Dr. Xia-Ting Feng is the President of Northeastern University, Shenyang, China and the Director of the State Key Laboratory of Intelligent Mining and Equipment for Deep Metal Mines. He is a Fellow of the International Society for Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering (ISRM), President of ISRM Commission on Design Methodology, and Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering and the journal Deep Resources Engineering. In 2019, he was elected a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. He previously served as the Director of the Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Director of the State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering. He chaired ISRM during 2011–2015, the Federation of International Geoengineering Societies (FedIGS) during 2018–2022, and the Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering during 2012–2025.

Dr. Feng has long been engaged in theoretical research, technological development, and engineering practice of hard rock mechanics and rockburst in deep engineering. He has led the research and development of eight sets of high-pressure true triaxial hard rock testing devices, facilitated the establishment of an in situ laboratory at the Jinping deep engineering site, and developed a theoretical and technical system for the stability analysis of deep underground engineering focused on the control of deep rock mass fracturing. He pioneered the systematic study of the immediate rockburst development process and developed an intelligent microseismic monitoring system. His research has been successfully applied to the prediction, early warning, and control of disasters in over 40 key projects in China and abroad, including deep-buried hydropower underground caverns and water diversion tunnels, deep-buried railway tunnels, and deep metal mine roadways and stopes.