papers and more than 6 books published, over 15 keynotes in various prestigious international conferences delivered, Prof. Huang has also chaired more than 5 international conferences and further received 2 International Distinguished Service Awards.

Filippo Catani  
University of Padova, Italy

Title: 
AI-based Solutions for Mitigating Geological Hazards: an Overview
Biography：
Filippo Catani, PhD, is Full Professor of Engineering Geology and Director of the “Machine Intelligence and Slope Stability Laboratory” (MISSlab) with the Department of Geosciences of the University of Padova. Since 2016 he is UNESCO Chair Associate on the Prevention and Sustainable Management of Geo-Hydrological Hazards at the University of Florence (Italy). He is Invited Professor of Landslide Monitoring and Early Warning at the Korean Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM, South Korea), and at the SKLGP of Chengdu University of Technology (China). He is member of NASA-JPL informal group on Earth Surface Changes. He is member of the Scientific Committee of the Centre of Civil Protection of the University of Florence, ERASMUS Program Delegate for the Master Program in Water and Geological Risk Engineering at the University of Padova, and member of the Scientific Board of the Italian Branch of IAEG. He is Editor for the NHESS journal.

Yu Wang 
City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

Title: 
Machine Learning of Limited Site-specific Borehole Data and Prior Geological Knowledge for 3D Subsurface Geological Modeling
Biography：
Dr. Yu Wang is a professor at City University of Hong Kong, and an elected Fellow of American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). His recent research efforts have focused on machine learning in geotechnical engineering, analytics and simulation of geo-data, digital twin of subsurface geo-structures, geotechnical uncertainty, reliability and risk, and risk assessment of critical civil infrastructure systems. His research has earned several prestigious international/national awards, including the 2023 Thomas A. Middlebrooks Award from ASCE, the 2022 R.M. Quigley Award (Honourable Mention) from Canadian Geotechnical Society, the 2020 Best Paper Award from the ASCE-ASME Journal of Risk and Uncertainty in Engineering Systems, Part A: Civil Engineering, the 2020 First-class Natural Science Award from the Ministry of Education, China, the Highly Cited Research Award from the international journal of Engineering Geology in 2017, and the GEOSNet Young Researcher Award from the Geotechnical Safety Network (GEOSNet) in 2015. Dr Wang has authored/co-authored over 180 journal papers and two books in English. He served as president of ASCE Hong Kong Section in 2012-2013 and currently serves in editorial boards of several top journals in geotechnical engineering or risk and uncertainty analysis (e.g., Associate Editor for the ASCE Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering).