Abbas Taheri is a Tenured Associate Professor at the Robert M. Buchan Department of Mining at Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada, where he holds the Chair in Mine Design. Abbas has over 22 years of industry, research, and teaching experience in geotechnical engineering, rock mechanics, and mining engineering. In 1999, he earned a BASc in Mining Engineering and, in 2002, an MASc in Rock Mechanics from Amir Kabir University of Technology, Iran. He worked for over four years in the industry in civil and mining engineering projects before moving to Japan in 2005 for a PhD in geotechnical engineering at Yokohama National University. His PhD thesis has been internationally acknowledged as outstanding research work, and he has been awarded a runner-up certificate (Proxime Accessit) of “ISRM Rocha Medal 2010” from the International Society for Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering (ISRM). In 2008, he was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) and joined the Tokyo University of Science. In 2011, he was appointed as a lecturer and then a senior lecturer at the University of Adelaide, Australia, until 2021, when he moved to Queen’s University, Canada, as an Associate Professor. Abbas is the president of the Commission on Deep Mining of the ISRM. Dr Taheri is/was Associate Editor and a member of the Editorial Board of several scientific journals, including “Soils and Foundations”, “International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Science””Bulletin of Engineering Geology and Environment”, “International Journal of Mining Science and Technology,” “Geotechnical and Geological Engineering” etc. Abbas is/was the chair, organizer, and member of the organization committee of many international symposiums and workshops. He has produced more than 180 refereed publications. Dr Taheri has developed and taught several geotechnical engineering and mining operation courses.