Stephan is a chartered civil engineer specialising in geotechnics. He holds a Doctorate degree and has 10 years’ design and research experience. He has been involved in a wide range of projects, including tailings and water dam design across six countries in Africa, geotechnical investigations, retaining wall design, numerical modelling and engineering in soft ground.
After completing his undergraduate studies, Stephan joined Rust Geotechnical Consultants in 2011 working as a civil engineer, whilst pursuing his Honours and Masters degrees part-time. In 2013 the company was acquired by Jones & Wagener and he joined the Head Office in Johannesburg as a geotechnical engineer. In 2015 he relocated to the UK to work as a research student at the University of Cambridge, culminating in his PhD in 2019.
Subsequently, he has gained invaluable consultancy experience in the UK, whilst working for Mott MacDonald from 2019 to 2021. During this time, he carried out and led geotechnical projects on Environment Agency, Thames Water and Severn Trent frameworks, designing flood storage embankments and retaining walls to form part of the Boston Barrier Scheme.
In 2022 Stephan was invited to re-join Jones & Wagener as part of the UK team as a senior geotechnical engineer. He is a Chartered member of the Institution of Civil Engineers in the UK and a former committee member of the University of Cambridge Geotechnical Society.
Stephan’s area of expertise is geotechnical engineering with particular emphasis on the design of water dams and tailings storage facilities, retaining walls, geotechnical investigations, numerical modelling and laboratory data interpretation, as well as engineering in soft soils. He is adept at writing reports including ground investigation and geotechnical design reports.