Professor Pine was the Head of Camborne School of Mines until 2008 and is now professor emeritus. Since late 2011 he has been involved with MSc level mining education (specialising in geomechanics) in Kazakhstan in collaboration with Kazakhmys. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (UK). He has a technical background in geotechnical engineering applied in university research and teaching, and consultancy in the mining and civil engineering industries.