The YMPG in collaboration with the Organising Committee for the 5th International Conference on Transportation Geotechnics (5ICTG) in Australia would like to announce the winners of the Bright Spark Lecture Award to three distinguished young geotechnical engineers/academics listed below. They were invited to give keynote lectures on 20-22 November 2024.
Isabella Novais Silva, Ph.D. Student, University of Technology Sydney, Australia
Bright Spark Lecture Title: "Role of fabric on the shear behaviour of subgrade soil under cyclic loading"
Dr Manasi Wijerathna, Senior Geotechnical Engineer, EDG Consulting, Australia
Bright Spark Lecture Title: "Evaluation of Ground Deformations to Assess the Impact on Underground Utilities Due to Embankment Construction"
Dr Han-Lin Wang, Professor, Hunan University, China
Bright Spark Lecture Title: "Experimental study of soil arching effect in compacted clay at unsaturated state"
The Bright Spark Lecture Award was established to promote young members of the ISSMGE to play a major role in various international and regional conferences. Recipients of this award are invited to give a keynote lecture at ISSMGE conferences. All Technical Committee conference organisers and Member Society conference organisers are encouraged to select Bright Spark Lecturers at their conferences. Details regarding the award can be found on the ISSMGE website: https://www.issmge.org/the-society/awards/bright-spark-lecture-award.
We invite everyone, especially young geotechnical engineers, to come and enjoy the lectures. We hope these lectures can inspire and motivate us further to excel in our beloved field, geotechnical engineering.
Winners Bio
Isabella Novais Silva
Isabella Novais Silva is a PhD student at the Transport Research Centre, University of Technology Sydney. She received her bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from the Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Brazil, in 2018. During her undergraduate studies, she was awarded the Brazilian Science Without Borders scholarship, enabling her to conduct part of her studies at Curtin University, Perth. Currently in the final year of her doctoral studies, Isabella's research focuses on the micro-mechanisms of soil instability, subgrade soil performance under dynamic loading, and the sustainable use of waste materials for subgrade improvement. She has conducted extensive experimental work using advanced techniques such as X-ray microscopic tomography to evaluate soil behavior. Some of her research findings have already been published in high-impact journals, including Acta Geotechnica and the Canadian Geotechnical Journal and prestigious conferences.
Manasi Wijerathna
Manasi received her bachelor's degree with First Class Honours and her Masters Degree, from The University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka before completing her PhD at Western Sydney University, Australia, in 2018. Her doctoral research focused on probabilistic approaches to assess the impact of spatial variability of strength parameters of deep cement mixed soils, resulting in 17 publications including Q1 and Q2 Journals. Beginning her career at a renowned engineering consultancy in Australia, Manasi concurrently worked as a part-time Lecturer at Western Sydney University from 2018 2021. She has provided outstanding contributions to recent legacy infrastructure projects such as Pacific Highway Upgrade, WestConnex M4-M5 Link Tunnels and Inland Rail. Manasi received the second runner-up award at the Australian Geotechnical Society - Young Geotechnical Professionals Presentations and was a finalist at the Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka (IESL) - NSW Chapter Engineering Excellence Awards in 2019. She is a Chartered Professional Engineer (CPEng-MIEAust) in Australia and a Registered Professional Engineer in Queensland (RPEQ). Further, she has served as the Secretary of IESL - NSW Chapter and actively contributes to scholarly research as a manuscript reviewer for top-tier journals and conferences. Presently, Manasi is a Senior Geotechnical Engineer affiliated to Tonkin + Taylor, Australia.
Han-Lin Wang
Han-Lin Wang is a professor in College of Civil Engineering, Hunan University. He obtained Bachelor and PhD degrees from Zhejiang University. Before joining Hunan University, he studied or worked in Ecole des Ponts ParisTech, University of Macau, Cardiff University and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. In 2021, he was awarded the Distinguished Young Scholar (Overseas) from the National Natural Science Foundation of China. His research focuses on transportation geotechnics, with 11 publications in Géotechnique, ASCE-Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering and Canadian Geotechnical Journal. His relevant investigations have been adopted in several practical engineering projects, including several tunnelling projects in Changsha and Shenzhen, substructure maintenance for TGV high-speed railway lines in France. He is currently a Corresponding Member of TC202 (Transportation Geotechnics) in International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE). He was also elected as the secretary of the Task Force 6 Climatic effects on geomaterial behaviour related to mechanics of unsaturated transportation foundations for TC202. He serves as the Editorial Member or Editor of Special issues in several journals, including Transportation Geotechnics, Transportation Infrastructure Geotechnology, etc. In May 2023, he delivered a Keynote Speech in The 4th National Conference on Transportation Geotechnics in Lanzhou, China.
