Nelson Lam

Nelson Lam is Professor and Leader of the Structures and Buildings Discipline in the Department of Infrastructure Engineering within the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology at the University of Melbourne. He obtained a BSc in Civil Engineering with first class honours from the University of Leeds in 1981, an MSc in Concrete Structures from Imperial College London in 1982, and a PhD in Earthquake Engineering from the University of Melbourne in 1993. Lam began his professional career as a structural engineer with Scott Wilson International during the 1980s, attaining British chartered engineer status, and has since accumulated over 40 years of experience in structural engineering.

Lam's academic interests and research specializations centre on earthquake engineering, impact engineering, and structural dynamics, with a focus on modelling the performance of buildings and infrastructure subjected to extreme events including earthquakes, rockfalls, landslides, collisions, and blasts. He has significantly influenced building standards and seismic codes in Australia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Singapore by advising engineering institutes, contributing to Malaysia's inaugural earthquake code for new buildings, and participating in policy development through cooperative research centres such as the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC. Prominent appointments include chief editor of the Australian Journal of Structural Engineering, member of Engineers Australia's structural college board, standing committee member for revisions to the Australian standard for seismic actions, member of the Seismic and Dynamic Events Panel of the Institution of Structural Engineers (London), and international advisor to the Hong Kong SAR Government on landslide and rockfall protection designs. Key publications encompass 'Displacement-based seismic analysis for out-of-plane bending of unreinforced masonry walls' (2002), 'Generation of synthetic earthquake accelerograms using seismological modelling: a review' (2000), the lead-authored professional guidebook 'Design of Buildings and Structures in Low to Moderate Seismicity Regions', and the textbook 'Collision Action on Structures' co-authored with Arnold Yong and Scott Menegon. His contributions have earned major awards including the Charles Bubb Medal from the Australian Earthquake Engineering Society (2024), Chapman Medals from Engineers Australia (1999 and 2010), Warren Medal (2006), Award for Teaching Excellence (2012), and Academic Staff Teaching Award from the Melbourne School of Engineering (2013).

Professional Email: ntkl@unimelb.edu.au