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.

Serkan Saydam received his BSc, MSc and PhD degrees in Mining Engineering from the Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey and completed his Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. He then worked at De Beers for 3 years as a project manager in Johannesburg, South Africa. Serkan joined the School of Mining Engineering as a Senior Lecturer in 2006 and since 2017 he has been working as a professor. He is currently Chair in Mining Engineering at the School of Minerals and Energy Resources Engineering at UNSW. A key focus of his research is to address the current needs and future challenges faced by the minerals industry. These are generally very complex engineering problems, as mining environments become more extreme and constraints are imposed due to increasing social, environmental, and health and safety standards. His fields of research include space resources engineering, ground control, mine systems design, mine internet of things, and technology integration and management. He established research collaboration with NASA, ESA and Luxembourg Space Agency, as well as more than 40 research organisations and universities globally. He has more than 250 publications and graduated with 16 PhD students. Serkan attracted more than $15M research grants. Serkan is known for founding and chairing the AusIMM’s International Future Mining Conference Series, and co-chairs AusIMM’s AusRock Conference Series and Off-Earth Mining Forums. Professor Saydam is the High-Level Advisory Board Member of EU funded illuMINEation Project and the Advisory Board Member of 7Sisters Mission, the first Australian Mission for the Moon. Serkan is also the inventor of the Virtual Mine – ViMINE mining engineering game. Professor Saydam received multiple academic awards including the 2020 UNSW Dean’s Award for Global Impact, 2019 UNSW Vice Chancellor’s Postgraduate Research Supervision Award and 2017 Society of Mining Professors’ International Tim Shaw Innovation in Teaching Award. Serkan is currently a Fellow Member of the AusIMM; President of the ISRM Commission on Planetary Rock Mechanics; Deputy Director of the Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research (ACSER) at UNSW; Deputy Secretary-General and Council Member of the SOMP (The Society of Mining Professors).

Stephen Durkin is CEO of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM), the peak body representing 13,000 members working in the resources sector. Stephen is a civil engineer by qualification and throughout his 30-year career has worked in a wide range of industries around the world. His experience encompasses association management and business leadership, including CEO of Engineers Australia for 5 years and AusIMM CEO since May 2017. Stephen is passionate about transforming associations so that they continue to lead the way in upholding professional standards and supporting members’ careers. He is a champion of professionals and their vital role to provide trusted advice to the communities and organisations they serve.

Reşat Ulusay, born in 1952 in İzmir (Turkey), obtained BSc and MSc degrees on engineering geology from the Geological Engineering Department at Hacettepe University (HU) in 1975 and PhD degree from the Middle East Technical University (METU) in 1991, Ankara, Turkey, respectively. His main research activities are concentrated on engineering geology, rock mechanics and soil mechanics; particularly on slope stability, rock mass characterization and classification, laboratory and in-situ geomechanical testing, geo-engineering at historical sites, earthquake-induced ground deformations, attenuation relationships and swelling. He is the President of ISRM Commission on Testing Methods, member of ISRM Design Methodology Commission and ISRM Fellow since 2006, 2008 and 2015, respectively. He presented 8th ISRM Online Lecture. "2016 Hans Cloos Medal" of IAEG was conferred to Prof. Ulusay for his contribution to the development of engineering geology. He also acted as President of the Turkish Society of Engineering Geology and member of Turkish Earthquake Advisory Board.

In 2017, Rigo Rimmelin took the role of Practice Lead Global Geotechnical (based in Brisbane) in the Resource Centre of Excellence in BHP, to provide technical support, standards, technical assurance and governance of geotechnical review boards across BHP sites. His career has been focused on mine operations, mine design and geotechnical assurance, with 20+ years’ experience in several mining companies and surface and underground mining methods. Over the last years, Rigo has implemented global standards to address the geotechnical process and geotechnical risk management, involving different commodities of Iron Ore, Copper, Coal, Nickel and Potash, under different rock mass environments, mining methods, including operating and closed sites. He has received his Bachelor of Mining Engineering and Master of Science in Geotechnical Engineering from the University of Chile, and he is currently PhD candidate in The University of Queensland. Rigo is also BHP representative in industry initiatives such as the Large Open Pit Project (LOP) and Cave Mining 2040 Consortium.

Recently taking up the role of Executive General Manager of Mining Excellence with Centennial, Rae has 25+ years Mining Experience, including many years within site & corporate operational management, technical, business planning, risk and strategy functions. Her career has been focused on holistic management, understanding & integrating disparate functions within an operation or company - addressing key operational & technical risks, understanding key value drivers for business decisions, as well as organisational culture. She has also designed and implemented many company-wide processes, standards & practises for technical and other functions across underground and opencut operations alike. Rae has a passion for advancing the knowledge boundaries in Mining Engineering and earth sciences - recently appointed Chairperson of the ACRL Board, having been an active committee member for several years. Her other recent roles for various companies include Mining Advisor to CEO, (Mine Site) General Manager, Director of Roadway Development, Group Manager of Technical Services.

Dr Simit Raval is Director of Undergraduate Studies in Mining Engineer and Co-Director of the Laboratory for Imaging of the Mine Environment (LIME), at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, Australia. He is specialised in the integration of sensing technologies to drive applied innovation in mining, environmental and civil engineering sectors. He leads a group of researchers focused on utilising data from sensors mounted on various platforms, from satellite through to UAVs, to visualise, identify and monitor operational environments. He has received several competitive research grants, including FOUR nationally competitive ACARP grants as the project leader. He has supervised PhD research projects involving drone-based smart sensing (multispectral, hyperspectral and LiDAR), underground mobile laser scanning, image-based automated material characterisation, mine rehabilitation/closure, climate change and asteroid mining. He has received SIX teaching awards including UNSW Vice Chancellor’s Awards for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning (2020) and the International Tim Show Award for Innovation in Teaching and Learning (2018).