Ismet Canbulat is Head of School and Chair of Rock Mechanics at the School of Minerals and Energy Resources Engineering, UNSW Sydney. He has over 30 years of experience in research, consultancy, management, on-site and academia.

Ismet is a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and Institute of Engineers Australia; a member of the International Society for Rock Mechanics, Australian Geomechanics Society and Society of Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration.

He has over 100 publications in the field of rock mechanics. His main research interests and expertise lie in rock mechanics theory and application, ground control, ground support system design, numerical modelling in addition to other areas in mining engineering including mine design, layout selection and geotechnical impact assessment, risk management and advanced risk-based design and evaluation.

Serkan Saydam is currently Chair in Mining Engineering at the School of Minerals and Energy Resources Engineering at UNSW. A key focus of his research is to address the current needs and future challenges faced by the mining industry. His fields of research include ground control, mine planning and design, technology integration and management, mine internet of things and space resources engineering. He established research collaboration with NASA as well more than 40 research organisations and universities globally. Serkan is known for founding and chairing the AusIMM’s International Future Mining Conference Series, and he also co-chairs of AusIMM’s AusRock Conference Series.

Professor Saydam is the High-Level Advisory Board Member of EU funded illuMINEation Project and the Advisory Board Member of 7Sisters Mission, the first Australian Mission for Moon. He is also the inventor of the Virtual Mine – ViMINE mining engineering game which his used in more than 80 universities worldwide.

Serkan has received multiple academic awards including 2020 UNSW Dean’s Award for Global Impact, 2019 UNSW Vice Chancellor’s Postgraduate Research Supervision Award and 2017 Society of Mining Professors’ International Tim Shaw Innovation in Teaching Award. He is a Fellow of the AusIMM; President of the ISRM Commission on Planetary Rock Mechanics; Deputy Director of the Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research (ACSER) at UNSW; Deputy Secretary General and Council Member of the SOMP (The Society of Mining Professors).

Seher Ata is an Associate Professor in the School of Minerals and Energy at University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.

Prior to joining UNSW, she was a Research Academic at the Centre for Multiphase Processes, Newcastle University, Australia. She has taught a number of courses including mineral processing, uranium mining fundamentals and particle processing and technology. Dr Ata’s research interests focus on fundamental and applied research in mineral processing with special emphasis on froth flotation, dewatering and integrating renewable energy in mineral processing. She has worked on a wide range of projects which have concentrated on the processing of low-grade complex by flotation, froth phase behaviour in industrial flotation cells, tailings reprocessing, and the impact of water chemistry on the efficiency of coal processing plants. She publishes widely and has recently been included in the world’s top 2% of Scientists List.

Dr Ata is on the editorial board of several journals. She is also the UNSW representative of MN-001 Coal and Coke Standards Australia and leading the Australian Standards for coal flotation committee which aims to review and update the current Standard.

Beyond her scholarly and academic work, Dr Ata is passionate about creating equity and diversity. She is a member of the Gender Equity Working Group and the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee.