On 23 March 2026, Professor Roland BÜRGMANN from the Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California, Berkeley, delivered a Public Lecture titled “Kinematics, Dynamics and Hazard of Slow-Moving Landslides” at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. The lecture was moderated by Prof. SHI Guoqiang and co-organised by the Research Institute of Land and Space (RILS) and Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI). Prof. BÜRGMANN provided a comprehensive overview of slow-moving landslides as a significant natural hazard worldwide. He emphasized that despite advances in monitoring techniques, key questions remain regarding their spatial distribution, geometry, and underlying deformation dynamics. Drawing on recent observations from multiple study areas, he demonstrated how integrated approaches—combining satellite and airborne InSAR measurements, field-based GNSS and inclinometers, and seismic data—reveal a complex spectrum of landslide behavior. These observations highlight long-term stable motions modulated by multi-year and seasonal precipitation patterns, as well as short-term variations such as daily accelerations and transient slip events along bounding surfaces. The talk underscored that improving our understanding of landslide kinematics and dynamics is essential for identifying the conditions that may ultimately lead to catastrophic failure. The lecture concluded with an engaging Q&A session, where participants discussed topics including rainfall-triggered instability, multi-scale monitoring techniques, and the implications of geophysical observations for hazard assessment. The interactive exchange fostered deeper insights into landslide processes and their broader environmental and societal impacts. About Prof. Roland BÜRGMANN: Prof. Roland BÜRGMANN received his M.S. at the University of Colorado, Boulder in 1989 and his Ph.D. at Stanford University, in 1993. He is currently Professor at the Department of Earth and Planetary Science at UC Berkeley. His research interests are in active tectonics, crustal deformation and lithosphere rheology. He coauthored more than 350 papers in peer-reviewed journals. He received the 2026 Howard D. Day Prize and Lectureship of the National Academy of Sciences and was the 2024 Bowie Lecturer and 2013 Birch Lecturer of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), a Fellow of the AGU, and received the 2005 Bessel Prize of the Humboldt Foundation in Germany. Among other service, BÜRGMANN recently served as chair of the USGS National Earthquake Prediction Evaluation Council (NEPEC), as member of the USGS Scientific Earthquake Studies Advisory Committee (SESAC), and is currently a member of the DFG Expertengremium für die Exzellenzstrategie in Germany, the NASA OPERA CSLC Working Group, and the Integration and Innovation Advisory Committee of the EarthScope Consortium.
| Research Units | Research Institute for Land and Space |
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