SUMMARY
John Carter was educated at the University of Sydney and Kings’ College, University of London. He graduated in Civil Engineering in 1973, and was awarded a PhD in Geomechanics in 1977, and a higher doctorate (DEng) in 2003, from the University of Sydney. He was a cadet and graduate engineer with the Electricity Commission of New South Wales and he has held academic appointments at the University of Cambridge, the University of Queensland, the University of Sydney, Cornell University, University of Hong Kong, Technical University Graz, and since 2006 with the University of Newcastle. He was promoted to a personal chair at the University of Sydney in 1990 and appointed as its Challis Professor in Civil Engineering in 1999. From 1989 until 2005 he was the Director of the Centre for Geotechnical Research and from 1995 until 1999 he served as Head of the Department of Civil Engineering. He has also served for periods as Associate Dean for Research and Acting Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Sydney. In 2004 he was elected as Chair of the Academic Board at the University of Sydney, a senior position that placed him as one of the Principal Officers of the university with major responsibilities for academic governance. In February 2006 he took up appointment as the Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment at the University of Newcastle, a position he held until April 2013. He is a former National Chair of the Australian Geomechanics Society. In 2003 he was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering in recognition of his contributions to engineering research and practice. In January 2006 he was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for his contributions to civil engineering through research into soil and rock mechanics and as an adviser to industry. In 2009 he was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in recognition of “his work on computational and experimental geomechanics: prediction of the behaviour of geotechnical structures”.
John Carter has more than 40 years of experience in teaching, research and consulting in civil, geotechnical and offshore engineering. His research interests include analytical and numerical modelling, soil-structure interaction, rock mechanics, behaviour of cemented and uncemented carbonate soils, tunnelling, soft soil engineering and offshore foundations. He has attracted more than $27 million in competitive research funding and been associated with development projects attracting additional grants of more than $4 million. He is the author of more than three hundred refereed technical papers in geotechnical engineering and engineering mechanics, covering a diverse range of topics from theoretical mechanics to experimental applications. He has consulted widely to industry on a range of geotechnical projects including soft clay foundations, offshore foundations, retaining walls, buried structures and tunnelling. He has also been retained as a consultant on numerous offshore foundation problems for major oil and gas companies, including BHP, Esso, Woodside, Wapet, Bond Oil, Amoco and Exxon. He has acted as an expert witness for courts in NSW and Queensland. From 1995 until December 2013 he was a consultant director of Advanced Geomechanics, a medium-size geotechnical engineering consultancy based in Perth, providing specialist advice to the oil and gas sector on foundation problems and on-shore and offshore site investigations. He has also been involved in commercialization of research and the marketing of its outcomes, including his own specialist geotechnical software. Between 1997 and 2000 he was a director, representing the interests of the University of Sydney, of Benthic GeoTech Pty Ltd, a $10 million joint venture company that conceived, designed, built and now operates PROD, the Portable Remotely Operated Drill, which is used in water depths out to 2000 m to penetrate the ocean floor in order to conduct in situ tests and recover core samples from the sea floor. He is a former Director and Chairman of UoN Singapore, a controlled entity of the University of Newcastle, responsible for delivering its degree programs in Singapore. In May 2008 he was appointed by the New South Wales State Treasurer as a member of the Board of Newcastle Port Corporation, a position he held until June 2014. He is currently a director of Engineering Aid Australia. In 2009 he became a Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and in 2012 a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Building. He is also a Fellow of Engineers Australia.
