Dr. Olivier Buzzi was admitted at the Ecole Normale Superieure (ENS) de Cachan in 1997 and obtained the French National Agrégation of Civil Engineering in 2000. He completed a Master on rock joints (in 2001) and PhD on the hydromechanical behaviour of contacts between geomaterials in the context of nuclear waste storage (completed in 2004) at the University Joseph Fourier, Grenoble.

Moving to Australia in 2005 to take up a post-doctoral position was the first step in Olivier’s career at the University of Newcastle. He began lecturing at the University in 2007, became senior lecturer in 2009, Associate Professor in 2012 and full Professor in 2018.

Olivier’s research interests span from rock mechanics (hydromechanical response of rock joints, rockfall) to soil mechanics (expansive soils, unsaturated soil mechanics, soil microstructure) with a long history of successful industry collaboration and a taste for challenging problems. Olivier combines experimental, theoretical and numerical approaches to propose innovative solutions to complex problems.

Olivier served on the Editorial board of Computers and Geotechnics and Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering, as an Associate Editor of Canadian Geotechnical Journal and of Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering (current).