Mamert Mbonimpa is Professor at the Research Institute on Mines and Environment (RIME) at the Université du Québec in Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT). After graduating in civil engineer at the Université du Burundi (UB) in 1987, he worked for the ILO Special Program of Public Works in Burundi. In January 1989, he held a teaching and research assistant position at UB's Faculty of Applied Sciences. In 1993 and 1998, he obtained the degrees of Master (Magister) and PhD (Dr.- Ing.) in Geotechnics and Infrastructures at the University of Hanover in Germany, respectively. He then was a postdoctoral fellow and research associate at the CGM department of Polytechnique Montréal from 1999 to 2004 and joined UQAT in June 2004.