Speakers
Keynote and Panel Speakers
Nicola Casagli
Dr Casagli is Professor of Engineering Geology at the University of Florence, President of the National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics - OGS, and Founder and President of the Civil Protection Centre of University of Florence.
He is also Vice President and immediate past President of the International Consortium of Landslides (ICL), President of the 6th World Landslide Forum, founder and Chairholder of the UNESCO Chair on Prevention and Sustainable Mitigation of Geo-hydrological Hazards, and founder and scientific head of the research infrastructure of national relevance Advanced Technologies for Landslides (ATLaS).
He is a member of the Major Risks National Committee of the Department of Civil Protection of the Italian Governmentand former vice president of the International Consortium on Geo-disaster Reduction (ICGdR).
His expertise encompasses geological hazards and ground instability, geophysical technologies for monitoring and exploration, remote sensing, radar interferometry, engineering geological characterisation and modelling. His research group has been recognised as World Center of Excellence on Landslide Risk Reduction, and he is included in the Elsevier - Stanford University's list of the World's Top 2% Scientists.
Presentation title
Earth Observation and Multi-platform Radar Technologies for Landslide Risk Prevention
Abstract
The integration of multi-platform radar systems, ranging from satellite constellations to ground-based sensors, represents a fundamental pillar for the sustainable management of landslide hazard and risk. As global vulnerability to landslides increases, Earth Observation provides essential tools for risk reduction through continuous monitoring of both vast territories and high-risk sites. The synergy between spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar missions such as Sentinel-1 and COSMO-SkyMed and ground-based interferometric and Doppler radar systems enables coverage across diverse spatial scales, from continental mapping to detailed slope analysis. Persistent Scatterer Interferometry and automated processing chains supported by machine learning allow the identification of ground deformation, Moving Area Clusters, and significant displacement trend variations with millimetric precision. Systematic time series analysis supports the updating of landslide inventories and the assessment of activity states, distinguishing dormant from active phenomena and detecting early accelerations. At local scale, ground-based sensors with high temporal resolution, capable of delivering measurements every few seconds, provide real-time early warning for rapid and destructive failures. This integrated, multi-scale framework strengthens land planning, civil protection strategies, and resilience by bridging long-term monitoring with immediate emergency response.
Tim Davies
Dr Davies recently retired from his position as Professor in the School of Earth and Environment at University of Canterbury, New Zealand. Trained originally as a civil engineer, his research interests developed from river hydraulics through fluvial geomorphology to debris flows and landslides, with diversions into rock mechanics, seismology and glaciology. In recent decades Tim led the Disaster Risk and Resilience postgraduate programmes at University of Canterbury, specialising in critiquing the use of risk as a decision tool.
As well as publishing on rock avalanche runout and fragmentation, debris-flow risk-to-life, multi-hazard risk and other topics, and involvement in the AF8 project on preparing for an Alpine Fault earthquake, Tim has recently been involved in the science underpinning risk management studies at Matatā, North Island; Franz Josef, Westland; Queenstown; and Milford Sound. He has also led topics in the Resilience to Nature's Challenge programmes under MBIE, and consulted for local and national agencies on a variety of hazard and disaster situations.
Tim is a former member of JTC-1, Associate Editor for JRG (Earth Surface), former member (and convenor) of the International Organising Committees for the conference series on Debris-Flow Hazard Mitigation and Gravel-Bed Rivers, and former Editor of Journal of Hydrology (NZ). He has held visiting fellowships at Durham University, UK and VAW (ETH-Zürich, Switzerland).
