Rate My Professor Dilan Robert

Professor Dilan Robert is the Head of the Department of Civil and Infrastructure Engineering in the School of Engineering at RMIT University. As a leading expert in geotechnical engineering, he possesses over 20 years of experience in geotechnical and underground infrastructure projects. He obtained his Bachelor's degree from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, and his PhD from the University of Cambridge, UK. Prior to joining RMIT in 2014, he held positions as a Research Fellow at Monash University, Australia, for two years, and as a Geotechnical Engineer in the UK for two years. Specifically, from 2010 to 2012, he served at KW Ltd in London as a subsea geotechnical engineer on offshore pipeline projects, conducting upheaval buckling analysis, reliability analysis, shore approach assessments, slope stability, trenchability, expansion, pile design, backfilling assessments, settlement calculations, and geotechnical data reviews. Earlier, he worked as a Civil Engineer at the State Engineering Corporation (SEC) in Sri Lanka from 2005 to 2006, managing precast concrete structures production including bridge beams and poles, overseeing more than 150 direct labourers. From 2004 to 2005, he was a Research Engineer at the Lanka Hydraulic Institute, Sri Lanka, performing mathematical modelling for fishing harbours and ports.

Professor Robert's academic interests and research specializations include onshore and offshore pipelines, road pavements, soil stabilization, waste recycling, soil-structure interaction analysis, offshore geotechnics, unsaturated soils, constitutive modeling of soil and concrete, and corrosion assessment of buried metals. He serves as Director of Research and Education at the Centre for Pavement Excellence Asia Pacific Ltd and is a Fellow of the Australia-India Strategic Research Fund (AISRF). As Chief Investigator, he contributes to multiple ongoing state, national, and industry projects valued at over $10 million. Since 2011, he has authored more than 200 technical papers across diverse research areas, with his work cited over 3,800 times according to Google Scholar. Notable publications include "A modified Mohr-Coulomb model to simulate the behavior of pipelines in unsaturated soils" (2017) and "Effect of corrosion and hydrogen embrittlement on microstructure and mechanical properties of mild steel" (2018). He holds the role of Teaching and Research Senior Manager (Advanced), teaches Geotechnical Engineering 2 (CIVE1108), and supervises numerous Master's and PhD projects on sustainable infrastructure, pavement resilience, and geotechnical risks. Professor Robert is dedicated to delivering research outcomes effectively implemented in practice.