Hopkins Lecture 2026

Living with Landslides in a Changing Climate

Presented by Ross Roberts, Chief Engineer, Auckland Council

Join Ross Roberts, Chief Engineer at Auckland Council, to explore how landslides shape New Zealand’s landscape and what increasing rainfall under climate change means for future risk. The lecture draws on recent events, including Cyclone Gabrielle, to explain how landslides occur and how engineering, science, and planning are helping manage an increasingly unstable landscape.

Abstract

Landslides have shaped New Zealand's landscape. From the Southern Alps to Auckland's urban hillsides, they are a natural consequence of our young geology, steep terrain and dynamic climate. They can also be devastating for people and communities, killing more people than earthquakes and volcanic eruptions combined over the past 200 years. Recent events, particularly the devastating impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle, have highlighted the vulnerability of our communities when extreme rainfall meets unstable ground.

Climate change is expected to increase the intensity of heavy rainfall events across much of New Zealand, raising important questions about how landslide hazards will evolve over coming decades. The science increasingly points to more frequent triggering of landslides in susceptible areas, but significant uncertainties remain. Equally challenging are the engineering, planning and social decisions that follow: where should we continue to build, how should existing communities be protected, and what level of risk is society prepared to tolerate?

Drawing on recent research and practical experience responding to major landslide events, this lecture will explain how and why landslides occur, what climate science tells us about the changing risk, and the lessons learned from Auckland's experience during Cyclone Gabrielle. It will explore how advances in engineering, geoscience, hazard mapping and monitoring are improving our ability to understand and manage land stability, and will discuss some of the most difficult questions that extend beyond engineering into public policy, economics and community values.

As New Zealand adapts to a changing climate, building resilience will depend not only on better science and better engineering, but also on informed public debate about how we choose to live with an inherently unstable landscape.

About the speaker

Ross is a chartered engineer and professional engineering geologist with over twenty years' experience in the management, planning and supervision of geotechnical and civil engineering project, including leading teams of engineers and managing multi-year consulting projects. He has worked for consultants and contractors on projects including major highway construction, railway asset management water pipeline scheme assessments, landslide assessment and remediation, microtunneling and bridge foundation design.

His focus as Auckland Council's Chief Engineer is on natural hazards, resilience and engineering efficiency. He works part-time in Auckland Emergency Management as a Lifeline Utility Coordinator and leads teams responsible for natural hazard risk and asset management. Ross is a past chair of the New Zealand Geotechnical Society and represents New Zealand on the Council of the International Association for Engineering Geology and the Environment. He has recently completed two years leading the geotechnical response to the 2023 North Island Severe Weather Events, which included the categorisation and purchase of over a thousand homes at intolerable risk from flooding and landslides.

About the event

• Doors open at 5.30pm
• Speaker introduction at 6.00pm
• Question time following
• Refreshments 7.30-8.00pm

Background of the Hopkins Lecture

The Hopkins Lecture encourages discussion of engineering within the profession and public understanding of engineering issues. The inaugural lecture was held in 1978 with Professor HJ Hopkins himself as speaker. It covers broad and social engineering issues rather than being purely technical. The Hopkins Lecture is jointly hosted by the University of Canterbury's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Canterbury Branch of Engineering New Zealand. 

This event will be livestreamed on: www.youtube.com/@UCCivil