Prof. Anthony Leung Receives ISSMGE Outstanding Young Geotechnical Engineer Award
Prof. Anthony Leung, Associate Professor of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has been awarded the Outstanding Young Geotechnical Engineer Award by the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE), which is the largest international learnt society in geotechnical engineering. This award is given out every four years, and Prof. Leung is one of three awardees from around the world. The award ceremony will be held at the 20th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 2022 (ICSMGE2022) in Sydney, Australia, 1–5 May 2022.
Through the award, ISSMGE aims to recognise the significant contribution of young members (under the age of 36) to the practice or research in geotechnical engineering through research projects. Awardees are evaluated in terms of geotechnical project development and construction, research contributions in the geotechnical community, involvement in national and international geotechnical societies, and publications and education in the geotechnical discipline.
Prof. Leung’s research expertise is in unsaturated soil-plant interaction with emphasis on geotechnical engineering applications such as slope stabilisation. A prolific researcher and author, he has published more than 70 SCI journal articles in the subject of soil-vegetation interaction, and has co-authored the textbook Plant Soil Slope Interaction (Taylor & Francis, 2019). In addition, Prof. Leung is currently Editor-in-Chief of the ISSMGE Bulletin and Secretary of both ISSMGE’s TC106 (Unsaturated Soils) and TC107 (Tropical and residual soils) committees, and is now also serving on the Editorial Boards of multiple international academic journals, including the Canadian Geotechnical Journal, the International Journal of Physical Modelling in Geotechnics, as well as Environmental Geotechnics and other proceedings (e.g., on landslides) published by the Institute of Civil Engineers (ICE).
“I’m very honoured,” says Prof. Leung, “to receive this prestigious international award! I’m very glad, of course, because of winning, but more so and more importantly because it means that my ‘farming’ research in geotechnical engineering has been recognised. The past several years has been an absolutely amazing journey; I’ve very much been enjoying unearthing [pun intended] the hidden half of plants — i.e., their roots, how they interact with different soils, and how we can, and should, learn more about nature and work with nature to achieve better, more sustainable engineering designs. ISSMGE has provided me an excellent platform to share my research with fellow scholars and peers through different international activities. I must thank them for giving me opportunities to contribute and serve in different capacities.”
Prof. Leung has previously also received the 2018 International Award for Innovation in Unsaturated Soil Mechanics from TC106 (Unsaturated Soils) and the 2019 Bright Spark Lecture Award from ISSMGE, as well as being named an Excellent Youth Scientist (EYS) in 2019 by the Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). The current ISSMGE Outstanding Young Geotechnical Engineer Award adds to his long list of stellar achievements, attesting to the excellence of his research and scholarly endeavours.
Congratulations to Prof. Anthony Leung!
