TALK 1: Geomechanics challenges of shale gas recovery in Sichuan Basin, China
Prof. Fengshou Zhang

 Bio:  Fengshou Zhang is a Changjiang Distinguished professor in the Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji University. He got his PhD from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2012, and MS, BS from Tongji University in 2007, 2004, respectively. His research areas focus on multi-field coupling of rock mechanics and its application in unconventional resource exploitation. He published more than 190 papers in PRL, GRL, JGR etc., and won the ARMA Early Career Award in 2018, the first Qian Qihu Award in 2020, the China Youth Science and Technology Award in 2022, and the ARMA Rock Mechanics Research Award in 2023. He also served as the first Executive Editor-in-Chief of Rock Mechanics Bulletin, an official flagship journal of CSRME.

Talk 2: A New Mining Method without Coal Pillars and Roadways Excavation -- the 3rd Mining Revolution in China
Prof. Manchao He

Bio: Dr. Manchao He is currently an Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), foreign Academician of Argentine National Academy of Engineering (ANI) and Russian Academy of Mining Sciences (AGN), the Director of State Key Laboratory for Geomechanics and Deep Underground Engineering (SKLGDUE) in Beijing, and Professor of China University of Mining and Technology-Beijing (CUMTB), China. He is the President of the Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering (CSRME). He is also the Vice President and honorary fellow of International Consortium on Geo-disaster Reduction (ICGdR). Dr. Manchao He mainly engaged in the research of Rock Mechanics and Engineering, including soft rock large deformation mechanism and control, mining technologies, rockburst mechanism, landslide, active fault stability analysis, monitoring and control, etc. He creatively proposed the 110/N00 mining method technological system which has led the third revolution of mining science and technology in China. He successfully invented the novel energy-absorbing NPR (Negative Poisson’s Ratio) bolt/anchor. The bolt, called as “HE-bolt” in the world, can exhibit extraordinarily large elongation at very high working resistance to the external load, and also have an ideal elastic–plastic behavior. It has been applied successfully in many practical projects, which makes a significant contribution to disasters control.