Commentary, insights, and public engagement on geotechnical engineering and sustainability
Geotechnical engineering sits at the intersection of climate response, urban resilience, and the clean energy transition. Yet it rarely commands the public or policy attention it deserves. I write and speak to change that - translating rigorous science into accessible insights for industry, policymakers, and the public.
The underground is the defining infrastructure of the next century. The sooner that is understood, the faster we move.
At the 21st International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering in Vienna, I was elected President of ISSMGE for the term 2026 to 2030. Geotechnical engineering has the science, the tools, and the people to address the defining challenges of our time. ISSMGE should be the instrument through which that capability reaches the world.
"The most important advances in geotechnical engineering will not come from incremental refinement. They will come from those willing to reimagine what the ground can do - not merely as a foundation, but as an energy source, a carbon repository, a living material."Lyesse Laloui
On the future of sustainable practice, the profession's responsibility to the climate challenge, and the DFI John Mitchell Lecture in Bruges.
2025 LinkedIn · AnnouncementAt the 21st International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering in Vienna, elected President of ISSMGE for the term 2026 to 2030.
2026 Les DécouveursA wide-ranging French-language interview covering nuclear waste disposal, CO2 sequestration, energy geostructures, and bio-cementation. 24,000+ views.
2025 Canal AlphaTelevision coverage of energy geostructures deployed in Swiss urban infrastructure - the moment laboratory science becomes city infrastructure.
2025 ISSMGE CandidacyThe strategic vision document for the 2026 ISSMGE presidential election, covering sustainability, governance reform, and a global educational platform.
2026 World Economic Forum · DavosPanel contribution at the Braillard Foundation luncheon during the 56th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, Davos. January 2026.
2026 YouTube / EPFLKeynote at ENAC Research Day. How thirty years of research on bacteria and soil became a commercial product changing the construction industry.
2024 YouTube / EPFLThe ASCE Kersten Lecture, Minneapolis. One of the most prestigious invited lectures in the field - and a case for why the profession's moment has arrived.
2020 YouTube / EPFLReal-world performance data from energy geostructure installations in urban metro infrastructure. VIth Madrid Subterra.
2022"Doing more renovations with current technologies would require 300,000 additional skilled workers. We cannot mobilise such a workforce. We have to innovate."Lyesse Laloui · Rent Fair, Geneva