We are pleased to share the wonderful news that Dr. Radhika de Silva, a former PhD student of the 3GDeep research group, was awarded the prestigious Rocha medal by the International Society of Rock Mechanics (ISRM) for the best PhD thesis in Rock mechanics discipline in the world. 

The International Society of Rock Mechanics (ISRM) annually awards a bronze medal and a cash prize for the World Best PhD Thesis in Rock Mechanics in memory of Professor Manuel Rocha, the second President and organiser of the first international congress of the ISRM. The winning thesis is selected based on; 1) problem statement, 2) appreciation of state of the art, 3) theoretical and/or practical advancements, 4) verification of proposed solution and 5) quality of presentation of the thesis. The choice of the prize-winning thesis is the responsibility of the Rocha Award Committee, appointed by the President, chaired by the President, and including the Vice-Presidents and any others co-opted to assist in the review process. The committee then invites the Rocha Medal winner to attend the following ISRM conference as a guest to receive the award with providing all the expenses.

The first Rocha medal was awarded in 1982 and since then Australia could win it only five times (including this one) and one of these has been won by Dr P.M. Dight, from Monash University in 1985. After 29 years, in 2014, Dr. Samintha Perera, another former PhD student of the 3GDeep research group could bring that award back to Monash University. This time, the waiting was not too long as Dr. Radhika was able to bring this honour to Monash as well as to the 3GDeep research group. 

Dr. Radhika is now working as the Humbolt fellow at Freiberg University of Mining and Technology, Germany and Umwelt- und Ingenieurtechnik GmbH, Dresden, Germany. He is also a Geotechnical engineer at Golder Associates, Australia.