Gerhard Heymann completed BEng and MEng degrees from the University of Pretoria in 1988 and 1993 respectively. He was awarded a PhD by the University of Surrey in 1998 for his research on the stiffness of geomaterials at very small strains. His research interest includes geotechnical laboratory and field testing. He is currently a professor in the department of Civil Engineering. He teaches soil mechanics at undergraduate and postgraduate level and has supervised a number of MEng and PhD students. He is a professional engineer, past chairman of the SAICE Geotechnical Division and currently the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering. He has received a number of awards including the Jennings Award for the best geotechnical paper by a South African author in 2002 and 2015, the SAICE Journal best paper award in 2005 and the Meritorious Research Award from the South African Institution of Civil Engineers in 2002.

Fields of interest are Geotechnical Engineering, Geotechnical laboratory testing and Geotechnical field testing.