Minefill 2020-2021Proceedings of the 13th International Symposium on Mining with Backfill, 25-28 May 2021, Katowice, Poland Edit

Professor Ferri Hassani obtained his B. Eng. (1975) and PhD (1981) in Mining Engineering from Nottingham University, England. He has been at McGill University since 1983 and many years in a leadership role. He is presently the Webster Chair Professor of Mining Engineering. His focus has been in Rock Mechanics, mining innovation, as well as Mine Backfill. He has been advisor to number of governments on the mining issues and consultant to many major mining companies around the globe as well as recipient of many d awards. He has supervised approximately 170 HQPs. He has chaired many international conferences such as Mine Backfill in 1989 and 2007, the World Mining Congress 2013 as well as the International society of Rock Mechanics Congress in 2015. He has several patents worldwide. He was awarded CIM rock mechanics award, the Fellow of the CIM and Canadian institute of mining and metallurgy distinguish service Medal for service to the CIM and Mining industry. He was awarded the honorary Ambassador of Montreal by the provincial Ministry. He is the chairman of the international minefill council.
Jan Palarski is Emeritus Professor of Mining Engineering at the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice, Poland and is one of the world’s foremost scientific authorities on backfill and underground mining technologies. He has about 50 years experience in mining, environmental engineering and unconventional mining technologies. Prof. Palarski received his MSc and Ph.D. degrees in Mining Engineering at the Technical University of Silesia and Dr hab. at the Technical University (RWTH) in Aachen, Germany. Professor Palarski's research interests include underground mining methods with backfill, underground carbon dioxide sequestration, environmental impact assessment in mining regions, geotechnical practice for underground waste disposal and planning for mine closure and rehabilitation. He has published several books and is also the author or co-author of about 250 papers, articles and research reports. J. Palarski has authored many papers on backfill and　has made presentations to local, national, and international mining conferences. He is also an active consultant to the industry and has advised numerous national and international organizations in the mining and environment sector.
Prof. SUT Violetta Sokoła-Szewioła, PhD, DSc, Eng- deputy head of department at the Department of Exploration of the Silesian University of Technology. She conducts scientific and research activity, among others, in the field of issues related to the impact of underground mining activities on the rock mass and mining area, including in the conditions of conducting of mining the deposits in seismically threatened areas. She developed authors method of forecasting subsidence of terrain surface points in a short period of time, a comprehensive method of determining the parameters of the model describing subsidence of terrain over time and a method of forecasting seismic threat based on continuous observations of subsidence of the mining area. In her research, she also dealt with issues of the impact of exploitation system on the rockburst hazard. Author of about a hundred publications. Awarded many times with the awards of the Rector of the Silesian University of Technology for scientific activity. Member of the Commission for the Protection of Mining Areas of the Polish Academy of Sciences. From 2012, mining expert, in the commission operating within the structures of the European Union.
Prof. SUT Grzegorz Strozik Ph.D, D.Sc,. Eng. is a researcher and academic teacher at the Faculty of Mining, Safety Engineering and Industrial Automation at the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice. He is the author of two books and almost 70 journal publications and conference papers. He deals with mining issues, such as backfill in mining, filling underground voids, ground surface protection, and mine closure. Prof. Strozik is active in land remediation, revitalization, and building structures' geotechnical safety in mining and post-mining regions. Prof. Strozik authored and co-authored numerous mining and geological reports for investments in mining areas, expert opinions, and projects for mines. He participated in multiple international projects to fill underground voids, underground coal gasification, hydrotransport of mixtures, and hydraulic transport of minerals from the seabed.