Geotechnical and geo-environmental engineering are shifting toward sustainable, bio-driven solutions. Whether soil is transformed by living organisms, engineered by bio-inspired solutions, or built with earthen material, these approaches share a common thread: harnessing biological processes, bio-inspiration, and natural earthen materials for sustainable ground engineering and construction.

This session is built around two linked questions: how do biological and biomimetic agents interact with soil and earthen materials across scales, and how can we harness them from pore-scale processes to field- and structure-scale applications? [OdSJ(E1.1]We connect communities that rarely meet: researchers developing bio-inspired subsurface locomotion and self-burrowing robotics; those quantifying root and organism mechanics in soil; and those advancing bio-mediated and bio-based geo- and construction materials.

We welcome experimental, imaging-based, field, numerical, and sustainability assessment contributions, and strongly encourage Early Career Scientists.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Bio-inspired subsurface locomotion & robotics: earthworm-, root-, and seed-inspired self-burrowing probes; peristaltic penetration and tip-extension burrowing in granular media; soft robotics and autonomous sensors for site characterisation; mechanics of the probe–soil interface.
- Root & organism biomechanics for geo-engineering: root growth forces, tip penetration, and directional growth; anchorage, root-induced soil deformation, bioturbation; root-based and bio-engineered slope stabilisation.
- Bio-mediated soil improvement: microbially and enzyme induced calcite precipitation (MICP, EICP), biopolymers, and bio-grouting for stabilisation, liquefaction mitigation, erosion /dust control; durability and pore-scale imaging (e.g. X-ray CT).
- Bio-stabilised earthen construction materials: raw-earth and stabilised-earth materials, biopolymer- and bio-cement-stabilised earth, and natural fibres, with their hygrothermal, durability, and life-cycle performance.
- Sustainability assessment: life cycle assessment (LCA), life cycle costs analysis (LCCA) and social LCA (S-LCA) of bio-treated soils and “low-carbon” geomaterials.

We especially encourage novel experimental setups, multi-scale imaging, field deployments, numerical modelling, and cross-disciplinary work linking soil mechanics, biology, robotics, materials, and sustainability assessment.