Rate My Professor George Kouretzis

Associate Professor Georgios Kouretzis is a leading researcher in the School of Engineering (Civil Engineering) at the University of Newcastle, Australia, affiliated with the Priority Research Centre for Geotechnical Science and Engineering. He earned his Diploma in Civil Engineering from Democritus University of Thrace, Greece, followed by a Master of Science in Engineering and a PhD in Geotechnical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Greece, completing his doctorate in 2005. Kouretzis joined the University of Newcastle in 2012 as a Senior Lecturer and has since been promoted to Associate Professor. Previously, he held positions as a post-doctoral researcher, part-time lecturer, research assistant, and casual academic at NTUA's School of Civil Engineering. Since 2000, he has provided expert consulting services for major infrastructure projects, including high- and medium-pressure natural gas and crude oil pipeline networks, bridges, and motorway tunnels in high-seismicity regions.

Kouretzis's research focuses on pipeline engineering, soil-foundation-structure interaction, computational geomechanics, geotechnical earthquake engineering, soft soil testing, and seismic design of tunnels. His work addresses critical challenges such as the behavior of pipelines crossing geotechnically challenging environments, impacts of climate change and mine subsidence, and effects of blasts on lifeline pipelines. He has published over 70 refereed journal papers, with highly cited publications including "Stress analysis of buried steel pipelines at strike-slip fault crossings" (Karamitros et al., Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, 2007; 565 citations), "An analytical method for strength verification of buried steel pipelines at normal fault crossings" (Karamitros et al., 2011; 224 citations), and "Analysis of buried pipelines subjected to ground surface settlement and heave" (Kouretzis et al., Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 2015; 109 citations). Additionally, he authored "Fundamentals of foundation engineering and their applications" (2025). Kouretzis has secured substantial research funding from government and industry sources and supervised multiple PhD theses. He has received awards for research and teaching excellence from IACMAG and ACCM. As Associate Editor of the Canadian Geotechnical Journal, Editorial Board Member of Computers and Geotechnics, and past Secretary of the Australian Geomechanics Society's NSW-Newcastle Chapter (2014-2016), he significantly influences the field.