Staff profile

David Toll is a Professor in the Department of Engineering and Co-Director of the Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience at Durham University, UK. He also has the following roles:

• Chair, British Geotechnical Association (2021-2023)
• Chair of Technical Committee TC106 on Unsaturated Soils of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE) (2014-2022)
• Chair, Joint Technical Committee JTC2 of the Federation of International Geo-Engineering Societies (representing ISRM, ISSMGE, IAEG and IGS) (2005-2017)
• Kwang-Hua Chair Professor at Tongji University, China
• Chair, Institution of Civil Engineers North East (2013-14)
• Chair, Northern Geotechnical Group (the regional group of the British Geotechnical Association and part of ICE North East) (2009-2014)

David Toll's research encompasses two highly relevant areas of civil engineering: (i) the engineering behaviour of unsaturated and tropical soils and (ii) the application of information technology to geotechnical engineering. The primary focus for his work on unsaturated soils is to find engineering solutions for natural hazards, particularly landslides. Much of his current work examines the impacts of climate change on transportation infrastructure through field and laboratory studies and numerical modelling. His research in information technology involves work on data exchange and standards, BIM, data acquisition and computer control systems.

He was Chair of the Scientific Committee for the European Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ECSMGE) held in Edinburgh in 2015 and a member of the Scientific Committees for ECSMGEs in Reykjavik (2019) and Lisbon (2024) . He has been a member of the organising/technical committee for many international conferences on unsaturated soils: Singapore, 2000; Recife, 2002; Weimar, 2003; Trento, 2005; Nanjing, 2007; Barcelona, 2010; Pattaya, 2011; Naples 2012; Sydney 2014; Lisbon 2020 and organised the First European Conference on Unsaturated Soils in Durham, 2008. He also organised the conference series on Information Technology in Geo-Engineering with conferences in Shanghai in 2010 and Durham in 2014.

He has twice been a member of the editorial advisory board of Geotechnique and been member of the Editorial Panels for two Geotechnique Symposia in Print (2011 and 2013). He was the founding editor for the international journal, Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, published by Springer, and remains a member of the editorial board. He is a member of the editorial board of Transportation Geotechnics and has been for the Quarterly Journal for Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology. 

He is Director of the Sustainable Infrastructure Research Challenge for the Department of Engineering. He has been Director of Education, Design Coordinator, Accreditation Coordinator and International Coordinator for the former School of Engineering and Computing Sciences.

• geotechnical engineering
• engineering geology
• information technology

Chapter in book

• Toll, D. Tropical Soils. In J. Burland, T. Chapman, H. Skinner, & M. Brown (Eds.), ICE Manual of Geotechnical Engineering (341-361). Institution of Civil Engineers
• Toll, D. (2012). The Behaviour of Unsaturated Soil. In B. Huat, D. Toll, & A. Prasad (Eds.), A Handbook of Tropical Residual Soil Engineering (117-145). Taylor and Francis. https://doi.org/10.1201/b12302-9

Conference Paper

• Kumar, A., Azizi, A., & Toll, D. G. (2024, November). The Use of High-Capacity Tensiometer for Cyclic Triaxial Testing of Railway Formation Material. Presented at 5th International Conference on Transportation Geotechnics (ICTG) 2024, Sydney, Australia
• Sun, Y., Wang, Q., Toll, D., & Szyniszewski, S. (2024, August). Digital twin applications in construction: creation and interaction of virtual and data layers. Presented at International Conference on Civil Engineering: Innovations and Advancements ( ICCEIA 2024), Barcelona, Spain

Edited book

• Toll, D., Zhu, H., Osman, A., Coombs, W., Li, X., & Rouainia, M. (Eds.). (2014). Information Technology in Geo-Engineering. IOS Press
• Huat, B., Toll, D., & Prasad, A. (Eds.). (2012). Handbook of Tropical Residual Soils Engineering. Taylor and Francis Group. https://doi.org/10.1201/b12302
• Toll, D., Zhu, H., & Li, X. (Eds.). (2010). Information Technology in Geo-Engineering. Amsterdam: IOS Press (Millpress)
• Toll, D., Augarde, C., Gallipoli, D., & Wheeler, S. (Eds.). (2008). Unsaturated Soils: Advances in Geo-Engineering. CRC Press/Balkema (Taylor & Francis)
• Liong, S., Phoon, K., & Toll, D. (Eds.). (2007). Climate Change: Modelling, Impacts and Adaptions. Research Publishing Services
• Toll, D. (Ed.). (2006). Proc. Geo-Singapore 2006: International Conference on Geotechnical Engineering. Ci-Premier
• Toll, D. (Ed.). (2001). Unsaturated soil concepts and their application in geotechnical practice. Kluwer Academic Publishers
• Rahardjo, H., Toll, D., & Leong, E. (Eds.). (2000). Unsaturated Soils for Asia. A A Balkema

