Dr Charlie Li is a professor in rock mechanics for mining and civil engineering at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway. His expertise is in stability assessment of underground spaces and ground control. He worked as a ground control engineer in a mine in Sweden for more than four years before his academic career at NTNU. His interests are rockbolting technology, ground support, dynamic ground support and rockburst. He published a book entitled “Rockbolting – Principles and Applications” in 2017. Professor Li is a member of the Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences. He was the ISRM Vice President for Europe 2015-2019.

Prof Ismet Canbulat is a mining engineer with over 30 years of experience in research, consultancy, management, on-site and academia. He has BSc, MSc and PhD degrees from Istanbul Technical University, University of the Witwatersrand and University of Pretoria respectively. In South Africa, he worked for the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), where he was a Research Area Manager in Rock Engineering Programme. After 10 years in research he moved to consultancy and worked for Groundwork Consulting and later for Strata Engineering (currently Golder Associates) in Australia as a Principal Engineer. In 2008, Ismet joined Anglo American Coal in Brisbane, where he was the Group Geotechnical Engineer for underground operations until November 2014. He was responsible for leading the development of geotechnical engineering standards, procedures and the best practices, supporting operations in mine design and green field projects at concept, pre-feasibility and feasibility levels, providing technical support for business risk management, technical support for design and selection of mining equipment as well as implementation of new technologies and research findings at operations. Since 2014, Ismet is Professor, Head of School and Kenneth Finlay Chair of Rock Mechanics at the School of Minerals and Energy Resources Engineering, UNSW Sydney.

Peter graduated from the UNSW in Sydney Australia in 1980. He worked for ACIRL Ltd and Coffey Partners International. Then from 1993 he spent 12 years at Mt Charlotte Gold Mine, Kalgoorlie focusing on practical issues including seismicity and stope stability. He was a key player in mine safety, accident investigation, and risk management. In 2005 Peter formed Mikula Geotechnics, a geotechnical consultancy working in underground hard rock mining, mainly seismicity and dynamic capable ground support. He pioneered an empirical charting method for confident selection of dynamic ground support in seismic environments. He authored or co-authored over 50 professional papers.

Prof Ismet Canbulat is a mining engineer with over 30 years of experience in research, consultancy, management, on-site and academia. He has BSc, MSc and PhD degrees from Istanbul Technical University, University of the Witwatersrand and University of Pretoria respectively. In South Africa, he worked for the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), where he was a Research Area Manager in Rock Engineering Programme. After 10 years in research he moved to consultancy and worked for Groundwork Consulting and later for Strata Engineering (currently Golder Associates) in Australia as a Principal Engineer. In 2008, Ismet joined Anglo American Coal in Brisbane, where he was the Group Geotechnical Engineer for underground operations until November 2014. He was responsible for leading the development of geotechnical engineering standards, procedures and the best practices, supporting operations in mine design and green field projects at concept, pre-feasibility and feasibility levels, providing technical support for business risk management, technical support for design and selection of mining equipment as well as implementation of new technologies and research findings at operations. Since 2014, Ismet is Professor, Head of School and Kenneth Finlay Chair of Rock Mechanics at the School of Minerals and Energy Resources Engineering, UNSW Sydney.