Rate My Professor Johan Wesseloo

Professor Johan Wesseloo serves as Professor in the School of Engineering and Director of the Australian Centre for Geomechanics at the University of Western Australia. He earned his BEng (Civil), MEng (Geotechnical), and PhD (Geotechnical) in 2005 from the University of Pretoria. Wesseloo began his professional career in 1998 as a geotechnical engineer at SRK Consulting in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he worked on a diverse range of open pit and underground mining projects across 14 countries, gaining extensive experience in varied geotechnical conditions. In 2007, he joined the Australian Centre for Geomechanics as a research fellow, engaging in advanced research, supervision of postgraduate students, delivery of geotechnical training courses, and conducting geotechnical and mining-induced seismicity reviews at numerous mining operations worldwide. His appointment as Director of the Centre in 2019 marked a significant leadership role in advancing geomechanics research and education.

Wesseloo's research specializations encompass mining geotechnical engineering, mining-induced seismicity, rock mechanics, rock engineering, and ground support. His expertise includes geotechnical engineering, mine-induced seismicity and rockburst behaviour, risk-based geotechnical design, open pit geomechanics, and underground geomechanics. He has played a key role in the development of the mXrap software platform and associated routines for seismic hazard analysis in mining environments. Notable publications include 'Design and Prediction in Rock Engineering: The Importance of Mechanisms of Failure, with Focus on High Stress, Brittle Rock Conditions' co-authored with T.R. Stacey (Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering, 2022), 'A formulation for optimum risk in open-pit mining' with J. Venter and B. Maybee (Journal of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 2024), 'Challenges in the use of verbal probability expressions in communicating risk' with J. Hadjigeorgiou (Journal of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 2026), 'A review of structural data collection methodologies for discrete fracture network generation' with D. Sewnun and M. Heinsen Egan (Caving 2022, 2022), and 'Seismic event location uncertainty in mining with reference to caving' with G. Morkel and Y. Potvin (Caving 2022, 2022). A Fellow of The Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, he has received the SAIMM Gold Medal in 2006, 2017, and 2020, as well as the Silver Medal in 2015. Wesseloo has contributed editorially to conferences including Ground Support 2023, the Second International Conference on Underground Mining Technology, the First International Conference on Mining Geomechanical Risk, and the 8th International Conference on Deep and High Stress Mining, and served as Programme Committee Chair for Ground Support 2023.