Presentation title
The Role of Probabilistic Risk in Landslide Disaster Reduction
Abstract
The fundamental purpose of disaster risk reduction is to minimise the damage caused by disasters. The probabilistic nature of risk (defined as event probability x event impact), however, means that DRR cannot reliably reduce the impact of any specific disaster at a specific site. DRR can reduce the integrated impacts of very large spatial and/or temporal ensembles of disasters, which can inform insurance and policy-making at national levels, but it cannot guarantee to benefit any community by reducing the impact of the very small number of disasters that will affect it in a reasonable planning time-frame (say a century); and, in particular, the next disaster to affect it. This is a serious deficiency that requires remediation; in fact, the focus on risk distracts attention from disaster impact reduction. Reducing the societal impacts of the next disaster event is the primary focus for every community, and requires information on the nature of these impacts and the ways in which the specific community can adjust its way of life to reduce them. Such information is much more important to individual communities than refining risk quantification. Local cases illustrate the practical difficulties of applying risk in disaster reduction decision-making. Suggestions are given for ways of reducing community disaster impacts.
Xuanmei Fan
Dr Xuanmei Fan is director of State Key Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and Geoenvironment Protection (SKLGP) at Chengdu University of Technology, China. She received her PhD in Engineering Geology from the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observations (ITC) at the University of Twente in 2013. In 2015, she became a leading professor at SKLGP. Prof. Fan’s research focuses on the earthquake- and climate change-induced chains of geological hazards, long-term landscape evolution and disaster risk reduction. Her work has been widely applied in the emergency response and rescue operations following major earthquakes. Due to her significant scientific achievements and contributions to society, she has recently received Chinese Young Women Scientists Award, Scientific Exploration Award, and the Science and Technology Awards of the International Association for Engineering Geology and the Environment (IAEG). As chair, she co-founded the Global Partnership for Smart Informatics and Multi-hazard Reduction (SIMR), aiming to address the global challenges created by increasing multi-hazard risk and climate change in a fast-changing world. She has published more than 140 ISI papers in Nature Geoscience, Reviews of Geophysics, GRL, JGR etc
Manchao He
Prof. Manchao He has been a Professor of Civil Engineering (Geotechnical) at China University of Mining and Technology, Beijing since 1993. Later serving as the Director of the State Key Laboratory for Geomechanics and Deep Underground Engineering-Beijing since 2008. He is currently an Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Argentine National Academy of Engineering (ANI). He mainly engaged in the research of Rock Mechanics and Engineering, including the prediction of landslides. He successfully self-developed a new monitoring system which measures the Newton Force Variation along the slip surface of landslide. It has been applied successfully in many practical projects, which makes a significant contribution to landslide disasters prediction and control. His expertise is highly sought after, leading him to consult on over 200 projects since 1991. He has authored more than 300 technical papers, and has been awarded 4 National Awards, 2 Chinese Outstanding Patented Invention and an International Society for Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering (ISRM) Technological Innovation Award.
Between 2015 and 2019, Prof. Manchao He served as ISRM Vice President at Large and the Chairman of ISRM Education Fund Committee. Prof. Manchao He served as the President of Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering (CSRME) since 2016 and as the Vice President of International Consortium on Geo-disaster Reduction (ICGdR) since 2022.
Presentation title
Nonlinear Complex Systems Analysis and Landslide Prediction
Dave Petley
Dr Petley is the Vice-Chancellor at Nottingham Trent University, UK. His research focuses on natural and environmental hazards, and he was appointed the inaugural Wilson Professor of Hazard and Risk at Durham in 2006. He is recognised widely as a world leader in the study and management of landslides and, alongside advising national and international organisations on the management of slopes, has for over a decade maintained a popular blog on landslides which receives over 500,000 individual visits per year.
Dave is interested in particular on how landslides occur and on the impacts that landslides have on society. He's worked all over the world, including in Europe, the US, Chile, Taiwan, China, Nepal, Pakistan and New Zealand, and is author of one of the best-selling textbooks on the management of disasters, "Environmental Hazards - Assessing Risk and Reducing Disaster".
Presentation title
Communicating landslide hazard and risk: the greatest challenge for the mass movement community
Abstract
In recent decades, considerable progress has been made in understanding the physical processes that drive landslides, based upon a combination of fundamental studies, field monitoring, the interpretation of imagery, physical simulation and computer modelling. In parallel, we have developed techniques to evaluate the consequences of landslides, model the risk and provide early warning. Many highly sophisticated techniques have been developed for mitigating landslide hazard and risk, and these are demonstrably effective. However, there is little evidence that the human and financial losses associated with landslides are reducing; indeed, in many locations the opposite is true. This suggests that major challenges remain in transferring our increased understanding into effective practice.
This presentation will focus on an understanding of the reasons behind these issues, with a focus on the communication of hazard and risk. Focusing on loss of life, it will demonstrate that the increase in landslide losses is varying considerably around the world, highlighting why substantive increases are occurring in some regions, and evaluating the challenges of communicating landslide hazard, risk and good practice in these areas. A detailed examination will be provided of the world's most successful landslide management programme, in Hong Kong, evaluating the drivers of its success. The presentation will examine the strategies adopted for the communication of safe slope management in Hong Kong, and the approaches that are being adopted as rainfall events become more extreme. Consideration will be given of the transferability of these approaches to other places.
Finally, the presentation will reflect on the successes and failures of almost twenty years of landslide communication by the author considering approaches that could be adopted by early career researchers.
Janusz Wasowski
Dr Wasowski is a Professor in Applied Geology and Geomorphology in Italy (since 2017). Since 2016, he is also the Editor-in-Chief of Engineering Geology (Elsevier), and since 2018, a Visiting Professor at the State Key Laboratory for Geohazard Protection (SKLGP), Chengdu University of Technology (CDUT), China. For several years he has held the position of Science Officer of the Natural Hazards Group Programme, European Geosciences Union (EGU).
Dr Wasowski’s work has covered a broad spectrum of research topics ranging from slope instability and landslide assessment, collateral seismic hazards, geotechnical field investigation and in situ monitoring, to exploitation of air/space-borne remote sensing and geophysical surveying in engineering geology. He has also served as a consultant, focusing on landslides and other geohazards and on the applications of satellite multi-temporal interferometry for monitoring terrain and infrastructure instability
Presentation title
From capability to practice: Why spaceborne InSAR remains underutilized in preventive landslide hazard management – lessons from Italy
Abstract
Advanced satellite radar remote sensing techniques, particularly Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Multi-Temporal Interferometry (MTInSAR), provide an unparalleled capability to measure very slow slope movements with mm to cm precision over long time spans (years to decades) and across vast areas (thousands of km²). Despite certain technical and site-specific limitations (e.g., densely vegetated slopes), MTInSAR represents a powerful reconnaissance tool for slope instability hazard assessment at multiple scales, from local investigations to national mapping programs.
By directly quantifying surface deformation rates and patterns, MTInSAR delivers objective indicators of slope instability. Long-term displacement time series are especially valuable for understanding the mechanics of very slow landslides and improving forecasts of their future evolution. Comparable quantitative datasets are difficult to obtain through other remote sensing approaches due to high operational costs (e.g., repeated airborne LiDAR campaigns) and reduced effectiveness during periods when landslides are most active, such as seasons of intense rainfall. In situ investigations, while essential, are typically expensive, spatially limited, and often maintained only for short monitoring intervals.
This presentation demonstrates the potential of MTInSAR for detecting unstable slopes and monitoring landslide kinematics across different geomorphic, climatic, and vegetation settings. Both local-scale and wide-area case studies are discussed. With regular global coverage, increasing temporal resolution (weekly or better), and open-access datasets from missions such as Sentinel-1, MTInSAR is becoming an increasingly efficient and accessible tool for landslide investigations worldwide.
Enhanced exploitation of these cost-effective satellite systems can significantly contribute to slope instability hazard reduction, particularly through early detection of ground deformation, long-term monitoring, and, in some cases, early warning of catastrophic failure. Moreover, MTInSAR offers a largely underutilized preventive advantage: its capacity to provide systematically quantitative information on ground stability over extensive areas not currently recognized as unstable but exhibiting geomorphological and geological predispositions to failure.
