Adnan Sufian

Dr Adnan Sufian is an Honorary Lecturer in the School of Civil Engineering at the University of Queensland, within the Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology. He obtained his Doctor of Philosophy in Civil Engineering from the University of New South Wales in 2017, along with a Bachelor of Engineering in Civil Engineering from the same university in 2012. During his PhD studies, he served as a visiting scholar for one year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Sufian's career includes practical experience as a geotechnical engineer at SMEC Australia, where he contributed to significant infrastructure projects such as the Hunter Expressway, Gerringong Upgrade, Glenfield to Leppington Rail Line, and Gosford Passing Loop, involving site investigations, design, construction, and project proposals. Following his PhD, he held a Postdoctoral Research Associate position at Imperial College London and subsequently joined the University of Queensland as a Lecturer in Geotechnical Engineering before taking up his current honorary role.

Sufian's research centers on the multi-scale and multi-phase mechanics of granular materials, with the goal of developing tools and guidelines to enable geotechnical engineers to effectively handle, manipulate, and construct with these materials, thereby addressing challenges in urban infrastructure development. His academic interests extend to natural phenomena involving granular geomaterials, including erosion-affected landscapes, mass movements in landslides, and the mitigation of contaminant spread in subsurface flows. He possesses expertise in advanced multi-scale computational modeling techniques, such as the Discrete Element Method (DEM), Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD-DEM), and Pore Network Models (PNM), focusing on the interaction between water and soil particles. His multidisciplinary research involves collaborations with physicists, mathematicians, and engineers. Sufian has received prestigious funding, including the Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (project DE240100817, 2024-2027) for predicting internal erosion in dams using real-time coupled experiments, an ARC Early Career Industry Fellowship (2023) with SMEC Australia to improve the reliability of quantifying internal erosion risks in dams and levees, a UQ Development Fellowship (2020-2022), and other grants. Key publications include 'Filtration and clogging behaviour: a systematic definition in the pore network' (Computers and Geotechnics, 2026), 'Geotechnical Classification of Gap-Graded Soils Using Geoelectric Measurements: Linking Electrical Conductivity Parameters to Fines Content and Particle Shape' (Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 2026), 'Quantification of spatial heterogeneity and its influence on particle migration' (Géotechnique, 2024), 'Spatial and temporal evolution of particle migration in gap-graded granular soils' (Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 2023), and 'Anisotropy of contact networks in granular media and its influence on mobilised internal friction' (Géotechnique, 2017). His scholarly impact is evidenced by over 580 citations.

Professional Email: a.sufian@uq.edu.au