Higher degree by research
Registered at Category 1 in UTS to supervise Masters & Doctoral students. There are a range of scholarships, studentships, and other PhD funding opportunities.
If you are an aspiring doctoral student and keen to join my research team, please send me inquiry/email, with your Curriculum Vitae and academic transcripts attached.
Honours
Available to supervise honours students.
Proposed research areas
Advances in geoinclusions and applications to geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering
Seismic analyses of earth and water retaining structures
Geomechanics of road and rail transportation
Reinforced soil walls
Pile foundations
PhD Students under primary supervision or co-supervision
Dr Nayoma Chulani Tennakoon (completed PhD; co-supervision)
Dr Qideng Sun (completed PhD; co-supervision)
Dr Michael Mahdi Biabani (completed PhD; co-supervision)
Dr Yifei Sun (completed PhD; co-supervision)
Dr Sinniah Navaratnarajah (completed PhD; co-supervision)
Dr Habib Rasouli (completed PhD; co-supervision)
Dr Piyush Punetha (completed PhD; primary supervision)
Dr Naveen Kumar Meena (completed PhD; primary supervision)
Dr Vu An Le (completed PhD; primary supervision)
Dr Mohammad Adnan Farooq (completed PhD; primary supervision)
Dr Akshay Sakhare (completed PhD; primary supervision)
Mr Mohitkumar Chaudhary (completed Master by Research; co-supervision)
Dr Hingure Arachchilage Mihimal Bandara Kadurugamuwa (completed PhD; primary supervision)
Dr Yashar Salehi (completed PhD; co-supervision)
Dr Hafsa Farooq (completed PhD; primary supervision)
Mr Vasantsingh Bhimsingh Pardeshi (ongoing PhD; primary supervision)
Ms Habiba Afrin (ongoing PhD; primary supervision)
Mr Nariman Khorsandiardebili (ongoing PhD; primary supervision)
Mr Anandha Raj Lenin Kumar (ongoing PhD; primary supervision)
Ms Yekta Nateghi (ongoing PhD; primary supervision)
Mr Anjan Kuinkel (ongoing PhD; primary supervision)
Mr Lihang (Alex) Wen (ongoing PhD; co-supervision)
Mr Pejman Sobhi (ongoing PhD; co-supervision)
Ms Sameera Madushanka Maha Arachchige (ongoing PhD; co-supervision)
Mr Kasyap Vasudevan Akkitham Sai (ongoing PhD; primary supervision)
Mr Purusartha Karki (ongoing PhD; co-supervision)
Mr Ameet Suhas Dabadghav (ongoing PhD; co-supervision)
Awards and recognition for HDR supervision
A/Prof Sanjay Nimbalkar supervises a cohort of HDR candidates, research associates, and visiting scholars, inspiring them to achieve excellence in their academic pursuits.
Dr Piyush Punetha, the first PhD student supervised by A/Prof Nimbalkar at UTS, was awarded the 2023 PhD Thesis Award for his outstanding contribution to the field of transport geomechanics, with particular emphasis on the dynamic behaviour of ballasted railway track. Dr Punetha is the first candidate in the field of transport geomechanics from Australasia to receive this highly prestigious honour. Dr Mohammad Adnan Farooq, the second PhD student supervised by A/Prof Nimbalkar at UTS, was awarded the 2025 PhD Thesis Award for his outstanding contribution to the field of transport geomechanics, with particular emphasis on the Sustainable Use of Resilient Base for Slab Track in High-Speed Rail Corridor. Dr Farooq is the second candidate in the field of transport geomechanics from Australasia to receive this highly prestigious honour. Dr Farooq was honoured with the UTS Staff Recognition Award for “Casual Educator of the Year (2024)". The teaching team led by A/Professor Sanjay Nimbalkar, alongside Dr Piyush Punetha and Dr Mohammad Adnan Farooq, won the 2024 UTS Teaching and Learning Citation in recognition of their outstanding contributions to nurturing future railway engineers through innovative, immersive, and industry-aligned learning experiences. Dr Naveen Kumar Meena was selected as one of the 50 chosen geotechnical engineers from Australia and New Zealand and was invited to deliver a presentation at the 15th YGPC held in 2024 at Adelaide. Dr Meena also secured the People's Choice Award for his poster presentation at the Young Geomechanical Professional's Night (YGPN) 2024, organised by the AGS Sydney NSW Chapter. Dr Akshay Sakhare's PhD thesis has been distinguished as one of the best theses among all doctoral completions between 01 January 2024 and 01 January 2025, by the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering and is placed on the Dean’s List. Each year, the Dean’s Lists acknowledge outstanding research achievements from doctoral candidates in the faculty. A/Prof Nimbalkar's HDR students have also shown consistent top performance in research showcase events organised at school and faculty levels. Further details are listed below.
