Mehdi Pouragha visited ISTerre during February and March 2026.
He is an assistant professor in geotechnical engineering at Carleton University in Canada, where his research focuses on the mechanical behaviour of geomaterials, especially under climate-related effects such as freezing and thawing.
His work includes developing advanced constitutive models to describe how soils and ice respond to changes in temperature, stress, and strain rates, as well as combining computational methods with micromechanical insights to better predict the behaviour of permafrost and other complex materials. He has published research on topics such as ice mechanics and thermo-hydro-mechanical processes in cold regions, and his visit to ISTerre included discussions on ongoing collaborations and contributions to related projects in geosciences.
A mini-workshop dedicated to the development of numerical models addressing the issues related to the deformation of permafrost will be held on 5th March 2026.