Jianchun Li is a Changjiang Scholar Distinguished Professor of geomechanics at the School of Civil Engineering at Southeast University. She worked in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Nanyang Technological University of Singapore and in the Laboratoire de mécanique des roches (LMR) at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) of Switzerland between 2006 and 2010, and was a research professor at the Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences between 2011 and 2018. Her research interests are rock mechanics and dynamics, shock and impact mechanics, protective engineering, and underground technology. She is an Editor-in-Chief of Geomechanics and Geophysics for Geo-Energy and Geo-Resource, and an Associate Editor of Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering. Xiao-zhao Li is a professor of geotechnical and underground engineering, and the current director of the State Key Laboratory for Geomechanics & Deep Underground Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology. He was a professor of geological engineering at Nanjing University, the Director of Institute for Underground Space and Geo-environment at Nanjing University (NJU-IUSG), director of Nanjing Innovation Centre for Shallow Geothermal Development Industry (ICSGI). His research focuses on utilization of underground space, rock fracture and fluid flow in rock mass, aadioactive waste disposal, shallow geothermal development. He is an author of more than 200 publications, and over 50 patents. Minghe Ju is currently an associate professor in the State Key Laboratory for Geomechanics & Deep Underground Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology. He received his PhD degree from Monash University Australia in 2020. His research interests are on the interaction between propagating cracks and multiscale geological weak structures in static and dynamic loading conditions. He has published more than 30 SCI journal papers. Fengqiang Gong is a professor of geomechanics and underground engineering at the School of Civil Engineering, Southeast University. He obtained PhD degree from Central South University (CSU) and Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), and worked in CSU between 2012 and 2019. His current research interests include failure mechanism of rockburst and spalling, rock dynamics in mining and tunnelling. He is an editorial board member of Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics, Journal of Engineering Geology and Journal of Mining and Strata Control Engineering. Yingxin Zhou is a Senior Consultant at Deeptek Pty Ltd and has more than 30 years of experience in research, engineering, and teaching in rock engineering, rock dynamics, and underground space technology. He was Head Engineering (Underground Facilities) with the Defence Science & Technology Agency from 2013 to 2021 and adjunct associate professor at Nanyang Technological University from 2011 to 2018. He played leading roles in several pioneering rock engineering and research projects and served as technical advisor to many government ministries in Singapore. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Engineering Singapore, Fellow of the International Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering (ISRM) and has been a Board Member of the Associated research Centers for the Urban Underground Space (ACUUS) since 2013, and was a Vice President of ACUUS and Vice President (Asia) of ISRM and founding Chairman of the ISRM Commission on Rock Dynamics. He received the Defence Technology Prize 2018 Individual (Engineering) Award in Singapore.
