Keynote Speakers

Harry Poulos

Harry Poulos a Senior Consultant who has been with Coffey for 30 years, following a full-time academic career at the University of Sydney. He has been involved in a variety of projects in Australia and overseas with a focus on foundation design and rectification for tall buildings.

His main areas of experience relate to deep foundations and their use for supporting buildings, bridges and retaining structures. Harry has been a leading advocate for the use of piled raft foundations, the use of which can lead to significant cost savings, especially for tall buildings. He designed this type of foundation for several high-profile projects around the world, including the Burj Khalifa in Dubai (currently the world’s tallest building), the Emirates Twin Towers in Dubai, the Incheon 151 tower in South Korea, the KL118 building in Kuala Lumpur, and the Diamond Tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Harry has worked on a variety of projects outside of the property industry including the Egnatia Odos Project in Greece, a 720km expressway linking the western and eastern parts of the country, and the Barelang Bridge project in Indonesia – a project involving the construction of six bridges linking a series of islands. He has extensive experience with geotechnical earthquake engineering – having carried out seismic microzonation studies for Newcastle, Adelaide and Delhi. Also undertaking research into the design of piles in seismically active areas, including areas which undergo liquefaction and have co-authored papers on piles in liquefying soils – winning an award from ASCE in 2007, and from the New Zealand Geotechnical Society in 2009. This research has also formed the basis of a method of assessing pile condition in Christchurch after the earthquakes in 2010-2011.

We look forward to welcoming Harry as a Keynote Speaker to the 7th International Young Geotechnical Engineers Conference 2022.


Fleur Loveridge

Fleur has over twenty years of experience in civil engineering covering both industry and academia. Fleur graduated from the University of Oxford in Earth Sciences and the University of Leeds in Engineering Geology before spending the best part of a decade as a consulting engineer for Babtie Group and Mott MacDonald. During this period Fleur's work included investigation, design and construction supervision for a variety of infrastructure projects and applied research and development in engineering geology and geotechnical engineering. In 2009 Fleur returned to academia and completed a PhD in the "Thermal performance of foundation piles used as heat exchangers in ground energy systems" at the University of Southampton. In 2013 she became a Lecturer in Geomechanics in Southampton before being awarded a five year Research Fellowship from the Royal Academy of Engineering. She joined the University of Leeds as a University Academic Fellow in 2016.

Fleur’s research covers two main themes. The first is decarbonisation of heating through the use of the subsurface for ground heat transfer and storage. She is a pioneer in using structure foundations and buried infrastructure as novel ground heat exchangers. Work includes assessment of energy capacity for piles, walls, tunnels and water/waste water infrastructure used as heat exchangers. Second, Fleur is active in improving the resilience of linear geotechnical infrastructure. Work has focused on the deterioration of soil materials due to environmental interactions and the interplay between soil permeability, vegetation impacts and climate. Current work considers the importance of drainage to both track and earthworks under current and future climate, and the understanding of the role of heterogeneity in influencing earthwork behaviour.

Fleur is a Chartered Engineer and a Chartered Geologists. She was a contributing author to the Ground Source Heat Pump Association Thermal Pile Standard and is a member of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering Technical Committee on Energy Geotechnics (TC308), where she leads to Task Force on Energy Geostructures.


Felicity Furey

An inspirational leader and in-demand speaker, Felicity’s engineering mindset is primed to help leaders and teams reignite performance, reframe challenges as opportunities and redefine what’s possible in the future of business and leadership.

In the world of engineering Felicity skyrocketed to the top to lead some of Australia’s most innovative mega infrastructure projects for the likes of Arup, fortune 500 company AECOM and Brisbane City Council, where she delivered a $45 million dollar transport infrastructure project portfolio at just 23 years-of-age.

One of just twelve women in her graduating class of 120, Felicity remains committed to fueling diversity across all industries by equipping current and emerging leaders from all backgrounds with the skills and tools to make an impact. Felicity’s two businesses, Power of Engineering Inc. and Machinam and exclusive partnerships with Qantas, Boeing, Toyota, Telstra, Origin and Energy Australia power her mission to help more people ignite their potential and spark meaningful change.

Felicity’s ‘Power of Possible’ platform has helped launched books, built team blue sky ideas. In 2020, Felicity became the first civilian woman to pilot a military-style jet solo - a feat she will capture as part of her new documentary series.

Awards and Acolades:

  • Superstar of STEM 2019 - 2020, Science and Technology Australia
  • Innovative Engineer of 2018, Engineers Australia
  • Young Executive of the Year 2016, Australian Financial Review BOSS Magazine
  • Vice Chancellor's Award for Excellence Winner 2014, QUT
  • Young Achiever Award 2013, National Association of Women in Construction
  • Finalist Outstanding Alumni Awards 2013, QUT
  • Young Social Pioneer 2013, Foundation for Young Australians
  • 100 Women of Influence 2012, Australian Financial Review and Westpac
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  • Key Dates

  • Abstract submissions closed 31 January 2021.
  • Notification of abstracts acceptance and full paper submission opens February/March 2021
  • Full papers due 30 June 2021
  • Peer reviews August/September 2021
  • Final papers due 20 December 2021
  • Final Paper Notification1 February 2022
  • Pre-recorded Presentations 14 February 2022
  • Early Bird Registration 15 March 2022
  • 7iYGEC29 April - 1 May 2022

Venue

ICC Sydney is at the heart of its very own Sydney harbour waterfront precinct, set amongst restaurants, retail and a vibrant public domain on Darling Harbour. View Venue information.

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Committee

The Australian Geomechanics Society was founded in 1970. Its origins lie in the National Committee of Soil Mechanics of the Institution of Engineers. See more information.