We were thrilled to host the Rocscience International Conference 2023 (RIC2023), an in-person conference from April 24-26, 2023, in Toronto, Canada. RIC2023's primary objective was to bring geotechnical professionals together to meet and exchange ideas on important issues and developments in geotechnical engineering, particularly combinations of emerging and mature technologies.

The geotechnical industry is rapidly evolving. Engineers are more connected through technology, technology is becoming more integrated than ever, and methods combining these technologies are becoming more prevalent. This movement towards combining technologies led us to the conference theme, “Synergy in Geotechnical Engineering – Success Beyond Individual Technologies.” We believe the time is right to highlight how far the industry has come with various technologies and continues to develop. The conference aims to create an environment that fosters new perspectives and helps attendees delve deeper into innovative approaches.

During RIC2023, Rocscience awarded the 2023 Lifetime Achievement Medal to Dr. Norbert Morgenstern, an internationally recognized authority in the engineering community. As both a practitioner and educator, Dr. Morgenstern’s contributions to the geotechnical community continue to benefit engineers worldwide, and he will give an address on his career.


Conference Proceedings

The RIC2023 Conference Proceedings have now been published. You can access them here: RIC2023 Conference Proceedings

Lifetime Achievement Medal Recipient

Norbert Morgenstern

Dr. Norbert Morgenstern

Rocscience is honoured to award the 2023 Lifetime Achievement Medal to Dr. Norbert Morgenstern.

As an internationally recognized authority in the engineering community as both a practitioner and educator, Norbert’s contributions to the geotechnical community have and continue to benefit engineers around the world.

Abstract and Paper Submissions

Geotechnical professionals from around the world were invited to submit the abstracts for their technical papers on themes including:

    • Tunnelling in challenging environments
    • Slope stability analysis
    • Numerical modelling of excavations
    • Analysis of underground excavations
    • Computational geomechanics
    • Foundation engineering
    • Artificial intelligence and virtual reality technologies in geomechanics
    • Advancements in probabilistic geotechnical analysis
    • Advancements in three-dimensional geotechnical analysis
    • Dynamic analysis of soils and liquefaction modelling
    • Continuous and discontinuous rock mechanics
    • Innovative approaches and technologies for tailings storage facilities design
    • Soil-structure interactions
    • Settlement analysis and ground improvements
    • Groundwater flow and seepage analysis
    • Advanced geotechnical monitoring technologies – slope stability and underground
    • Site investigations

All the accepted technical papers will be included in the conference proceedings.

Editorial Policy

Publication Guidelines

All submitted papers must be written in English and presented in English.

Authors must ensure that their submitted papers for RIC2023 have not been accepted for another conference or published previously. Papers must also not be duplicates of previously published manuscripts. (‘Duplicates’ refer to papers that significantly overlap with already published manuscripts.)

All papers must be submitted electronically in Microsoft Word through the conference portal.

Every paper must:

  • Include the title of the work, abstract, authors' names, affiliations, and e-mail addresses
  • Follow conventions outlined in the paper template, including paragraphing, sections, sub-sections and referencing formats, use of italics, and labelling of figures and drawings
  • Drawings and their labelling must be legible

Ethics

Authors of RIC2023 papers must correctly attribute knowledge or information from the works of other researchers. They must adhere to widely accepted ethical standards on identifying sources to protect against plagiarism. Authors must also disclose data sources, outline how they collected the data for their conference paper and adhere to recognized ethical research practices.

Authors must list research funding sources in their papers, including direct and indirect financial support and in-kind support. These sources may be listed under an acknowledgments section or appropriately identified in the main text.

Should reviewers seek clarification on matters such as originality or data sources, authors must promptly provide the required responses.

Review Process

RIC2023 will ensure that experts with relevant expertise review papers. The conference's reviewers will carefully read papers, treat authors fairly and provide constructive feedback. They will consider papers as confidential information and keep their identity from authors. If reviewers need clarification about any aspects or have a conflict of interest, they will immediately consult with the conference chairs.

View the list of Technical Peer Reviewers for the Papers

Technical Course

As a part of RIC2023, three short technical courses were hosted on April 24th, 2023:

Course I: Stability Analysis of Tailings Storage Facilities using Rocscience Software

Course II: Settlement, Consolidation, and Liquefaction Analysis of Foundations using Numerical Tools

Course III: Slope Stability Analysis with Limit Equilibrium and Finite Element Software

Keynote Speakers

Dr. Derek Martin

University of Alberta

Topic:

Performance-based design in rock engineering

Dr. Mohamed Meguid

McGill University

Topic:

An overview of the challenges and developments in the analysis of transportation infrastructure in a changing climate

Dr. Ellen Rathje

University of Texas at Austin

Topic:

The Role of Data, Simulation, and Cyberinfrastructure in Geotechnical Engineering.

Dr. Youssef M A Hashash

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Topic:

Geotechnical Engineering in the Age of AI and Machine Learning

Venue


Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel

123 Queen St W

Toronto, ON

M5H 2M9

Conference Schedule

Download the RIC2023 Conference Schedule.

Gold Sponsors

Silver Sponsors

Conference Chairs

General Chair

Thamer Yacoub

CEO and President

Rocscience

Technical Chair

Reginald Hammah

Director of Rocscience in Africa

Rocscience

Technical Chair

Alison McQuillan

Director of Rocscience in Australia

Rocscience

Technical Chair

Alireza Azami

Director of Business and Research

Rocscience

Technical Chair

Sina Javankhoshdel

Geomechanics Product Manager

Rocscience

Organizing Committee

Planning and logistics

Saiyona Ghosh

Registrations & finance

Anthony Salvalaggio

On-ground logistics

Calvin Heinrichs

On-ground logistics

Marissa Ponn

Registrations

Ruth Obeng-King

Publications Committee

Editor-in-Chief

Reginald Hammah

Editor

Thamer Yacoub

Editor

Alison McQuillan

Editor

Alireza Azami

Editor

Sina Javankhoshdel

Marketing and Publicity Team

Conference Outreach

Reginald Hammah

Patner Outreach

Sina Javankhoshdel

Marketing & Communications

Saiyona Ghosh

Marketing & Communications

Calvin Heinrichs

Design & Graphics

Marissa Ponn