Prof. Lyesse Laloui

Prof. Lyesse Laloui is an active scientist at EPFL since 1994, where he directs the Soil Mechanics Laboratory as well as the Civil Engineering Section. In addition, he is the honorary director of the International Joint Research Center for Energy Geotechnics in China and until 2020 was an adjunct professor at Duke University, USA. He is also a full member of the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences and serves as the European Vice President of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE). Since 2017 Lyesse Laloui acts as an ambassador of Lausanne Montreux Congress (LMC) which brings together the experts from the economic region of Lausanne and Montreux. In 2022 Lyesse Laloui appeared in the Ranking of Top 1000 Scientists in the field of Engineering and Technology released by Research.com. He has ranked #17 in Switzerland and #923 in the world. As founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Elsevier Geomechanics for Energy and the Environment journal (CiteScore 2021 – 6.8), he is a leading scientist in the field of geomechanics and geo-energy. His research portfolio includes 13 written and edited books and over 370 peer reviewed papers; resulting in almost 20 000 citations with an h-index of 64 (Google Scholar). 

Prof. Laloui is a world-renowned scientist in his field and has dedicated much of his career to understanding the natural world for the benefit of society. His research and exploration of the mechanics of geomaterials and other geology has made significant contributions to our understanding of the physical mechanisms of these materials. From this, he has developed innovative and sustainable technologies for today and the generations to come. His efforts in areas such as sustainability, climate change, renewable energy and the optimisation of natural resources have been recognized and awarded by the European Research Council with an Advanced ERC Grant for his project BIOGEOS (BIO-mediated GEO-material Strengthening), followed by an ERC Proof of Concept Grant (PoC) in 2020. In 2022 Prof. Laloui has been recognized for his commitment to global sustainability with two honoris causae from Heriot-Watt University and from the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca.