Professor Mark Randolph is an internationally renowned Emeritus Professor and Honorary Fellow in the Oceans Graduate School at the University of Western Australia, where he served for 34 distinguished years before retiring in mid-2020. A graduate of Oxford University with a BA in 1973 and MA in 1978, he completed his PhD at Cambridge University in 1978 after working at the UK's Building Research Establishment. He spent eight years lecturing in the Engineering Department at Cambridge before migrating to Perth in 1986 to join UWA's Civil Engineering department, drawn by the significant opportunities presented by offshore oil and gas developments on the North-West Shelf. His strategic career move established the foundation for what would become a globally influential research program in offshore geotechnical engineering.
Professor Randolph is internationally recognized for his outstanding fundamental contributions to foundation and offshore engineering, particularly through his pioneering work in soil mechanics for marine environments. As the founding Director of the ARC-funded Centre for Offshore Foundation Systems (COFS) established in 1997, he led research that addressed critical foundation problems encountered by early oil and gas platforms on Australia's North-West Shelf. His theoretical frameworks and practical methodologies have transformed how engineers understand soil-structure interaction in offshore settings, with his co-authored textbook Offshore Geotechnical Engineering becoming a seminal reference in the field. The research approach developed under his leadership at COFS has been adopted globally, significantly improving the safety and efficiency of offshore infrastructure while establishing Perth as a world-leading center for geotechnical engineering practice.
Beyond his research achievements, Professor Randolph has played a pivotal role in building Australia's scientific capacity through strategic investment in education and industry collaboration, with COFS exemplifying the benefits of sustained research investment. He has been elected to multiple prestigious academies including the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (1993), the Australian Academy of Science (2000), the Royal Academy of Engineering (2002), and the Royal Society (2011). His exceptional contributions have been recognized with numerous honors including WA Scientist of the Year in 2013, induction into the WA Science Hall of Fame in 2020, appointment as an Officer in the Order of Australia in 2021, and an Honorary Doctorate from ETH Zurich in 2015. Despite formal retirement, he continues to influence the field through his emeritus role, ensuring the sustained development of offshore geotechnical engineering as both a research discipline and practical application worldwide.
