Matthias Jakob Ph.D., P.Geo., L.G., is an internationally recognized specialist on the subject of geohazard and risk assessments.

Dr. Jakob has dedicated his career to bridging academia with industry.  He is one of Canada’s leading experts in the hazard and risk assessment of landslides, especially debris floods and debris flows.  He has completed such assessments in hundreds of creeks mostly in Canada, but also in Chile, Argentina, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Austria.  Dr. Jakob has also been retained for an in-depth study of the potential of a moraine dam lake failure in Kyrgyzstan.  He has acted as project manager and technical lead for numerous in-depth hazard and risk assessments in BC and elsewhere.  Dr. Jakob has been involved in studying effects of climate change on the frequency and magnitude of landslides in southern BC, and continues to publish on this subject.

Dr. Jakob spearheaded and co-authored the APEGBC Guidelines for Landslide Assessments for Legislated Residential Development 2006 and is the principal author in the 2021 update to those guidelines. He has also co-authored the 2012 APEGBC Guidelines for Legislated Flood Assessments in a Changing Climate and has given several presentations in BC on both guidelines. Matthias is also principal author for the Draft Guideline for Hazard and Risk Assessments for Steep Creeks in Alberta. Dr. Jakob has authored some 80 publications in the fields of applied geohazard assessments and was senior editor on a book on debris flows and debris avalanches published in 2005 that won the prestigious Burwell Award in 2009.  He is a frequently invited guest lecturer at universities and a sought-after keynote speaker at international conferences.