Diarmid Xu wins 54th Cooling Prize Competition

Diarmid Xu wins 54th Cooling Prize Competition

The British Geotechnical Association (BGA) is pleased to announce that the 54th Cooling Prize was awarded to Diarmid Xu of the University of Cambridge for a presentation on Response of rock-scour protection to earthquake induced liquefaction for offshore wind applications.

The Cooling Prize competition is held annually by the British Geotechnical Association (BGA) and is named after Dr Leonard Cooling, one of the founders of British Soil Mechanics, a former chair of the BGA, and the 2nd Rankine Lecturer. The Cooling Prize competition is intended for professionals in the geotechnical/ground engineering industry in the early stages of their careers.

The 54th Cooling Prize Competition was held as an in-person event in Cardiff hosted by the ICE Wales Cymru Regional Group on 27 March 2023. The event was also webcast live.

At the start of the evening Stephanie Markvukaj of Mott MacDonald, on behalf of the BGA, gave a short lecture about the development of the prize and Dr Leonard Cooling’s career. The four shortlisted finalists then presented their papers. During judging a keynote lecture was given by Professor Snehasis Tripathy of Cardiff University on 'Climate Change - Challenges Ahead for Geotechnical Engineers'.

The Judging Panel was Nicolas Armstrong (Chair of Panel) of Fugro & BGA Executive Committee Member, Stan Qi (Last year’s Cooling Prize winner) of Atkins, Kevin Power of WSP & ICE Wales Committee Member and Stephanie Markvukaj of Mott MacDonald & BGA Executive Committee Member.

The four Cooling Prize finalists and the subjects of their presentations were:

• George French of OGI Groundwater Specialists Ltd - The design and management of a groundwater control system for the construction of a box culvert during a four-day railway blockade in Littleborough, Rochdale.
• Domenico Gallese of Arup - Simplified procedures for the seismic design of monopile-supported offshore wind turbines.
• Steven Pryce of COWI - Risk Based Assessment of Settlement in Anisotropic soils using back-analysis.
• Diarmid Xu of the University of Cambridge - Response of rock-scour protection to earthquake induced liquefaction for offshore wind applications.

The judges were impressed with the high quality of presentations on such a diverse range of topics.

The judges decided that the 54th Cooling Prize should be awarded to Diarmid Xu of the University of Cambridge from their presentation on Response of rock-scour protection to earthquake induced liquefaction for offshore wind applications.

Chair of the Judging Panel Nick Armstrong said ‘It was a fascinating set of presentations, across two broad themes – seismic design and settlement due to dewatering – both of which are very relevant to our industry. It was difficult to choose, but the judges decided on one clear winner.’

Diarmid will be invited to write up their presentation for publication in Ground Engineering magazine and will also be invited to give the presentation to the BGA’s Annual Conference later in the year.