John J. Clague is the Canada Research Chair in Natural Hazard Research at Simon Fraser University, British Columbia and also, at the same institution, Director of the Centre for Natural Hazard Research. He has published over 250 papers in forty-five different journals on a range of Earth science disciplines, including glacial geology, geomorphology, stratigraphy, sedimentology and natural hazards. Dr Clague's other principal professional interest is improving public awareness of Earth science by making relevant geoscience information available: he has written two popular books on the geology and geologic hazards of southwest British Columbia and a textbook on natural hazards. He is the recipient of the Geological Society of America Burwell Award, the Royal Society of Canada Bancroft Award, the Geological Association of Canada's (GAC) 2006 E. R. W. Neale Medal and GAC's 2007 Logan Medal. He was the 2007–8 Richard Jahns Distinguished Lecturer for the Geological Society of America and Association of Environmental and Engineering Geology. Douglas Stead has over thirty years experience in rock and soil slope stability in industry, government and academia in the UK, Zambia, Hong Kong, Papua New Guinea and Canada. He is now Professor and Chair in Resource Geoscience and Geotechnics at Simon Fraser University, British Columbia. He has published extensively in the areas of rock mechanics and engineering geology with application to landslides, surface and underground mining. Dr Stead has a strong commitment to continuing development courses for professional engineers and geoscientists - delivering courses on the methods of data collection and numerical modeling of rock slopes. He is a Professional Engineer in British Columbia and a Chartered Engineer in the UK, and is currently a member of the Engineering Geology editorial board and an Associate Editor of the Canadian Geotechnical Journal. He is a recipient of the Canadian Geotechnical Society Thomas Roy Award for Engineering Geology (2008) and the John Franklin Award for Rock Mechanics (2009).