Rate My Professor Yuri Totoev

Dr. Yuri Totoev serves as Honorary Senior Lecturer in the School of Engineering (Civil Engineering) at the University of Newcastle, Australia. He holds a PhD and Master of Engineering Science from Kiev State Technical University. His professional career includes extensive experience in structural engineering. At the University of Newcastle, he started as Research Associate in the Department of Civil, Surveying, and Environmental Engineering in 1993, progressed to Associate Lecturer from 1994 to 1999, Lecturer from 2000 to 2004, and holds the current position of Honorary Senior Lecturer. Previously, he served as Research Academic at Kiev State Technical University for Building and Architecture from 1987 to 1991, Civil Engineer at State Construction Company in Ukraine from 1982 to 1984, and Founder and Director of BKT Pty. Ltd., an engineering consulting firm, from 1991 to 1992. Dr. Totoev has held visiting academic appointments, including at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Mid-America Earthquake Center in 1997-1998, Slovenian National Research Institute for Civil Engineering in 2001, and Kiev State Technical University in 2001. He co-chaired the organising committee for the 14th International Brick/Block Masonry Conference in Australia in 2004.

Dr. Totoev has participated in several major research programs in structural engineering since 2000 and initiated and developed a major multi-strand research program in structural masonry, maintaining close international links with institutions like Kiev State Technical University and the Slovenian National Research Institute for Civil Engineering. His research specializations include unreinforced masonry, earthquake-resistant masonry, semi-interlocking masonry systems, brick products, dynamics of structures, thin-walled structures, stability of structures, and unsaturated moisture flow. He has led and contributed to funded projects such as Pronto Panel structural assessment (2016, Brickworks Building Products), moisture transport in masonry construction (2001, Australian Research Council), and numerical analysis of Picton Viaduct (2020, Tahmoor Coal Pty Ltd). Awards include the 2007 Engineering Excellence Awards (Research Award) from Engineers Australia and the Dr. R.G. Drysdale Award in 2001. Key publications feature 'Feasibility Assessment of Implementing Semi-Interlocking Masonry as Infill Panels in Framed Building Construction' (2024), 'An experimental study on the in-plane seismic performance of the confined semi-interlocking masonry system using DIC method' (2024), 'Application of the resettable semi-active damper device for macro modelling of confined semi-interlocking masonry walls' (2021), 'Modelling reactive soil movements for the study of cracking in masonry structures' (2026), and various conference papers on seismic performance and out-of-plane capacity of semi-interlocking masonry panels.