The Geotechnical Engineering Centre, within The University of Queensland's School of Civil Engineering, supports the highly successful dual-major, undergraduate programs in Geotechnical Engineering, an active research program and specialised consulting activities. The Centre is active in fundamental and applied research in a range of Geotechnical Engineering areas, which is well-supported by research grants, and engages up to 40 Postgraduate Research students. The Centre also manages the Large Open Pit Project which is an international research and technology transfer project focused on the stability of large slopes associated with open pit mines. It is an industry-sponsored and funded project that was initiated in 2005.

The Centre comprises the expertise of a leading research team in geotechnical and geo-environmental engineering, and computational modelling, applied to Civil and Mining Engineering problems. This expertise is made available both to the scientific community, through cutting-edge fundamental and applied research projects, and to industry through collaborative applied research, and high-level consulting and testing services.

We specialise in a range of fields in geotechnical and geo-environmental engineering, and computational modelling, including:

•  Application of geotechnical engineering principles to mine waste management, mining and civil excavation design, mineral processing, and mine closure
• Geomaterial modelling and computational geomechanics
• Advanced laboratory and field characterisation & testing, modelling, and monitoring of slurries, soils and rocks
• Application of spatial Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) and the dielectric permittivity of geomaterials to monitor and predict their geotechnical engineering parameters and behaviour

The centre is leading by Professor David Williams, he has over 40 years of teaching, research and consulting experience, and is internationally recognised for his expertise and experience in mine waste management and mine closure, pertaining to tailings dams in particular. He was a member of Expert Panel investigating technical causes of Brumadinho tailings dam failure and is on a number of Tailings Independent Technical Review Boards, including for Escondida-Chile. He authored in 2009 and 2016 Tailings Management Handbook, as part of the Commonwealth Leading Practice Sustainable Development Program for the Mining Industry. He is on Working Party for the Australian National Committee for Large Dams Guidelines on Tailings Dams – Planning, Design, Construction, Operation and Closure, published in 2012, with an Addendum in 2019.

The Geotechnical Engineering Centre is proudly funded by Industry Partners including BHP, MRM, Alfa Laval, AngloGold Ashanti, AusIMM, Aurecon, BASF, KCB, Jellinbah Group, Klohn Crippen Berger, Mining3, ReoCo (formerly TEXO) and Wagstaff Piling and UQ.