Professor Dietmar Adam
Professor Dr. Dietmar Adam is Head of the Institute of Geotechnics at TU Wien, Head of the Research Unit of Ground Engineering, Soil and Rock Mechanics, and Head of the Soil Mechanics Laboratory, the first chair of which was held by Karl von Terzaghi. Since the early 1990s, he has built an outstanding academic, research, and professional career in civil and geotechnical engineering. He earned his PhD from TU Wien in 1996, completed his habilitation in 2002, and was appointed Full Professor of Ground Engineering, Soil and Rock Mechanics in 2008.
Since joining TU Wien in 1992, Professor Adam has been a leading international pioneer in Roller-integrated Continuous Compaction Control (CCC) and Intelligent Compaction (IC). He also initiated pioneering research on energy geostructures, advancing their development from fundamental research to practical applications in foundations, railway and subway tunnels.
His research interests include soil dynamics, compaction and compaction control, ground improvement, deep vibro compaction, innovative geomaterials, railway tamping and dynamic track stabilization, and ground freezing. He has led numerous national and international research projects with pioneering results and is named as inventor on multiple patents.
Professor Adam has received several prestigious awards, including the Austrian State Award for Sustainability in Climate Protection for Transportation Technologies. His scientific output comprises more than 400 publications and around 300 invited lectures, keynote addresses, and special presentations at international conferences. He has also delivered several distinguished memorial lectures, including the Kézdi Árpád Memorial Lecture (2010), the Nonveiller Lecture (2022), the Széchy Károly Memorial Lecture (2023), and the Balushev Lecture (2024).
He has extensive experience in organizing international conferences, serving as Executive Chair of all Austrian Geotechnical Conferences since 1997, Chair of the 15th Danube European Conference on Geotechnical Engineering (2014), and Co-Chair and Scientific Chair of the 21st International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering in Vienna (2026).
In addition to his academic work, Professor Adam has been responsible for more than 1,000 civil, geotechnical, and environmental engineering projects in over 40 countries. He serves on numerous national and international committees, is Secretary of the Austrian Geotechnical Society, a member of ISSMGE Technical Committee 308 (Energy Geotechnics) and has been appointed to the ISSMGE Board for the 2026 2030 term.
