The second Qian Lecture was held in Beijing on 24 October 2021. The lecture was a part of the ARMS11 (The 11th Asian Rock Mechanics Symposium: Challenges and Opportunities in Rock Mechanics and Engineering). Two Lecturers gave excellent presentations and introduced JRMGE during the conference. The Honorary Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Qihu Qian, granted the awards to the two lecturers.

LECTURERS:

Prof. Xia-Ting Feng

Northeastern University

Prof. Xia-Ting Feng received his PhD at Northeastern University of Technology (namely Northeastern University since 1992), China in 1992 and then took the position of lecturer, associate professor and professor at the same university. He joined Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in 1998 and as Deputy Director in Charge and Director in 2001e2005. He has worked as Director of State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering since 2007. He works at Northeastern University, China as a Vice President since September 2017. In February 2021, he became president of Northeastern University. He is President of Federation of International Geo-engineering Societies e FedIGS, President of International Society for Rock Mechanics (ISRM) Commission on Design Methodology, member of ISRM Commission on Testing Methods, and President of Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering (CSRME). He was the past President of ISRM 2011e2015. He is also Editorin- Chief of Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (JRMGE) and Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering, and Associate Editor-in-Chief of Chinese Journal of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics. He is members of Editorial Board of International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences, Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering, and Geomechanics and Tunneling. His research interests cover rock mechanics for deep rock engineering. He published more than 180 technical papers and the English book “Rock Engineering Design” and “Rock Engineering Risk” with Professor John Hudson. He has edited five volumes of the book “Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering” (CRC Press) and the book “Rockburst” (Elsevier).

Prof. Yu-Jun Cui

Ecole des Ponts ParisTech, France

Yu-Jun Cui obtained his BSc degree in Civil Engineering from Tongji University, China, in 1984, his Master degree in Mechanics applied to Constructions from Ecole des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC), France, in 1989 and his PhD in Unsaturated Soil Mechanics in 1993, also from Ecole des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC). He was employed by ENPC immediately after his PhD as an assistant researcher in the Laboratory of Soil Mechanics (CERMES) now becoming Géotechnique Group of Laboratoire Navier. He passed his Habilitation to Direct Research in Civil Engineering at University of Marne La Vallée, France, in 2000, and obtained the position of professor of ENPC in 2005. He has been Head of Master MSROE (Mécanique des Sols, des Roches et des Ouvrages dans leur Environnement) since 2004. His research interests cover unsaturated soil mechanics, laboratory testing, constitutive modelling, environmental geotechnics, railway geotechnics, nuclear waste disposal, lime/cement stabilized soils, soil-vegetation-atmosphere interaction, compaction of agricultural soils, etc.