I have graduated from Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice, Poland, made my PhD at Durham University, UK (2008) and shortly afterwards became a Research Associate at the University of Newcastle in Australia, where I stayed till July 2014. On August the 1st I became Assistant Professor in geotechnical engineering at Aalto University.

In my research life, numerical methods and constitutive modelling have always been present. In my Master degree, I was investigating how non-uniform soil layers leading to differential settlements influence forces in the concrete frame structures. Later on I was working on deformations of concrete pavements under cyclic loading.

In Durham, thanks to my Marie-Curie fellowship, I have been introduced to the best European researchers who quickly became my role-models. They were applying unsaturated soil mechanics to subjects like nuclear waste storage, dams and oil extraction and soon I got hooked.

With my PhD degree my first journal papers, co-authored by Domenico Gallipoli, came out. They investigate stress integration of constitutive model for unsaturated soils - the Barcelona Basic Model. After research visits in Trento and in Innsbruck I moved to Newcastle, Australia, hoping to work with Professor Scott Sloan, the world authority on stress integration. Indeed, I soon started working with Scott which led to more papers investigating both stress integration and constitutive modelling of unsaturated soils.

While in Newcastle, I have been tasked with investigation of a new numerical method - the material point method (MPM). The established methods like finite element or boundary element method are ill-suited for calculations where very large deformations are present. MPM, though still assuming continuum description of materials, is able to proceed with computations further into post failure states. That allows for simulation of problems like installation of piles/anchors, CPT tests and problems involving collapses of piles of granular materials. Modelling of complex processes like dynamic compaction or simulation of landslides and avalanches is also possible. Now, the next challenge is likely related to offshore geotechnics, including underwater landslides and effects of cyclic loading on system behaviour. Furthermore, in the group we work on theoretical developments related to MPM stability, convergence and accuracy, as well as coupled problems.

Additionally I am interested in THMC modelling of bentonite and unsaturated soils, mainly to be applied in safety assessment of deep geological repositories for nuclear waste. The FE code for that purpose has been created almost from scratch in our group and is still actively developed. I am working on extending this research to temperatures below freezing point, as well as various environmental effects, including those related to climate change.