Plenary & Keynote Speakers

Dr. Riadh Al-Mahaidi
Swinburne University of Technology, Australia
Plenary Speaker

Topic of Keynote:

Dr. Stephen Foster
University of New South Wales, Australia
Plenary Speaker

Stephen Foster a Professor of Structural Engineering at The University of New South Wales, Sydney, and the former Dean of Engineering (2020-23). He received his PhD from the University of New South Wales in 1993 and has over 40 years’ experience as a structural engineer in practice and in teaching.
He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Fellow of Engineers Australia, Fellow of fib, Honorary Member of the Concrete Institute of Australia (CIA), a member Australian Standards Committee BD2, Chairman of sub-committee BD2/1 “Strength and Analysis”BD2/6 “Fibre Reinforced Concrete”, BD2/9 “Geopolymer Concrete”, Member of Australia Standards Committee BD90.5 “Bridge Design – Concrete” and chaired the BD90.5 working group on “Fibre Reinforced Concrete” and he is a Member of Canadian Standards Association Task Force on “Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code Ultra High Performance Concrete”.
He is the elected President of the International Federation for Structural Concrete (fib) (2023-24) and member of the fib Presidium.
Stephen has over 380 publications in the field of structural concrete and concrete materials, with textbooks on Reinforced Concrete and Prestressed Concrete. His main research interests are in the fields of bringing new materials technologies to the design concrete structures, including fibre and ultra-high-performance concrete, low carbon construction materials such as Geopolymer and alkaline activated concretes and high strength reinforcing steels.
He chaired committee that developed the first national Standards Australia Technical Specification “Design of geopolymer and alkali activated binder concrete structures” (SA TS 199.

Topic of Keynote: Challenges in Decarbonisation of Concrete Materials and Structures and Pathways to Achievement
Plenary Abstract