Journal Article

• Kumar, A., Azizi, A., & Toll, D. (online). Deterioration of a compacted soil due to suction loss and desiccation cracking. Canadian Geotechnical Journal, https://doi.org/10.1139/cgj-2023-0453
• Sana, E., Kritika, Kumar, A., Robson, E., Prasanna, R., Kala, U., & Toll, D. G. (2025). Investigation of landslides triggered by unprecedented rainfall events during 2023 monsoon in Himachal Pradesh, India. Landslides, 22(2), https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-025-02471-5
• Dias, A. S., Hughes, P. N., & Toll, D. G. (2024). Soil–Water Retention Curve Prediction for Compacted London Clay Subjected to Moisture Cycles. Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, 42(4), 2799-2814. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-023-02706-z
• Sana, E., Kumar, A., Robson, E., Prasanna, R., Kala, U., & Toll, D. G. (2024). Preliminary assessment of series of landslides and related damage by heavy rainfall in Himachal Pradesh, India, during July 2023. Landslides, 21(4), 919-931. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-023-02209-1
• Dias, A. S., Hughes, P. N., Toll, D. G., & Glendinning, S. (2023). A simple method to determine soil–water retention curves of compacted active clays. Transportation Geotechnics, 43, 101138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trgeo.2023.101138
• Tinoco, J., Gomes Correia, A., Cortez, P., & Toll, D. (2023). An Evolutionary Neural Network Approach for Slopes Stability Assessment. Applied Sciences, 13(14), Article 8084. https://doi.org/10.3390/app13148084
• Azizi, A., Kumar, A., & Toll, D. G. (2023). Coupling cyclic and water retention response of a clayey sand subjected to traffic and environmental cycles. Géotechnique, 73(5), 401-417. https://doi.org/10.1680/jgeot.21.00063
• Azizi, A., Kumar, A., & Toll, D. G. (2023). The bounding effect of the water retention curve on the cyclic response of an unsaturated soil. Acta Geotechnica, 18(4), 1901-1917. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-022-01724-0
• Pradhan, S., Toll, D., Rosser, N., & Brain, M. (2022). An investigation of the combined effect of rainfall and road cut on landsliding. Engineering Geology, 307, Article 106787. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2022.106787
• Kumar, A., Azizi, A., & Toll, D. (2022). Application of suction monitoring for cyclic triaxial testing of compacted soils. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 148(4), https://doi.org/10.1061/%28asce%29gt.1943-5606.0002766
• Kerr, H. C., Johnson, K. L., & Toll, D. G. (2022). Reusing Fe water treatment residual as a soil amendment to improve physical function and flood resilience. SOIL, 8(1), 283-295. https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-8-283-2022
• Gaspar, T., Jacobsz, S., Heymann, G., Toll, D., Gens, A., & Osman, A. (2022). The mechanical properties of a high plasticity expansive clay. Engineering Geology, 303, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2022.106647
• Stirling, R., Toll, D., Glendinning, S., Helm, P., Yildiz, A., Hughes, P., & Asquith, J. (2021). Weather-driven deterioration processes affecting the performance of embankment slopes. Géotechnique, 71(11), 957-969. https://doi.org/10.1680/jgeot.19.sip.038
• Tinoco, J., Parente, M., Gomes Correia, A., Cortez, P., & Toll, D. (2021). Predictive and prescriptive analytics in transportation geotechnics: Three case studies. Transportation Engineering, 5, Article 100074. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.treng.2021.100074
• Grebby, S., Sowter, A., Gluyas, J., Toll, D., Gee, D., Athab, A., & Girindran, R. (2021). Advanced analysis of satellite data reveals ground deformation precursors to the Brumadinho Tailings Dam collapse. Communications Earth & Environment, 2, Article 2. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-020-00079-2
