Sarah Webster graduated in 1993 with geology honours from Macquarie University. She commenced her career as a mine geologist then geotechnical engineer at Cadia Valley Operations in the newly started Cadia Hill Open cut. In 2006 she moved to St Ives Gold Mine in Kambalda, Western Australia working across open cut, underground and back fill operations. In 2007 awarded Masters Mining Geomechanics from WASM and in 2009 she held position of Geotechnical Superintendent at St Ives. In 2011 she moved back East to Northparkes working as Senior Geotechnical Engineer with the Step Change project, a prefeasibility study of four block caves. She is now the Study Leader for Life of Mine Studies and Exploration at Northparkes, owned by China Molybdenum (CMOC). As Study Leader, Sarah loves bringing together the disciplines of geology, geotechnical, metallurgy, mining and infrastructure to create the future mines at one of the most automated underground mines in the world. She lives in Parkes with husband and two young children.

Chunchen Wei received his BSc degree in Taiyuan University of Technology in 2013 and MSc degree in China University of Mining & Technology, Beijing in 2016. He is currently a final-year PhD student in University of New South Wales with a specialisation in rock mechanics, geotechnical engineering and numerical modelling. His research interests lie in coal burst mechanisms and control, longwall mining and ground control. Recently, his research interests also include numerical analysis of seismic events induced by fault-slip in longwall mining, quantification of energy changes for excavations in various geological and geotechnical conditions.

Ian is an engineer whose work covers geomechanics and ground fluids from a civil, mining and petroleum engineering perspective. He has previously worked in private and government roles. In 1994 he established Sigra in Brisbane and since then has taken it to an international firm which has operated in 14 countries and has two international branches. Sigra supplies field and laboratory services, designs mines, and makes equipment. Ian has written more than 80 papers and holds 20 patents.

Peter Hills has worked in underground mining operations in Australia and Papua New Guinea since 1982. Originally a geologist, he progressively moved into geotechnical engineering after completing his Masters' degree in 1992. His most recent mine appointment was at Beaconsfield where he spent a number of years developing procedures for seismic management. Peter joined pitt&sherry ten years ago after closure of the mine at Beaconsfield and has worked in most states of Australia over that period, focussing on rockmass characterisation and support design, vertical development, instrumentation, seismic management and ground control management plans, and risk assessment.

Jochen Franke has over 20 years experience in developing and deploying 3D based technologies into the mining and minerals processing industries to facilitate optimized operations or processes through dedicated software and services. Jochen's authority has been recognized by peers through invitation as keynote speaker to the European Symposium on Comminution and Classification (ESCC) or selection of a co-authored publication for the 2017 AUSIMM Spectrum Series reference book We are Metallurgists, Not Magicians – Landmark Papers by Practicing Metallurgists for example.

Manoj Khanal is a senior research engineer working in Sustainable Mining Technology program at CSIRO Minerals. He has a Dr.-Ing. degree in mechanical process engineering, and master’s and bachelor’s degrees in mechanical engineering. He has worked in various research organizations in Australia and abroad with more than 13 years of extensive experience in numerical modelling and experimentations. Currently, he is working on mechanical process, mineral processing and mining engineering related areas.

Jason Emery is an RPEQ certified geotechnical engineer with a keen interest in practical innovation and applied research. Jason has published and presented papers in several international journals and conferences including in Australia, China, and the USA. He holds a dual BSc/BA from UQ, a GD and Masters in Geotechnical Engineering from UNSW and is a final year PhD candidate at UNSW. Jason is currently the director and principal geotechnical engineer of Optimum Geotechnics, primarily working for mines located in the Bowen Basin of Central Queensland.