Professor Xia-Ting Feng obtained his PhD in Civil Engineering at the Northeastern University, China, where he continued as a Professor. He was admitted by the Hundred Talents Program to the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in 1998 and later permanently joined CAS's Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics. He later obtained the support of the China National Funds for Distinguished Young Scientists and became a Chair Professor of the Cheung Kong Scholars' Programme of the Chinese Ministry of Education. Dr Feng is the President of the International Society for Rock Mechanics for the period 2011-2015. He has made original contributions to the subject ofintelligent rock mechanics' and his methods have been applied to large rock engineering projects in China and other countries.

Professor John A. Hudson graduated in 1965 from the Heriot-Watt University, UK, and obtained his PhD at the University of Minnesota, USA. He has spent his professional career in engineering rock mechanics-as it applies to civil, mining and environmental engineering-in consulting, research, teaching and publishing and was awarded the DSc. degree for his contributions to the subject. In addition to authoring many scientific papers and books, he edited the 1993 five-volume Comprehensive Rock Engineering compendium, and the International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences from 1983-2006. Since 1983, he has been affiliated with Imperial College, London as a Reader, Professor, and now Emeritus Professor and was elected as a Fellow of the UK Royal Academy of Engineering in 1998. Prof. Hudson was the President of the International Society for Rock Mechanics between 2007 and 2011. He is also an Honorary Professor at the University of Hong Kong and an Adjunct Professor in the Chinese Academy of Sciences.