• Davis, C., Coningham, R., Acharya, K., Kunwar, R., Forlin, P., Weise, K., Maskey, P., Joshi, A., Simpson, I., Toll, D., Wilkinson, S., Hughes, P., Sarhosis, V., Kumar, A., & Schmidt, A. (2020). Identifying archaeological evidence of past earthquakes in a contemporary disaster scenario: Case-studies of damage, resilience and risk reduction from the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake and past seismic events within the Kathmandu Valley UNESCO World Heritage Property (Nepal). Journal of Seismology, 24(4), 729-751. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10950-019-09890-7
• Liu, G., Toll, D., Kong, L., & Asquith, J. (2020). Matric Suction and Volume Characteristics of Compacted Clay Soil under Drying and Wetting Cycles. Geotechnical Testing Journal, 43(2), 464-479. https://doi.org/10.1520/gtj20170310
• Kumar, A., Hughes, P. N., Sarhosis, V., Toll, D., Wilkinson, S., Coningham, R., Acharya, K. P., Weise, K., Joshi, A., Davis, C., Kunwar, R. B., & Maskey, P. N. (2020). Experimental, numerical and field study investigating a heritage structure collapse after the 2015 Gorkha earthquake. Natural Hazards, 101(1), 231-253. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-020-03871-7
• Toll, D. G., Rahim, M. S. M., Karthikeyan, M., & Tsaparas, I. (2019). Soil–atmosphere interactions for analysing slopes in tropical soils in Singapore. Environmental Geotechnics, 6(6), 361-372. https://doi.org/10.1680/jenge.15.00071
• Coningham, R., Acharya, K., Barclay, C., Barclay, R., Davis, C., Graham, C., Hughes, P., Joshi, A., Kelly, L., Khanal, S., Kilic, A., Kinnaird, T., Kunwar, R., Kumar, A., Maskey, P., Lafortune-Bernard, A., Lewer, N., McCaughie, D., Mirnig, N., Roberts, A., …Wilson, A. (2019). Reducing Disaster Risk to Life and Livelihoods by Evaluating the Seismic Safety of Kathmandu’s Historic Urban Infrastructure: enabling an interdisciplinary pilot. Journal of the British Academy, 7(S2), 45-82. https://doi.org/10.5871/jba/007s2.045
• Mendes, J., Gallipoli, D., Tarantino, A., & Toll, D. (2019). On the development of an ultra-high-capacity tensiometer capable of measuring water tensions to 7 MPa. Géotechnique, 69(6), 560-564. https://doi.org/10.1680/jgeot.18.t.008
• Tinoco, J., Gomes Correia, A., Cortez, P., & Toll, D. G. (2018). Data-Driven Model for Stability Condition Prediction of Soil Embankments Based on Visual Data Features. Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering, 32(4), Article 04018027. https://doi.org/10.1061/%28asce%29cp.1943-5487.0000770
• Tang, A., Hughes, P., Dijkstra, T., Askarinejad, A., Brenčič, M., Cui, Y., Diez, J., Firgi, T., Gajewska, B., Gentile, F., Grossi, G., Jommi, C., Kehagia, F., Koda, E., ter Maat, H., Lenart, S., Lourenco, S., Oliveira, M., Osinski, P., Springman, S., …Van Beek, V. (2018). Atmosphere–vegetation–soil interactions in a climate change context; impact of changing conditions on engineered transport infrastructure slopes in Europe. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, 51(2), 156-168. https://doi.org/10.1144/qjegh2017-103
• Ali Rahman, Z., Toll, D., & Gallipoli, D. (2018). Critical state behaviour of weakly bonded soil in drained state. Geomechanics and Geoengineering, 13(4), 233-245. https://doi.org/10.1080/17486025.2018.1454608
• Tinoco, J., Gomes Correia, A., Cortez, P., & Toll, D. G. (2017). Stability Condition Identification of Rock and Soil Cutting Slopes Based on Soft Computing. Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering, 32(2), Article 04017088. https://doi.org/10.1061/%28asce%29cp.1943-5487.0000739
• Toll, D., & Ali Rahman, Z. (2017). Critical state shear strength of an unsaturated artificially cemented sand. Géotechnique, 67(3), 208-215. https://doi.org/10.1680/jgeot.15.p.042
• Mendes, J., & Toll, D. (2016). Influence of initial water content on the mechanical behaviour of an unsaturated sandy clay soil. International Journal of Geomechanics, 16(6), Article D4016005. https://doi.org/10.1061/%28asce%29gm.1943-5622.0000594
• Winter, M. G., Smith, D. M., Eldred, P. J., Toll, D. G., & Chrimes, M. (2016). Review of the XVI European Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering. Geotechnical Engineering, 169(5), https://doi.org/10.1680/jgeen.16.00020
• Toll, D. (2015). California Bearing Ratio tests on a lateritic gravel from Kenya. Transportation Geotechnics, 5, 59-67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trgeo.2015.09.004