Nevertheless, reliable and timely landslide hazard warning cannot rely solely on MTInSAR-derived displacement data. Integration with ground-based measurements and local expertise remains essential for accurate interpretation of deformation trends and slope behavior. Slope-specific applicability constraints and interpretation challenges are among the reasons why MTInSAR products derived from historical and contemporary radar archives remain underexploited. Addressing this gap requires targeted educational and capacity-building initiatives aimed at applied geomorphologists, engineering geologists, geotechnical engineers, landslide risk managers, urban planners, and decision-makers, as well as broader public awareness.
Panel - Introducing the problem
Each panelist will present their perspective, discuss the issues raised, and take questions from the audience.
Session Chair - Ann Williams
Ann is a Professional Engineering Geologist (PEngGeol), Fellow of Engineering New Zealand, and a Technical Fellow and Manager of Beca's Geotechnical business. As a consultant, Ann has scoped, directed and reviews the engineering geological and hydrogeological aspects of many projects from concept design through assessments of effects and consenting to construction and monitoring. She has undertaken investigations in a wide range of environments across New Zealand, the Pacific and parts of SE Asia, with particular emphasis on assessment of the effects of infrastructure development on groundwater and slope instability and "natural" hazards assessments and mitigation. Ann is a Past Chair and Life Member of the New Zealand Geotechnical Society Inc., past Vice President (Australasia) and Honorary Member of the International Association for Engineering Geology and the Environment (IAEG) and was recently reappointed to the IAEG board in a role representing women in Engineering Geology, which she is passionate about!
She completed a term on the Board of Engineering New Zealand and is a member of the editorial boards of a number of international journals, contributing to industry guidelines locally and internationally in the areas of soil and rock description, passive rockfall protection, dewatering, engineering geological models and landslide nomenclature. Ann was the recipient of the 2022 NZGS Geomechanics Lecture Award.
Jean Hutchinson
Dr Hutchinson is a Professor Emerita of Geological Engineering at Queen's University, Alberta Canada, and the Vice President of Innovative Geomechanics Inc. Her engineering focus has been on integrating geological knowledge into geomechanics for underground and surface mining, mine closure, planning, transportation corridor hazard assessment and risk management, and landslide monitoring and risk management using instruments and remote sensing. She serves on the Technical Review Boards of several organisations, including Rio Tinto's Bingham Canyon Mine and the Hong Kong Slop Stability Technical Review Board.
Jean has received the Glossop Medal (2019), the John B. Stirling Medal (2024), the Women in Mining Canada Trailblazer Award (2024), the Canadian Pacific Railway Medal (2017), the Robert L. Shuster Medal (2016) and the inaugural Engineering Education Excellence Award at Queen's University (2016). Jean was elected as a Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada in 2011 and the Canadian Academy of Engineering in 2020.
Volunteering for professional organisations is also a key focus for Dr. Hutchinson. She is currently Chair of FedlGS JTC3 for Training and Education, Member of the International Advisory Board to the President of the IAEG, VP Technical for the Canadian Geotechnical Society and member of both the Women in Mine Stability and Women in Engineering Geology groups.
Gonghui Wang
Dr Wang is a full professor at the Disaster Prevention Research Institute (DPRI), Kyoto University Japan, and serves as the head of the Research Center for Landslide Risk Cognition and Reduction at DPRI. He also holds guest professorships at Lanzhou University, and Chengdu University of Technology. Since earning his Ph.D. from Kyoto University in 2000, Dr. Wang has dedicated nearly three decades to landslide research at DPRI, integrating approaches from geophysics, geotechnical engineering, engineering geology, hydrology, and geomorphology. His work has yielded significant insights, particularly on the initiation and movement mechanisms of rapid, long-runout landslides, as well as landslides induced by extreme weather events and earthquakes. He has authored more than 200 publications in leading international journals and serves as an editorial board member for several international, Chinese, and Japanese journals. Currently, Prof. Wang is the Chair of JTC1 (Joint Technical Committee on Natural Slopes and Landslides) under FedlGS (Federation of International Geo-Engineering Societies).
Jo Horrocks
Dr Horrocks is the Chief Resilience and Research Officer at the New Zealand Natural Hazards Commission I Toku Tū Ake, where she leads the organisation's investment in science, data, and modelling to improve New Zealand's understanding of natural hazard risks and how to reduce them. Over the past six years, Jo has overseen a programme of around $14 million annually, focused on turning foundational and complex science into practical insights that support better decisions on natural hazard risk and building resilience.