2026 UTS Chancellor’s Research Fellowship awarded to Dr Piyush Punetha by the University of Technology Sydney on 28 October 2025.
Thesis Completion Support Grant 2025 Round 1 in recognition to Dr Hafsa Farooq’s outstanding contributions awarded on 8 July 2025.
2025 Best PhD Thesis Award for Dr Mohammad Adnan Farooq’s thesis entitled: Sustainable Use of Resilient Base for Slab Track in High-Speed Rail Corridor. His thesis was considered by the judges to be a valuable piece of work and well worthy of 2025 RTSA PhD best thesis award which comprises of a cash prize of $5,000, a complimentary CORE Conference registration including travel and accommodation, a commemorative certificate, and 1-year free membership of the RTSA. The presentation of the cash prize and the commemorative certificate was made at the awards ceremony at the Conference on Railway Excellence 2025 (CORE 2025), themed Kaitiaki – Guarding the Future, from 13-15 August 2025 at the Pullman Hotel, Auckland, New Zealand. Dr Farooq is the second candidate in the field of transport geomechanics from Australasia to receive this highly prestigious honour. Dr Farooq received this award on 13 August 2025. For more details, link here: https://www.rtsa.com.au/awards-scholarships/previous-award-winners/.
2024 FEIT Deans' List given to Dr Akshay Sakhare in recognition of high-quality contributions. Dr Akshay Sakhare's PhD thesis has been distinguished as one of the best theses among all doctoral completions between 01 January 2024 and 01 January 2025, by the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering and is placed on the Dean’s List. Each year, the Dean’s Lists acknowledge outstanding research achievements from doctoral candidates in the faculty.
Dr Mohammad Adnan Farooq was honoured with the UTS Staff Recognition Award for “Casual Educator of the Year (2024)" by the Faculty of Engineering and IT at the University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia on 11 December 2024.
Dr Naveen Kumar Meena was also selected as one of the 50 Chosen Geotechnical Engineers from Australia and New Zealand and was invited to deliver a presentation at the 15th Young Geotechnical Professionals Conference (YGPC) held in 2024 at Adelaide, Australia.
Dr Naveen Kumar Meena secured the ‘People's Choice Winner of the Poster Session’ at the 2024 Young Geomechanical Professional's Night (YGPN) organised by the AGS Sydney NSW Chapter held on 12 June 2024 at Sydney, Australia.
Dr Piyush Punetha received the ‘2nd Runner-up of the Oral Presentation Session’ at the 2024 Young Geomechanical Professional's Night (YGPN), organised by the AGS Sydney NSW Chapter held on 12 June 2024 at Sydney, Australia.
2023 Railway Engineering PhD Thesis Award for Dr Piyush Punetha’s thesis entitled: Dynamic Behaviour of Ballasted Railway Track with Special Reference to Transition Zones. His thesis was considered by the judges to be a valuable piece of work and well worthy of 2023 RTSA PhD best thesis award which comprises of a cash prize of $5,000, a complimentary CORE Conference registration including travel and accommodation, a commemorative certificate, and 1-year free membership of the RTSA. The presentation of the cash prize and the commemorative certificate was made at the awards ceremony at the Conference on Railway Excellence 2023 (CORE 2023), themed Celebrating 25 Years in Motion, from 19-21 June at the Crown Towers, Melbourne, Australia. Dr Punetha is the first candidate in the field of transport geomechanics from Australasia to receive this highly prestigious honour. Dr Punetha received this award on 21 June 2023. For more details, link here: https://www.rtsa.com.au/awards-scholarships/previous-award-winners/.
Kasyap Vasudevan Akkitham Sai and Anandha Raj Lenin Kumar received 2025 FEIT Collaborative Doctoral Research Degree Program Support Fund on 20 March 2025 and 18 December 2024, respectively.
GeoAsia Young Engineer’s scholarship given to Dr Hafsa Farooq. The scholarship entailed full registration for the conference ‘GeoAsia 2022’ including travel support.
Dr Piyush Punetha received the ‘People’s Choice Award’ at the Transport Research Association of NSW (TRANSW) Annual symposium (2021). This symposium was held online from 30 November to 2 December 2021.
Dr Mohammad Adnan Farooq secured the ‘Second Prize for Oral Presentation’ and ‘Second Prize for Poster Presentation’ at the 2021 Virtual School Research Showcase held on 22 September 2021 at the University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Dr Naveen Kumar Meena received the ‘Runner-up Poster Presentation Award’ at the 2020 Virtual School Research Showcase held on 5 November 2020 at the University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Dr Piyush Punetha secured the ‘Best Oral Presentation Award’ and the ‘Runner-up Poster Presentation Award’ at the 2020 Virtual School Research Showcase held on 5 November 2020 at the University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia.