57th Cooling Prize Competition 2026

Introduction

The Cooling Prize competition is held annually by the British Geotechnical Association (BGA) and is named after Dr Leonard Cooling, one of the founders of British Soil Mechanics, a former chair of the BGA, and the 2nd Rankine Lecturer. The Cooling Prize competition is intended for professionals in the geotechnical/ground engineering industry in the early stages of their careers.

This event is hosted by the BGA South West Group. Please note that advanced booking is required for this meeting.

At the event there will be a short presentation on the history of the Competition.

The four finalists will then present their papers.

After the presentations, while the judges consider their verdict, there will be a short keynote lecture by Dr Jim Whiteley.

The winner of the 57th Cooling Prize will be announced at the end of the evening.

The Cooling Prize Finalists

Pishun Tantivangphaisal – Imperial College London

Long-term cyclic assessment of offshore wind turbine foundations

Pishun recently completed his PhD at Imperial College London, focusing on field validated numerical modelling of the long-term cyclic response of offshore foundations. He first began his career as a graduate engineer at Arup. After stints crossing between industry and academia, he was appointed Assistant Professor at Imperial in January 2026, striving to bridge latest advances with practical applications. Pishun remains hugely active in promoting early career and student opportunities, previously a BGA ECG communications officer and now co-chairs the SUT ECOSIGG committee.

Marina S. Bortolotto – University of Cambridge

Polymer support fluids permeating sands

Marina S. Bortolotto is a Teaching Fellow in Civil Engineering at Imperial College London and a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Cambridge. She earned her PhD in Geotechnics from Imperial College London. Her work focuses on experimental geotechnics, particularly the behaviour of polymer support fluids in sands and their implications for bored pile construction, with the aim of reducing uncertainty in design and supporting more sustainable construction practices. Marina has research experience across Brazil, Australia, and the UK and engages with industry partners through collaborative research and knowledge-exchange activities.

Xinyue (Lois) Yin  – AtkinsRéalis

Numerical Assessment of Pile-over-pile Foundation System for Offshore Monopile Life Extension

Xinyue Yin is a graduate geotechnical engineer at AtkinsRéalis, joined in November 2024. She holds an MSc in Geotechnical and Earthquake Engineering from Imperial College London and a BEng in Civil Engineering from the University of Bristol.
She has combined industrial and research experience in geotechnical engineering. Her current work focuses on seismic and offshore geotechnics, spanning numerical analysis of soil-structure interaction through to practical design for nuclear and offshore infrastructure. Her earlier research experience centred on offshore wind foundations, including monopiles and anchoring systems for floating wind.

Ahmed Alagha  – University of Dundee

Tunnel-soil-pile interaction: what about the 3D effects?

Ahmed is a geotechnical engineering researcher specialising in mechanised tunnelling, deep excavations, and soil–structure interaction. He began his research career in 2018 at the University of Birmingham, where his MSc work on tunnel face stability was published in a leading journal and has received 160+ citations. He completed his PhD at the University of Cambridge in 2023, developing a world-first miniature TBM to study tunnelling effects on piled foundations. He is currently a PDRA at the University of Dundee on an EPSRC-funded project on braced excavations. He is a UKRI-endorsed Global Talent and a recipient of multiple academic awards

Keynote lecture

While the judges deliberate, there will be a short keynote lecture from Dr Jim Whiteley, Engineering Geophysics Lead at AtkinsRéalis with over 15 years’ experience across the commercial, research and innovation sectors. He obtained his PhD from the University of Bristol whilst working at the British Geological Survey where he remains an Honorary Research Associate. He is also Secretary of the Near-Surface Geophysics Group of the Geological Society and Editorial Board Member of the Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology.