Celebrating Research Excellence: Giovanni Barla Best Paper Award 2025

Associate Professor Wu Wei (left) and CEE alumnus Fang Zhou (right)

The School is pleased to share that our alumnus, Fang Zhou, and Associate Professor Wu Wei have been awarded the Giovanni Barla Best Paper Award 2025 for their paper, “Inter-event Creep of Rock Fractures During Fluid Injection: Laboratory Investigation and Implications for Injection-Induced Moment Release”.

Their research examines how the strengthening and weakening of fault friction control energy accumulation and dissipation in the seismic cycle. The findings reveal that a non-uniform fluid pressure over the fracture results in a three-stage creep behavior. Understanding the variation of major energy output during continuous fluid injection is crucial in assessing and mitigating injection-induced earthquakes.

Commenting on the award, Fang Zhou shared, "It is a tremendous honor to receive the Giovanni Barla Best Paper Award 2025. I would like to thank the RMRE editorial board for recognizing our work, and my supervisor, Assoc Prof Wu Wei, for his guidance and support throughout this study.”

He added, “We hope our experimental findings can provide a useful perspective for understanding injection-induced seismicity. I am also grateful for the excellent research environment provided by CEE."

About the Giovanni Barla Best Paper Award
Each year, the editors of Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering present the Giovanni Barla Best Paper Award. This award is named in honor of the late Giovanni Barla, Editor-in-Chief from 2001 to 2019, in recognition of his invaluable contribution to the journal. The selection panel is composed of the Editor-in-Chief, the Co-Editor and Associate Editors.