ProfessorLidija Zdravkovic

Professor of Computational Geomechanics

Director of Admissions - MSc Geotechnical Engineering programmes

Professor Zdravkovic has been a member of academic staff at Imperial College since 1999 and a professor since 2013. She joined the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering as a PhD student in 1992, completing in 1996 and working as a Research Associate until 1999. Her academic career started at the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Civil Engineering, where she graduated in 1988 and was then employed for four years as a Research and Teaching Assistant engaged in teaching, research and consulting for industry. 

Lidija is a former Head of the Geotechnics Section (2014-2024). She is currently Director of Admissions for the Geotechnical Engineering cluster of MSc programmes and Co-Director of the Imperial's Centre for Nuclear Engineering. She is also Editor in Chief of Géotechnique. 

Lidija's research interests involve the development and applicaiton of numerial methods in geotechnical engineerng, as well as experimental characterisation of soils under mechanical and thermal perturbations. Her contributions have been in the development and implementation of solution algorithms, constitutive models and boundary conditions for the coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical-chemical analysis of saturated and unsaturated soils, under static and dynamic conditions. She has applied bespoke numerical tools in the analyses of soil-structure interaction problems, including offshore foundations; foundation re-use; lifecycle assessment of infrastructure embankments, earth dams and slopes in the changing climate; flood defences; fast landslides; tunnels and deep excavations; nuclear waste disposal. Her work focuses on integrating laboratory and field ground characterisation with advanced numerical modelling, to aid the geotechnical design with robust predictive computational tools.

Lidija has led and co-supervised over 40 PhD projects and also supports applications for post-doctoral research and Fellowships. She works closely with her research team and was distinguished with the 2019 Imperial College President's Award and Medal for Excellence in Educaton, category Research Supervision.

Lidija has written over 250 technical publications and has co-authored two well known text books: Finite element analysis in geotechnical engineering - Vol. 1: Theory (1999), Vol. 2: Application (2001), published by Thomas Telford. The Chinese language translation of the books was published in 2010 by China Science Publishing. Her research has been recognised by best paper awards from the Institution of Civil Engineers and the British Geotechnical Association, notably the Telford Gold Medal in 2002 and the BGA Medal in 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2020. She was also invited to deliver the 2013 Géotechnique Lecture and the 2024 Rankine Lecture.