Prof. Xianwei Zhang is a researcher and doctoral supervisor at the State Key Laboratory of Geotechnical Mechanics and Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He received his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering geology from Jilin University. He is mainly engaged in basic research on soil mechanics and disaster management applications of special soils (residual soils, structural clays, hard soil–soft rock, etc.). He is an outstanding member of the Youth Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a Hubei Province Outstanding Youth, a winner of the China Geology Youth Science and Technology Award (Silver Hammer Award), an editorial board member of the Journal of Engineering Geology, a youth editorial board member of the International Journal of Mining Science and Technology, an editor and editorial board member of Geofluids and Scientific Reports, a member of many societies and committees, such as IAEG, ISSMGE, and the Geological Society of China, and a reviewer for more than 100 domestic and foreign journals, such as Geotechnique and Geophys Res Let.