Featured above – A legacy of technical leadership: Keith Seddon, who initiated the ATC Williams Technical Seminar in 2000; Dr Behrooz Ghahreman-Nejad, who has stewarded the event since 2015; and Kim Morrison, our current Chief Technical Officer, now guiding the future of our professional development and knowledge-sharing.
In September, we celebrated a significant milestone by holding our 25th Annual Technical Seminar.
The ATC Williams Technical Seminar began as a day of internal workshops designed to foster technical excellence and cross-company collaboration. The seminar was initiated in 2000 by Keith Seddon in his role as Technical Manager.
Twenty-five years later, the seminar has evolved into an annual event, streamed between all offices from Melbourne to Tasmania, Queensland, NSW, and Western Australia. The 2025 seminar featured presentations, guest speakers, and workshops held over two days on September 10th and 17th.
The Technical Seminar provides our team with a platform to share what they have learned throughout the year, showcase successful work, deliver a safety presentation, or initiate a trial of new methodologies. Streaming these presentations to all our offices promotes consistency, aligning with our One ATC philosophy.
Dr Behrooz Ghahreman-Nejad, who previously served as Chief Technical Officer, has led the event since 2015 and continued as event lead in 2025. We spoke to Behrooz about the evolution of the seminar.
How has the Technical Seminar changed since the first event in 2000?
Over time, the event has grown from a small gathering in Melbourne to a flagship company-wide event. It has evolved to showcase more innovation, thought leadership and technical depth.
What changes have you made since 2015?
I introduced a more diverse range of presentations and guest speakers. I also included interactive workshops and field workshops, which expanded the annual one-day event to a two-day event. This agenda engaged a larger cohort of staff to share their knowledge and participate at a high level.
What is the goal of the Technical Seminars?
The goal of the technical seminars is to share knowledge, inspire technical curiosity, foster collaboration, and showcase the diversity of our technical talent. It’s also a platform to raise awareness of the risks and technical issues we face in our industry,
DAY 1
Nineteen presentations were delivered on day one, including technical issues, site-specific case studies, business elements and general overviews of specific disciplines.
To close out the day, we were pleased to invite Suzanne Lacasse, OC, a civil engineer from the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, to share her expertise in Risk-Informed Decision Making, along with personal accounts of her journey.
DAY 2
On day two, we ran six workshops, which allowed employees to choose from multiple topics that best aligned with their areas of interest. The workshops were interactive with exercises designed to engage staff and encourage collaboration. At the end of the day, we gathered to share an overview and experiences from the workshops.
Katherine Plavin, an Undergraduate Engineer based in Melbourne, was excited to attend both days.
“On day one, I enjoyed presentations on our large-scale Tailings Storage Facilities and Hydrogeology delivered by our Principal Engineers. On day two, I participated in workshops on Water Balance Modelling, Dam Safety Inspections & Review, and Soil Rock Lab Testing,” said Katherine.
“These workshop sessions consolidated the presentations with hands-on learning. I now understand the foundational requirements for developing a water balance model and how to test the client’s data collection in relation to their needs. I also learned how to prepare for and conduct dam inspections, which will be useful for future site work.”