• D’Onza, F., Wheeler, S., Gallipoli, D., Barrera Bucio, M., Hofmann, M., Lloret-Cabot, M., Lloret Morancho, A., Mancuso, C., Pereira, J.-M., Romero Morales, E., Sánchez, M., Solowski, W., Tarantino, A., Toll, D., & Vassallo, R. (2015). Benchmarking selection of parameter values for the Barcelona basic model. Engineering Geology, 196, 99-118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2015.06.022
• Toll, D., Lourenço, S., & Mendes, J. (2013). Advances in suction measurements using high suction tensiometers. Engineering Geology, 165, 29-37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2012.04.013
• Toll, D., Mendes, J., Hughes, P., Glendinning, S., & Gallipoli, D. (2012). Climate Change and the Role of Unsaturated Soil Mechanics. Geotechnical engineering, 43(1), 76-82
• Lourenco, S., Gallipoli, D., Augarde, C., Toll, D., Fisher, P., & Congreve, A. (2012). Formation and evolution of water menisci in unsaturated granular media. Géotechnique, 62(3), 193-199. https://doi.org/10.1680/geot.11.p.034
• Tarantino, A., Gallipoli, D., Augarde, C., De Gennaro, V., Gomez, R., Laloui, L., Mancuso, C., McCloskey, G., Munoz, J., Pereira, J.-M., Peron, H., Pisoni, G., Romero, E., Raveendiraraj, A., Rojas, J., Toll, D., Tombolato, S., & Wheeler, S. (2011). Benchmark of experimental techniques for measuring and controlling suction. Géotechnique, 61(4), https://doi.org/10.1680/geot.2011.61.4.303
• Lourenço, S., Gallipoli, D., Toll, D., Augarde, C., & Evans, F. (2011). A new procedure for the determination of the Soil Water Retention Curves by continuous drying using high suction tensiometers. Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 48(2), 327-335. https://doi.org/10.1139/t10-062
• Toll, D., Lourenço, S., Mendes, J., Gallipoli, D., Evans, F., Augarde, C., Cui, Y., Tang, A., Rojas Vidovic, J., Pagano, L., Mancuso, C., Zingariello, C., & Tarantino, A. (2011). Soil suction monitoring for landslides and slopes. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, 44, 23-33. https://doi.org/10.1144/1470-9236/09-010
• Lourenço, S., Gallipoli, D., Augarde, C., Toll, D., & Evans, F. (2011). Towards a Tensiometer Based Suction Control System for Laboratory Testing of Unsaturated Soils. Geotechnical Testing Journal, 34(6), 755-764. https://doi.org/10.1520/gtj103755
• Ali Rahman, Z., Toll, D., Gallipoli, D., & Taha, M. (2010). Micro-structure and Engineering Behaviour of Weakly Bonded Soil. Sains malaysiana, 36(6),
• Lourenço, S., Gallipoli, D., Toll, D., Evans, F., Leong, E., Rahardjo, H., & He, L. (2010). Calibration of high suction tensiometers - Discussion. Géotechnique, 60(3), 233-234. https://doi.org/10.1680/geot.8.d.019
• Lourenço, S., Gallipoli, D., Toll, D., & Evans, F. (2009). On the Measurement of Water Pressure in Soils with High Suction Tensiometers. Geotechnical Testing Journal, 32(6), 565-57. https://doi.org/10.1520/gtj102372
• Hughes, P., Glendinning, S., Mendes, J., Parkin, G., Toll, D., Gallipoli, D., & Miller, P. (2009). Full-scale testing to assess climate effects on embankments. Engineering Sustainability, 162(2), 67-79. https://doi.org/10.1680/ensu.2009.162.2.67
• Jaquin, P., Augarde, C., Gallipoli, D., & Toll, D. (2009). The strength of unstabilised rammed earth materials. Géotechnique, 59(5), 487-490. https://doi.org/10.1680/geot.2007.00129
• Lourenço, S., Gallipoli, D., Toll, D., Augarde, C., Evans, F., & Medero, G. (2008). Calibrations of a high-suction tensiometer. Géotechnique, 58(8), 659-668. https://doi.org/10.1680/geot.2008.58.8.659
• Fyson, M., & Toll, D. (2008). Case-Based System for Slope Design. Computers and Geotechnics, 35(3), 468-478. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2007.06.007
• Tarantino, A., Ridley, A., & Toll, D. (2008). Field measurement of suction, water content, and water permeability. Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, 26(6), 751-782. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-008-9205-4
• Lourenço, S., Gallipoli, D., Toll, D., Evans, F., & Medero, G. (2007). Discussion of “The development of a suction control system for a triaxial apparatus”, A. Jotisankasa, M.Coop and A. Ridley. Geotechnical Testing Journal, 30(4), 738-741. https://doi.org/10.1520/gtj100928