Jo is passionate about making complex science usable - whether that means advising policymakers, supporting local planners, or helping everyday New Zealanders understand the risks around them. Her focus is on ensuring research has real world impact, by getting it into the heads of those who need it most.
Panel - Communicating landslide risk
Each panelist will present their perspective, discuss the issues raised, and take questions from the audience.
Session Chair - Dave Petley
Dr Petley is the Vice-Chancellor at Nottingham Trent University, UK. His research focuses on natural and environmental hazards, and he was appointed the inaugural Wilson Professor of Hazard and Risk at Durham in 2006. He is recognised widely as a world leader in the study and management of landslides and, alongside advising national and international organisations on the management of slopes, has for over a decade maintained a popular blog on landslides which receives over 500,000 individual visits per year.
Dave is interested in particular on how landslides occur and on the impacts that landslides have on society. He's worked all over the world, including in Europe, the US, Chile, Taiwan, China, Nepal, Pakistan and New Zealand, and is author of one of the best-selling textbooks on the management of disasters, "Environmental Hazards - Assessing Risk and Reducing Disaster".
Lori Peek
Dr Peek is director of the Natural Hazards Center and professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Colorado Boulder. She also leads the National Science Foundation-funded CONVERGE facility, which is dedicated to strengthening interdisciplinary, solutions-focused research. Peek contributed to the production of the English- and Spanish-language Landslide Guide for Residents of Puerto Rico, and she also helped to write FEMA P-1000, Safer, Stronger, Smarter: A Guide to Improving School Natural Hazard Safety. In 2021, she was nominated by President Joseph Biden and approved by the U.S. Senate to serve on the Board of the National Institute of Building Sciences.
Peek has conducted field investigations in the aftermath of several major disasters and recently testified before members of the U.S. Congress on the topic of Ensuring Equity in Disaster Preparedness, Response, and Recovery. She is currently leading the development of the Third Assessment of Natural Hazards for the United States. Peek also regularly teaches sociology courses and mentors a large and diverse cadre of students and early career professionals.
Presentation title
A Call for Participatory Convergence: Community-Based, Collaborative Strategies for Reducing Landslide Risk
Abstract
Landslide risk reduction is a scientific endeavor and inherently social process that involves a complex array of people, organizations, institutions, and policy-making bodies. This presentation will argue that to make forward progress with reducing landslide risk, we must accelerate the integration of the social and physical sciences, engineering, public health, and other relevant disciplines and ways of knowing. This will require new approaches to knowledge production and its applications that are both participatory (involves communities equitably and draws on key ethical principles to inform collaborative processes) and convergent (interdisciplinary, problem-focused, solutions-oriented).
To demonstrate participatory convergence in action, I will share the case of the scientific response that followed Hurricane Maria in 2017. That hurricane triggered more than 70,000 deadly and destructive landslides across the island of Puerto Rico. Following the disaster, the U.S. Geological Survey Landslide Hazard Program responded, based on local requests, to co-develop numerous scientific tools and educational and outreach products. This presentation will tell the story of how these efforts were undertaken while also emphasizing the key principles that served as the foundation for these ongoing efforts.
Reginald Hermanns
Dr Hermanns is Professor (Associate) at Norwegian University of Science and Technology. His research focuses on rock-slope stability and integrates neotectonics, paleoseismology, Quaternary landscape development and the technical and societal responds to landslide threat. His specific focuses include hazard and risk classification, secondary effects of rock-slope failures such as damming and displacement waves, Quaternary dating techniques, and integration of diverse monitoring data with field-based structural geology and geomorphology. Reginald has worked in the past years mainly in Norway, the Arctic and the Himalaya but has also broad field experience from the Andes and some experience from Canada and the Alps.
Reginald has organised 11 major conferences including Symposiums on landslides in the Andes and NATO Advanced Research Workshop on "Landslides from massive rock slope failures" and "Stability of rockslide dams".
