Rune Martin Holt is Professor at NTNU (Department of Geoscience and Petroleum) and Special Advisor to SINTEF, both in Trondheim, Norway. He holds a PhD in solid state physics from NTNU in 1980. His main area of competence is rock mechanics and rock physics applied to petroleum geoscience and engineering. The work is based on experimental, analytical, and numerical modelling. Focused areas have been shale studies related to overburden characterization for improved interpretation of time-lapse seismic as well as to aspects of borehole stability for drilling and well completion. Further work has been devoted to quantification of coring induced rock damage, both through laboratory experiments with synthetic rocks formed under stress and discrete particle numerical modelling.