• Haeri, S., Hamidi, A., Hosseini, S., Asghari, E., & Toll, D. (2006). Effect of Cement Type on the Mechanical Behavior of a Gravelly Sand. Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, 24(2), 335-360. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-004-7793-1
• Martin, J., & Toll, D. (2006). The Development of a Knowledge-Based System for the Preliminary Investigation of Contaminated Land. Computers and Geotechnics, 33(2), 93-100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2006.03.002
• Hosseini, S., Haeri, S., & Toll, D. (2005). Behaviour of gravelly sand using critical state concepts. Scientia iranica, 12(2), 167-177
• Haeri, S., Hosseini, S., Toll, D., & Yasrebi, S. (2005). The behaviour of an artificially cemented sandy gravel. Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, 23(5), 537-560. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-004-5110-7
• Asghari, E., Toll, D., & Haeri, D. (2004). Effect of cementation on the shear strength of Tehran gravelly sand. Journal of sciences, Islamic Republic of Iran, 15(1), 65-71
• Toll, D., & Ong, B. (2004). Critical state parameters for an unsaturated residual sandy soil - Discussion. Géotechnique, 54(1), 69 - 71. https://doi.org/10.1680/geot.54.1.69.36328
• Toll, D., & Cubitt, A. (2003). Representing geotechnical entities on the world wide web. Advances in Engineering Software, 34(11-12), 729-736. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0965-9978%2803%2900097-8
• Topping, B., & Toll, D. (2003). Special issue on Civil-Comp 2001. Advances in Engineering Software, 34(11-12), 655-656. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0965-9978%2803%2900096-6
• Tsaparas, I., Rahardjo, H., Toll, D., & Leong, E. (2003). Infiltration characteristics of two instrumented residual soil slopes. Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 40(5), 1012-1032. https://doi.org/10.1139/t03-049
• Toll, D., & Ong, B. (2003). Critical-state parameters for an unsaturated residual sandy clay. Géotechnique, 53(1), 93-103. https://doi.org/10.1680/geot.53.1.93.37255
• Asghari, E., Toll, D., & Haeri, S. (2003). Triaxial behaviour of a cemented gravelly sand, Tehran Alluvium. Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, 21(1), 1-28. https://doi.org/10.1023/a%3A1022934624666
• Toll, D., & Shields, R. (2003). A Web-based Data Format for Ground Investigation Data. The electronic journal of geotechnical engineering, 8(D),
• Tsaparas, I., Rahardjo, H., Toll, D., & Leong, E. (2002). Controlling parameters for rainfall-induced landslides. Computers and Geotechnics, 29(1), 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0266-352x%2801%2900019-2
• Wong, J., Rahardjo, H., Toll, D., & Leong, E. (2001). Modified triaxial apparatus for shearing-infiltration test. Geotechnical Testing Journal, 24(4), 370-380. https://doi.org/10.1520/gtj11134j
• Toll, D. (2001). Rainfall-induced landslides in Singapore. Geotechnical Engineering, 149(4), 211-216. https://doi.org/10.1680/geng.149.4.211.48654
• Rahardjo, H., Li, X., Toll, D., & Leong, E. (2001). The effect of antecedent rainfall on slope stability. Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, 19(3-4), 371 - 399. https://doi.org/10.1023/a%3A1013129725263
• Aung, K., Rahardjo, H., Leong, E., & Toll, D. (2001). Relationship between porosimetry measurement and soil–water characteristic curve for an unsaturated residual soil. Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, 19(3-4), 401 - 416. https://doi.org/10.1023/a%3A1013125600962
• Malandraki, V., & Toll, D. (2001). Triaxial tests on weakly bonded soil with changes in stress path. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 127(3), 282-291. https://doi.org/10.1061/%28asce%291090-0241%282001%29127%3A3%28282%29
• Toll, D., & Barr, R. (2001). A decision support system for geotechnical applications. Computers and Geotechnics, 28(8), 575-590. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0266-352x%2801%2900014-3
• Malandraki, V., & Toll, D. (2000). Drained probing triaxial tests on a weakly bonded artificial soil. Géotechnique, 50(2), 141-151