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Meet the invited
keynote speakers

John Doherty

John Doherty has worked in the groundwater industry for over 40 years, both as a geophysicist and as a modeller. For the last 30 of those years, he has worked for his own company, Watermark Numerical Computing, of which he is the sole employee. He has also been associated with a number of universities, where he has conducted research, and supervised postgraduate students. John is the author of PEST and its suite of utility support software. PEST has been widely used in the groundwater industry for model parameterization, calibration and uncertainty analysis. Its utility support suite facilitates innovative parameterization of complex models of all types, using parameter fields based on stationary and nonstationary geostatistics in ways that support both conventional and hierarchical inversion. One of John’s present research interests is the use of geophysical data to enhance the decision-support potential of groundwater modelling.

David Khoza

Dr. David Khoza is geophysicist who’s worked in minerals exploration, mining and geoscience research. After completing BSc Honours degree, David joined BHP Billiton’s mineral exploration division, conducting geophysical surveys primarily in Africa. David took a break and then back into academia to complete his PhD, which focussed on understanding the tectonic evolution of the Southern African lithosphere using magnetotelluric data. Following that, he joined Anglo American’s Technical Solutions department supporting several business units in mining, green and brownfield exploration and research efforts within Anglo American. He then joined SPECTREM AIR, primarily focused on airborne data processing, modelling, interpretation and research. David then joined Council for Geoscience’s Executive Management Team until May 2023 responsible for implementing the mapping programme. David is currently the Technical Director at Integrated Geoscience Solutions, doing consulting and geoscience research for mineral/energy exploration and groundwater sectors. He holds a BSc (Geology and Physics), BSc Honours (Geophysics) and a PhD (Geophysics) from the University of the Witwatersrand.

Yusen Ley-Cooper

Yusen Ley-Cooper is a recognised leader in airborne electromagnetic (AEM) geophysics, with over two decades of experience in the acquisition, processing, and inversion of large-scale AEM datasets. He currently leads the Australian Airborne Electromagnetic (AusAEM) programme—the world’s largest airborne EM acquisition campaign—delivering seamless conductivity models that support mineral exploration, groundwater management, environmental assessments, and geotechnical applications. Under his leadership, AusAEM has set global benchmarks for data quality, workflow integration, and open-access geoscience. At AEM2026, Yusen’s keynote will present insights from AEM surveys conducted worldwide and share his experience in quantitative subsurface imaging and characterisation.

Richard Smith

Richard Smith received a BSc and MSc from the University of Adelaide, Australia and an MSc and PhD from the University of Toronto. Richard has worked for Lamontagne Geophysics in Toronto, Macquarie University in Sydney as a post-doctoral fellow and Pasminco Ltd in Melbourne as an exploration geophysicist. In 1993, Richard joined Geoterrex Ltd, an airborne geophysical survey company, later purchased by Fugro. There he worked on electromagnetic and magnetic systems mounted on fixed-wing aircraft. In May 2009, Richard took up an Industrial Research Chair in Exploration Geophysics at Laurentian University in Sudbury. His research focusses on using geophysical methods to find ore deposits. He is the recipient of a number of awards for the “best presentation” at conferences and is a co-recipient of awards for the best paper in the journal Geophysics for 1997 and Exploration and Mining Geology (2012).

Changchun Yin

Changchun Yin received his Ph.D. from Technical University of Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany, in 1999. He was a German Academic Exchange Services (DAAD) Scholar. In 2000, he joined Fugro Airborne Surveys, Mississauga, Canada, as a Senior Research Geophysicist, majoring in airborne electromagnetic (EM) forward modeling and inversion. He joined Jilin University as a Faculty Member in 2011, where he is now a distinguished professor of geophysics. His research interests include modeling and inversion of EM fields in complicated media for airborne, ground, marine, and borehole EM, including 2D and 3D inhomogeneous media and electrically anisotropic media. He is a member of SEG, AGU, EAGE, and was SEG Mining and Geothermal Committee member (2008-2016).