Prof. Manchao He

CBMR Lecture: Rock Mechanics Challenges in the Himalayas

Prof. Manchao He is an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Director of the State Key Laboratory for Tunnel Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Beijing. He specializes in rock mechanics and engineering, with pioneering contributions to landslide prediction, large-deformation disaster control, and mining innovation.

He developed the Newton force monitoring system for landslide early warning and invented NPR (Negative Poisson's Ratio) materials for rock support. He also proposed the non-pillar mining method (110/N00 method), leading a third revolution in mining technology. Prof. He has led over 20 major national research projects, authored more than 300 SCI papers (h-index 54), and holds 198 patents. He serves as President of CSRME, chairs the ISRM Commission on Rockbursts, and is Vice President of ICGdR.

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Luis Lamas

Lecture: The Second Generation of the Geotechnical Eurocode – Main Aspects and Inclusion of Rock Engineering

Luis Lamas is Principal Researcher and Head of the Modelling and Rock Mechanics Unit at the Portuguese National Laboratory of Civil Engineering (LNEC). He graduated in Civil Engineering from the University of Lisbon and obtained both his MSc and PhD in Engineering Rock Mechanics from Imperial College London. Since 2003, he has served as Secretary General of the International Society for Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering (ISRM). He currently coordinates the rock mechanics expert group responsible for revising Eurocode 7 – Geotechnical Design, playing a key role in the integration of Rock Engineering into the next generation of European standards.

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Esteban Hormazabal

Lecture: Best Practices for Rock Mass Characterization and Modelling

Esteban Hormazabal is a Mining Engineer with an MSc in Geophysics specialized in applied hydrogeology. He has more than 30 years of experience in geotechnical engineering, rock mechanics, and geotechnical instrumentation, contributing to major mining projects across Latin America, North America, Asia, Africa, and Europe. He has extensive expertise in open pit and underground mining projects and has authored more than 40 technical publications. Esteban is a Fellow of the AusIMM and currently serves as Vice President for Latin America of the International Society for Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering (ISRM).

Prof. Milorad Jovanovski

Lecture: Stability Challenges in Rock Slope Engineering for Gypsum Rock Masses in Specific Environments: Case Study from the Macedonian Road Network

Prof. Milorad Jovanovski is a Professor of Rock Mechanics and Engineering Geology at Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje. His research focuses on engineering geology, rock slope engineering, rock mass characterization, landslides, tunnelling, dams, environmental geotechnics, and geotechnical risk assessment. He has authored or co-authored approximately 210 scientific papers and several technical books. He previously served as President of the Macedonian Association for Geotechnics and currently serves as Vice-President At Large of the ISRM for the 2023–2027 term.

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Dr. Andres Marulanda

Lecture: Lessons Learned in the Design and Construction of Hydraulic Pressure Tunnels in the Andes Mountain Range in the Last 50 Years

Dr. Andres Marulanda is Managing Director of INGETEC and an internationally recognized expert in tunnels, dams, and underground infrastructure. His professional career includes the design and supervision of more than 300 km of hydraulic and transportation tunnels across over 20 projects worldwide. He has held leadership positions within the International Tunnelling Association (ITA) and contributed to major international contractual and risk management frameworks, including the FIDIC–ITA Emerald Book. He also actively collaborates with ICOLD and has extensive academic and international consulting experience in underground construction and dam engineering.

Jorge López-Molina

Lecture: AI-Driven Rock Mass Characterization: From "Ugly Data" to Robust Geomechanical Models

With over 20 years of applied experience in geomechanics across civil, energy, and mining infrastructure, Jorge López-Molina has contributed to more than 30 high-impact projects in rock mass characterization, underground and open-pit excavation design, geological-geotechnical hazard management, and grouting treatment design. His work increasingly integrates artificial intelligence and machine learning with traditional rock engineering methods.

A member of the ISRM Rock Grouting Committee, he currently serves as Head of the Rock Mechanics and Grouting Department at CFE (Comisión Federal de Electricidad) and as Postgraduate Professor of Rock Mechanics at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). At LARMS 2026, Jorge will present an AI framework — including supervised learning for property estimation and spatial modeling — that fuses hard and soft data, benchmarking five multimodal LLMs against 32 engineers in zero-shot GSI estimation from outcrop images, demonstrating that AI amplifies, rather than replaces, engineering judgment through the concept of the Augmented Engineer.

Luis Tejada Cervantes

Roundtable: Innovations and Applications of Rock Mechanics in Mining

Luis Tejada Cervantes holds a PhD from the University of Brasília (UnB) and a degree in Geotechnical Engineering from the National University of San Agustín (UNSA), Peru. He specializes in soil mechanics, rock mechanics, safe tailings management, and hydrogeology. With 25 years of professional experience, he has worked at renowned consulting firms and major construction companies, and has led geomechanics and water resources teams in the mining industry across South America, Canada, and Australia. He also holds academic and research experience at several Peruvian universities. He is currently Head of Geotechnical and Hydrogeology at Compañía Minera Antamina S.A., Peru, and Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the International Slope Stability Symposium, to be held in Lima, Peru, in October 2026. At LARMS 2026, Luis will address relevant topics in rock mechanics engineering applied to open-pit mining, as well as the strategic partnership established between LARMS and Slope Stability 2026.

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Prof. André Assis

Roundtable: Innovations and Applications of Rock Mechanics in Mining

Prof. André Assis is a Professor at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of the University of Brasília (UnB). His research and consulting work cover tunnelling, rock mechanics, rockfill dams, and geotechnical risk management. Throughout his career, he has supervised approximately 130 master's and doctoral dissertations and theses, and has published more than 300 scientific papers. With extensive engagement in international organizations, he served as President of the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association (ITA) and of the Brazilian Association for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ABMS), as well as Vice-President for South America of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE). At LARMS 2026, André will participate in the roundtable focusing on the generation of geomechanical models through mapping and probabilistic modelling.

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Teofilo Costa

Roundtable: Innovations and Applications of Rock Mechanics in Mining

Teofilo Costa is a Geotechnical Consultant at Vale Base Metals, with 28 years of experience at the company. His professional career includes extensive work in open-pit mines in Brazil and abroad, with a strong focus on rock mechanics applied to mining operations. At LARMS 2026, Teo will share insights on the latest developments in rock mechanics applied to mining — new practices, recent evaluations and studies — and the role of structural geology in open-pit operations.

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Qi Mengxue

Roundtable: Rock Mechanics Applied to Tunnels and Infrastructures

Qi Mengxue is a Professor-level Senior Engineer and Dean of the TBM Technology Research Institute at China Railway 18th Bureau Group. He is a recipient of the State Council Special Government Allowance, honored as an "Engineering Master with Outstanding Contributions," and recognized as an Expert of China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC). He also serves on the editorial board and as a peer reviewer for specialized journals such as Tunnel Construction.

With nearly 30 years of dedication to TBM operations, he has led his team in constructing over 600 kilometers of tunnels and provided expert technical consultation for numerous major engineering projects. He pioneered the development and dissemination of a philosophy of sustained, proportionate, and speedy TBM construction, and spearheaded the research and application of the world's first TBM equipment and construction technology for large-gradient spiral tunnels. To date, he has been granted 18 Chinese invention patents and 73 utility model patents in the field of TBM, published over 40 academic papers, and authored four monographs. At LARMS 2026, Qi Mengxue will participate in the roundtable presenting "Advanced TBM Technologies for Urban Underground Infrastructure."

Carmen Deulofeu

Roundtable: Rock Mechanics Applied to Tunnels and Infrastructures

Carmen Deulofeu is a Civil Engineer (Roads, Canals and Ports) from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, with a postgraduate degree in International Procurement from Ramon Llull University. She is a recipient of the Professional Merit Medal from the College of Civil Engineers of Spain and a distinction from the Spanish Association of Tunnels and Underground Works. With extensive experience in the planning, design, construction, management, and operation of large infrastructure projects under various financing arrangements, with a particular focus on underground railway infrastructure such as metro systems, Carmen held several positions over 20 years at Barcelona Metro, including Director of Infrastructure and Works and Director of Studies and Technological Innovation.

At the infrastructure management company of the Government of Catalonia, she served as Director-General for 7 years during the institution's highest investment period in history, leading a portfolio of 4,400 contracts and a budget exceeding 10 billion euros across landmark projects. She currently serves as General Manager of Concesionaria Metro de Lima Línea 2 S.A., overseeing the concession of Line 2 and the Branch of Line 4 of the Lima and Callao Metro, with an investment commitment of 4.531 billion dollars. At LARMS 2026, Carmen will participate in the roundtable "Rock Mechanics Applied to Tunnels and Infrastructures."

Luis Carlos de Sousa Junior

Roundtable: Rock Mechanics for the Energy Sector — Hydrogen Storage and CO₂ Sequestration

Luis Carlos de Sousa Junior is a Civil Engineer, Master in Structures, and PhD in Geotechnical Engineering from the University of Brasília (UnB), with a specialization in Petroleum Engineering from Universidade Petrobras. He is an R&D professional in Petroleum Engineering and Geomechanics at Petrobras, based in Rio de Janeiro, with over 21 years of industry experience. Throughout his career at Petrobras, he has held technical and key leadership positions, including Field Reservoir Simulation Engineer, Corporate Technical Advisor in Reservoir Geomechanics, Coordinator of the Drainage Plan for Buzios Field during the project phase, Corporate Reservoir Geomechanics Manager, R&D Manager in Reservoir Engineering, and Senior Adviser in Reservoir Geomechanics.

He is the creator and developer of GeomecBR, a proprietary parallel FEA solver widely used to tackle complex geomechanical analyses in the company's E&P portfolio, with applications particularly focused on water and supercritical CO₂ injection in pre-salt giant fields such as Buzios and Tupi. At LARMS 2026, Luis Carlos will participate in the roundtable presenting "Thermal-Fluid-Mechanics Aspects in CO₂ Injection and Storage in Deep Underground Formations", integrating global best practices with Brazilian pre-salt expertise through advanced multi-physics modeling to ensure safe and reliable CO₂ storage in deep-water reservoirs.

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Kimie Suzuki Morales

Special Session: Teaching and Capacity Building in Rock Mechanics: Current Challenges and Future Perspectives

Kimie Suzuki Morales is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mining Engineering and a Researcher at the Advanced Mining Technology Center (AMTC), both at the University of Chile. She holds a PhD in Mining Engineering from the University of New South Wales, Australia. Her research focuses on rock mass modeling and the application of emerging technologies for rock mass characterization. Since 2023, she has served as President of the Chilean Society for Rock Mechanics. At LARMS 2026, Kimie will participate in the roundtable of the Special Session "Teaching and Capacity Building in Rock Mechanics: Current Challenges and Future Perspectives."

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