Cambridge University Geotechnical Society (CUGS) - Seminar Series


2015-10-21 19:30: The collapse at Nicoll Highway Station in Singapore (Dr Brian Simpson (ARUP))

2015-11-04 19:30: Going Underground: The Past, Present and Future of Tunnelling and Underground Space (Colin Eddie)

2015-11-18 18:00: Current Challenges in Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering (Dr Stavroula Kontoe (Imperial College))

2015-12-02 19:30: Re-engineering of A5 Glyn Bends Cutting, Corwen (Sergio Solera (Mott MacDonald))

2016-01-20 19:30: Rescuing the Leaning Tower of Pisa (Professor John Burland, Emeritus Professor at Imperial College London)

2016-02-03 19:30: Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon Phase 1 Ground Investigation (Simon Holt (Principal Engineering Geologist, Ground Engineering, ATKINS))

2016-02-17 19:30: The future of shotcrete tunnelling (Dr Benoit D. Jones (Course Director - Laing O’Rourke Centre Construction Engineering Masters Programme))

2016-04-13 19:30: Investigating the cyclic behaviour of clays using a kinematic hardening soil model (Dr Gaetano Elia (Newcastle University))

2016-04-19 12:30: Induced Earthquakes in The Netherlands – Impact on Society and Research Results (Dr Mandy Korff (Deltares))

2016-04-26 19:30: Explaining Geotechnical Risks (Tim Chapman (Arup))

2016-04-27 19:30: Sustainable Biogeotechnics: An Overview and Recent Technical Advances (Professor Jason DeJong (UC Davis))

2016-05-11 19:30: Some Experiences with the Foundations of Gravity Dams (Tim Blower (Mott MacDonald))

2016-06-08 19:30: My past 22 years at Cambridge (Prof. Kenichi Soga, Department of Engineering)

2016-10-12 19:00: Observations from the 2015 Nepal Earthquake (Dr Matthew DeJong (CUED - Senior Lecturer in Structural Engineering), Dr Barnali Ghosh (Mott MacDonald - Senior Principal Engineer))

2016-10-25 19:00: Basement Design and Construction Problems at Oxford Westgate (Dr Wilson Kesse and Mr Corin Walford (Laing O'Rourke))

2016-10-26 19:00: The loss of bulk ore carriers at sea – some geotechnical aspects (Professor David W. Hight (GCG - Senior Consultant and Founding Director))

2016-11-23 19:00: Managing ground risks and reducing costs for offshore wind foundations (Sebastien Manceau)

2017-01-25 19:00: Devoll Hydropower Project Albania - Adding value through identifying risk and opportunity (Scott Davidson, Mott MacDonald)

2017-02-08 19:00: Resilience and sustainability of infrastructure slopes and embankments (Professor Lidija Zdravkovic (Professor of Computational Geomechanics & Head of Geotechnics at Imperial College London))

2017-02-22 19:00: Pile Design by Performance - Fact or Friction? (Dr. Dimitrios Selematas, Chief Geotechnical Engineer Cementation Skanska)

2017-03-16 19:00: One hour with NGI (Norwegian Geotechnical Institute): ‘Inside NGI’ and ‘Assessing Risk - what can it tell us’ (Dr Lars Andresen (Managing Director, NGI) and Professor Dr Suzanne Lacasse (Technical Director, NGI))

2017-05-03 19:00: Who wants to be a Tunnel Engineer - Isn't it boring? (Peter Wright (CH2M))

2017-10-18 19:00: Material point method and applications in geotechnical engineering  (Dr Alex Rohe (Senior consultant at Deltares Delft, Netherlands))

2017-11-01 19:00: Overcoming the design and construction challenges for the Crossrail Canary Wharf station (Dr Hoe-Chian Yeow (Technical Director at COWI UK Ltd))

2017-11-15 19:00: Linking design to construction, pitfalls and opportunities (Tony O'Brien (Global Practice Leader for Geotechnics at Mott MacDonald))

2017-11-29 19:00: How safe is underground nuclear waste storage in claystones? (Professor Catherine Davy)

2018-02-21 19:00: Deformation of Granular Materials: A Look Within (Professor Gioacchino Viggiani (Université Grenoble Alpes))

2018-03-07 19:00: Designing and Constructing the Exhibition Road Quarter at the V&A (Dr Stuart Hardy (Arup))

2018-03-20 19:00: Soil amplification of seismic motion: The case histories of the Mexico  City 1985 and 2017 disasters (Professor George Gazetas (National  Technical University of Athens))

2018-05-02 19:00: Molecular simulations to predict evolutions of properties of clays with moisture? A comparison with experiments on thin clay films (Dr Matthieu Vandamme, Laboratoire Navier (ENPC, CNRS, IFSTTAR) at École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées)

2018-05-16 19:00: Geotechnical considerations and impacts on the operational railway (Mr Neil Moss, Transport for London (TfL))

2018-05-30 19:00: Groundwater control for construction (Dr Martin Preene, Preene Grounwater Consulting)

2018-06-13 19:00: Seismic Triggering of Submarine Landslides (Dr Giovanna Biscontin, University of Cambridge)

2018-10-17 19:00: Seismic design of onshore and offshore pipelines (Dr Prodromos Psarropoulos )

2018-10-31 19:00: Geomechanics - The view from below (John Mawditt (AECOM))

2018-11-14 13:00: Large deformation modelling in Geomechanics (Dr. Krishna Kumar)

2018-11-21 19:00: SOFT GROUTING FOR SEISMIC ISOLATION: Numerical and Physical modelling (Dr. Valeria Nappa)

2018-11-28 19:00: Improving reliability of filters in dams and flood embankments: a particle scale perspective (Professor Catherine O'Sullivan (lmperial College London))

2019-02-06 19:00: Chalk earthworks for HS1 (Alan Phear (Arup))

2019-02-20 19:00: Case study: Edinburgh St. James Project ( Benjamin Smith & Corin Walford (Laing O'Rourke))

2019-03-06 19:00: Field cone penetration testing and geotechnical investigation case studies (Nicholas Armstrong (Fugro))

2019-03-21 19:00: Preservation of historic towers in Venice: the instructive monitoring driven intervention on the foundations of the Frari bell tower (Prof. Guido Gottardi (University of Bologna))

2022-11-03 18:00: Atterberg Limits Revisited (Professor Stuart Haigh, Dept of Engineering, University of Cambridge)

2023-11-22 18:00: Advances in Soils/Water Modelling & AI (Prof (Associate) Xiaohui Chen, University of Leeds )

2023-12-07 18:00: Excavation support fluids: from failure to fruition (Prof Stephan Jefferis, Visiting Fellow at the Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford)

2025-11-04 17:00: Robotic Specimen Preparation: Towards Soil Mechanics 2.0? (Prof. Hans Henning Stutz)

2025-11-12 17:00: Application of bearing capacity theory in soil-machine interaction (Dr. James (Jim) Hambleton, Geotechnical and Environmental Research Group)

2025-11-19 17:00: Alternative mitigation strategies for landslides impacting pipelines: use of compliant materials to lower tractive forces in moving ground (Dr. Alex Baumgard, BGC Engineering, Inc.)

2025-11-26 17:30: Integral bridge abutment and backfill behaviour (Mr Douglas Morley, Schofield Centre)