Presentation title
Experiences with Landslide Risk Management in Norway: A Country with Strong Governmental Involvement in Hazard Mapping and a Detailed Legal Framework
Abstract
Norway’s rough topography, geographic position, and geological history expose the country to a wide range of landslide hazards—snow avalanches are legally classified as landslides. These hazards include marine clay landslides caused by postglacial rebound, large rock slope failures that may enter fjords and generate destructive displacement waves, as well as snow avalanches, debris flows, debris avalanches, and rockfalls. Marine clay slides and large rock slope failures have caused the highest loss of life in single events, often due to cascading effects such as displacement waves and dam breach floods. Snow avalanches account for the highest overall number of fatalities. While historical storm losses among fishermen were likely higher, landslides remain the dominant cause of disaster related deaths in Norway today. Floods generally produce greater annual economic losses.
A risk based legal framework embedded in national building codes defines safety classes linking acceptable risk to occupancy and annual hazard probability. Construction is restricted when thresholds are exceeded unless mitigation measures are implemented, leaving many older buildings—constructed before the codes—within high risk zones. Municipalities are supported by conservative nationwide susceptibility maps for snow avalanches, rockfall, debris flows/debris floods, slush flows, and marine clay deposits, and site specific hazard assessments are typically required where new developments intersect susceptibility zones. A publicly funded, risk prioritized mitigation program reduces exposure for older buildings.
The Norwegian government provides clear guidelines for ordering, conducting, and reporting hazard assessments. All hazard assessments—whether publicly or privately funded—as well as all geotechnical boreholes in marine clay terrain, must be reported to an open, publicly accessible national database. Large unstable rock slopes are managed through a dedicated governmental program: about 1,150 slopes have been identified, more than 130 fully hazard and risk classified, and those with unacceptable risk are monitored using 24/7 instrumentation or satellite based InSAR.
Landslides also affect national transport infrastructure, and mitigation is prioritized based on event frequency and traffic volume.
Sally Potter
Dr Potter is the director of Canary Innovation Ltd, an independent research and evaluation consultancy based in Tauranga, New Zealand, and working internationally. She is a social scientist who specialises in how forecasts, warnings and risk information for natural hazards can better support mitigation and operational decisions by agencies and communities. Her research and consultancy portfolio spans reviews of New Zealand’s Volcanic Alert Level system, studies of risk perceptions and behavioural responses to impact‑based weather warnings, optimisation of Emergency Mobile Alert message content, evaluations of flood warning systems, participatory community mapping, using artificial intelligence for tailored warnings, and, most recently, the development of a framework for the United Nations Early Warnings for All by 2027 initiative to evaluate the effectiveness of multi‑hazard warning systems globally.
Presentation title
Evidence-based tips for effectively communicating landslide information with users
Abstract
Effectively communicating probabilistic hazard, impact, and risk information to users is a crucial step in the warning value cycle. Drawing on recently published guidance produced through the Hōretireti Whenua Sliding Lands research programme in New Zealand, this presentation will outline key points on how to improve the communication of landslide forecast information.
Beginning with understanding the users’ needs of the information helps to determine models and data to incorporate when producing the product, how technical the output should be, which timeframes to use, the format and channel, and the inclusion of uncertainty. Suitable ethical processes should be followed when co-developing products and determining needs. The information must be accessible, from colours to fonts and formats, and be useful, clear, and trustworthy. International research on how people understand probabilities can also be drawn on, to inform how to best share likelihoods relating to hazards and risks. Carefully considering these aspects when producing and sharing landslide hazard and risk information supports situational awareness and decision-making to help reduce the risks.
Hutchinson Lecture
The Hutchinson Lecture was established by JTC1 in 2017 to honor the outstanding scientific contributions of Professor John Hutchinson (1926–2011). Professor Hutchinson was a highly distinguished scholar in soil mechanics and engineering geology and is widely recognized for his seminal work on landslide analysis, slope stability, and the mechanical behavior of clay soils.
The Hutchinson Lecture is awarded to a researcher under the age of 42 at the time of the workshop who has a disciplinary background in one or more fields within the geosciences and has made significant contributions to advancing the understanding of slope stability and landslide processes. The lecturer is selected from candidates nominated by national societies.
We are delighted to announce that the Hutchinson Lecture will be delivered at the LaRGE2026 conference by Dr. Yifei Cui from Tsinghua University.
Yifei Cui
Dr. Yifei Cui is an Associate Professor and Director of the Institution of Geotechnical Engineering at the Department of Hydraulic Engineering, Tsinghua University. His research focuses on the multi-scale mechanical properties of soil particles, formation mechanisms of geological hazards, and disaster monitoring and early-warning methodologies based on seismic signals and dynamic characteristics. As the first or corresponding author, Dr. Cui has published more than 50 papers in top-tier international journals including Nature Communications, Geophysical Research Letters, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Water Resources Research, Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, Géotechnique, and Engineering Geology. Of these publications, 10 are listed as Web of Science Highly Cited Papers and 3 as Hot Papers.
He is the recipient of the Richard Wolters Prize conferred by the International Association of Engineering Geology and the Environment (IAEG) and the Outstanding Young Scientist Award presented by the International Consortium on Geo-disaster Reduction (ICGdR).
Currently, Dr. Cui serves as an Associate Editor of Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface and Geoenvironmental Disasters, and as an Editorial Board Member for journals such as Landslides and Georisk. Additionally, he holds the position of Board Member at the International Consortium on Landslides (ICL) and Chair of Technical Committee 6 (TC6) at ICGdR.
Presentation title
Interpreting Dynamic Processes and Early Warning of Debris Flows Based on Seismic Signals
Abstract
On-site monitoring instruments and equipment for debris flows are highly susceptible to geohazards and prone to damage during large-scale hazard events, which severely hinders the collection of field data. With the recent development of environmental seismology, seismic signals recorded by seismometers and geophones can now be used to develop new diagnostic methods for geological hazards. A key scientific challenge here is to establish the quantitative relationship between seismic signals and the flow properties and dynamic processes of geohazards. In this study, we carried out controlled small-scale flume experiments to build a mechanistic relationship between debris flow dynamic characteristics, basal impact-force features, and ground-motion responses. By conducting a joint analysis of flow kinematics, basal force time series and the corresponding seismic responses, we obtain quantitative mappings that link the dynamic states of debris flows to the observed signal characteristics. This allows for physically interpretable inference of flow dynamics, instead of relying on purely empirical correlations. For field applications, we also proposed a detection method based on centroid frequency that requires no prior information. This method effectively makes use of the abundant variations in time-frequency and amplitude of high-energy seismic events to accurately identify small-scale debris flow events. This research advances the theoretical understanding of geohazard mechanisms and lays a solid foundation for developing a predictive framework for debris flow early warning and hazard mitigation.
Workshop Leads
Find out more about the content of each workshop by clicking on the workshop title, or browsing to our supporting projects page.
Emma Hudson-Doyle
Associate Professor Emma Hudson-Doyle works at the interface between physical and social science with a focus on communicating the science of natural hazards. She is based at the Joint Centre for Disaster Research, Massey University, and is also seconded part time as Principal Advisor Resilience & Research at the Natural Hazards Commission Tokā Tu Ake. Current research focuses on scientific uncertainty, and the communication and understanding of complex multi-component models used to advise decision makers through co-leading the Endeavour Program Hōretireti Whenua Sliding Lands. She provides expert communication advice to several national agencies during events, sits on the Aotearoa Earthquake Science Advisory Panel, is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Applied Volcanology, and member of the World Meteorological Office’s World Weather Research Program’s SAGE Steering Group (Sub-seasonal to seasonal Applications for aGriculture and Environment).
Saskia de Vilder
Dr Saskia de Vilder is an Engineering Geologist at GNS Science. Saskia research interests span from understanding rock slope failure mechanisms, through to landslide runout analysis, to hazard and risk modelling and the interface between science and policy. Saskia is the co-programme lead for Hōretireti Whenua Sliding Lands research programme, which aims to provide accessible and nationally consistent landslide hazard and risk information for Aotearoa. She led the development of a national natural hazard risk analysis framework for the Department of Conservation, enabling consistent assessment of life-safety risks across public conservation lands. Saskia is also a lead author of the Landslide Planning Guidance—a national resource for integrating landslide hazard and risk information into land-use planning.
Saskia co-leads the Sliding Lands endevour research programme alongside Emma Hudson-Doyle and Chris Massey.
Anthony Miner
Tony Miner has over 40 years' experience in a diverse range of projects in the geotechnical engineering, environmental engineering, engineering geology, coastal risk assessment, coastal geomorphology, erosion management and natural resource planning. He has focused on risk management techniques and landslide studies over the past 30 years and has been a member of the various Australian Geomechanics Society's taskforces on landslide risk management and education programs. He co-presented the AGS's nationwide seminar presentations in 2011 for the "AGS's Landslide Risk Management Guidelines (2007)" and now serves as the co-chair of the steering committee currently undertaking a revision of the AGS guidelines in conjunction with NZGS. He maintains a strong involvement in landslide research and has been a regular contributor at local and international conferences.
He has been involved in various landslide related education and training programs and currently co-presents the long running "AGS Field Techniques for Landslide Assessment" course. In addition, he is a member of the organising committee for the newly delivered "AGS Engineering Geomorphology" course, recently co-presented the "2024 AGS' Risk Assessment Seminars" in various locations in NZ, and has been involved in a number of STEM programs aimed at introducing geoscience to secondary level students.
Darren Paul
Darren is an Engineering Geologist with 25 years' experience. He has undergraduate qualifications in civil engineering and geology and postgraduate qualification in engineering geology.
Throughout his career, Darren has been involved in all aspects of engineering geology including geohazard assessments for many different applications including for town planning, roads, rail, tunnels, coasts pipelines and national parks. He has expertise in ground model development and geotechnical interpretation. Darren recently has led several major landslide risk assessment projects, including the extensive Victorian Alpine resorts 2020 risk assessment program which involved risk assessment across all assets in Victorias alpine resorts and remediation of the Bogong Landslide, the largest landslide to affect the Victorian Road network in the past 40 years. He also authored the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service Guidelines for Rock Fall risk assessment, is currently leading a revision of the Australian Geomechanics Society Guidelines for Landslide Risk Management 2007 and is an instructor and manager of the Australian Geomechanics Society Landslide Risk Assessment Course.
Ian Hamling
Dr Ian Hamling is a geodetic scientist specialising in Satellite Radar Interferometry (InSAR) to measure and model surface deformation associated with tectonic and volcanic processes. After completing his PhD in 2010 at the University of Leeds, UK, and a two-year post-doctoral position at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy, he moved to GNS Science in 2013. Since his arrival, he has worked on broad range of projects ranging from volcanic eruptions and earthquakes to landslides and the effect of vertical land movement on sea level rise. He was the recipient of the 2017 Royal Society of New Zealand Hamilton Prize, is PI for the New Zealand volcano supersite, co-lead of the South-East Asia volcano demonstrator program and co-leads a newly funded Endeavour programme: Landslide Watch Aotearoa.
Chris Massey
Dr Chris is a committee member of JTC1, and an engineering geologist who has gathered over 25 years of consultancy and research experience from around the world. He specialises in the investigation and analysis of complex geological and geomechanical data for landslide and slope stability analyses, landslide monitoring, foundation design, underground/surface rock support and groundwater problems.
In his role as Principal Scientist, Surface Geosciences, Chris is responsible for managing GNS Science’s landslide research, strategy, outcomes and relationships with partners and collaborators in New Zealand and overseas. He is also project lead for a number of projects looking at New Zealand’s earthquake-induced landscape dynamics and landscape change, and the development of near-real time landslide forecast tools. Since the Canterbury earthquakes in 2010/11, Chris has had a pioneering role in landslide rock-slope modelling and quantitative landslide risk analysis methods and practices.