Construction Innovation scholars met in Brisbane recently for a workshop that wasrated by many asthe best ever scholars workshop.Studentstraveled from Perth, Melbourne and Sydney to attend the workshop.
The program included students presenting an overview of their research and a guided tour of the new Queensland Gallery of Modern Art (known as GoMA). During the tour, scholars and staff were given interesting background information on the use, management and behind the scenes responsibilities of those operating the facility.
Students rated the GoMA visit very highly, along with the second days session on Knowledge Transfer and Research Commercialisation, which was facilitated by Michael Doneman, the QUT moderator of the Australian Technology Network of Universities eGrad School.
Michaels workshop covered topics such as Intellectual Property, Knowledge Transfer, Pathways, Products and Services, Product Processes, Financial Aspects, Support and Business Planning. His session was very well received by the scholars.
The workshops are held twice a year, with the next workshop scheduled for 27-28 September.
April 07: Road building costs underestimated up to a third 
Dr Garry Creedy
Garry Creedy, from the CRC for Construction Innovation headquartered at QUT, studied the cost overrun risk factors on 230 highway delivery projects which had suffered final cost overruns of 10 per cent or more, undertaken in the past seven years.
February 07: Gary Creedy is CRC for Construction Innovation/QUT first PhD
Garry Creedy (left) pictured with Construction Innovation's Lyn Pearson, Education and Training Officer, and CEO, Professor Keith Hampson Roads expert Garry Creedy is the first
Construction Innovation-sponsored QUT scholar to complete a PhD.
Garry's research was supervised by Professor Martin Skitmore in the School of Urban Development at QUT.
His work focused on risk factors leading to cost overruns in the delivery of highway construction projects.
Dennis Wogan, Executive Director in the Queensland Department of Main Roads, was Garry's industry supervisor.
Cost overruns in highway construction are a contentious issue. Garry's research focused on highway projects that had suffered significant cost overruns of 10% or more. Variables that contributed to these overruns were analysed and risks ranked. Examples of risks include design scope overrun, unforeseen ground and drainage requirements, native title and environmental issues.
The risks were correlated along with project attributes such as highway project type, indexed project cost, geographic location and project delivery method to develop a percentage of cost overrun.
Garry's aim was to provide clients with better information when developing decision-to-build highway budget estimates, that take into account project size in relation to economy of scale. His research will help clients determine more realistic decision-to-build highway budget estimates when taking into account project size in relation to economy of scale.
February 07: CSIRO post-doc position for Wei Peng
Construction Innovation scholar Wei Peng has been offered a post-doc position with the new CSIRO ICT Innovation Centre in Tasmania.
Wei, who undertook his PhD with Professor John Gero and Dr Rabee Reffat at the University of Sydney in the area of adaptive design tools that learn, will focus on data management/wireless sensor networks. David Marchant of Woods Bagot was Weis industry supervisor
Wei provided an excellent contribution working with Dr Lan Ding of CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems on
Construction Innovations Design Check project
Congratulations Wei!
December 06: Soon Kam is outstanding young Malaysian of the year
Soon Kam Lim (Centre),
receives his award
The CRC for Construction Innovation has a history of supporting high achieving scholars dedicated to their studies and the community and Soon Kam Lim is certainly no exception.
In November at the Award Night in Kuala Lumpur, Soon Kam was awarded as one of seven honourees for the Outstanding Young Malaysian Award 2006.
This Award is jointly organized by Junior Chamber International Malaysia, Ministry of Youth & Sportsand Ministry of Information of Malaysia, and the Malaysia Book of Records, "to accord recognition to young Malaysian between the ages of 18 and 40, whose dedication to their profession or life undertakings has resulted in exceptional achievement, in the form of significant contributions to the progress or welfare of the community at large and to the advancement of their respective fields of endeavour.
Malaysias Star Online newspaper said the Award was in recognition of Soon Kams academic excellence and his his 13 years of outstanding contribution towards the development of academic, moral and spiritual education of children and youths from the Jenjarom community.
Soon Kam is currently undertaking a PhD with Construction Innovation entitled Enhancing Sustainability Deliverables in Construction Project Delivery, under the supervision of Professor Jay Yang at QUT.
Soon Kams award was celebrated in his community with a gathering of 800 villagers including Teluk Datuk assemblyman Datuk Ei Kim Hock as well as former teachers and community leaders.
Soon Kam is a model of what todays youths can do for their community and I am very proud of him, Assemblyman Ei said.
I hope he will continue to actively help improve the lot of others, said Ei.
Soon Kams supervisors and all associated with him at Construction Innovation have no doubt he will do exactly that.
Congratulations Soon Kam!
December 06: Masters degree sounds good to Derek!
Derek Thompson
Dereks studies focused on the dynamic experience of open architectural spaces and included extensive field recording, analysis, and experimentation with 3D sound reproduction technology.
Through greater collaboration between sonic arts practice and acoustic design engineering, Dereks research examines dynamic aural experience in architectural spaces.
While located in the built environment, much of this research also has relevance to production of real-time and navigable audio virtual environments.
Dereks studies were supervised by Lawrence Harvey and Mark Burry at RMIT and his industry supervisor was Neil Woodger of Arup Australasia.
Derek is based in Melbourne and works as an Acoustic Consultant with Arup Acoustics. At Arup, Derek is leading frther development of SoundLab, Arups local facility for spatial auralisation.
October 06: CRC for Construction Innovation scholars meet in Brisbane
Pictured enjoying a meal L-R are Kevin McDonald (CSIRO), Melissa James (CSIRO), Lyn Pearson (CRC for Construction Innovation), Joanne Jakovich (University of Sydney), Fanny Boulaire (CSIRO), Abdul Sharabah (RMIT), Carole Green (CRC for Construction Innovation)
The program included on day one media skills with Lesley Irvine (QUT Creative Industries), negotiation skills with Graham Scott (ORG Consulting). Day two featured a workshop on career directions facilitated by Edwin Trevor-Roberts (Trevor-Roberts Consulting) and incorporated a panel discussion with government, industry and research representatives to ensure the CRC for Construction Innovation's work meets real user needs. The panel members consisted of Tom Fussell (Chief Architect,QDPW), Chris Stanley (Business Development Manager, John Holland Group), Alan McAlpine (Post Graduate Career Counsellor, QUT) and Carole Green (Business Manager, CRC for Construction Innovation).
Tayyab investigated the role of knowledge management in supporting innovation. He selected soft systems methodology as a basic qualitative tool to carry out his investigations.
His CRC-sponsored research has provided several contributions to future industry research.
Outcomes of Tayyabs work included the development of a model of knowledge management encompassing innovation and organisational learning. The model can be used to assist in the transformation of a traditional organisation into a learning organisation.
Tayyabs research produced useful guidelines and frameworks to enhance learning in the construction industry and to manage, understand and practise knowledge management more efficiently.
Tayyabs thesis supervisor, RMITs Professor Derek Walker, said the soft systems methodology approach was proving useful for other research activities.
Tayyab has been appointed a lecturer at RMIT and contributes to undergraduate and postgraduate programs in property, construction and project management.
September 06: Hello and goodbye
Several new scholarships have been offered by Construction Innovation this year and another of the popular workshop series is on offer at months end.
Those accepting the new scholarships include:
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| Adrian Cupitt Masters by Research at QUT, Microclimatic Impacts on the Built Environment Extension of the Daylighting Theory to Produce Algorithms for Light Technical Parameters for any Location Adrian's Construction Innovation profile | |
| Agustin Chevez Bernaldo de Quiros PhD at RMIT, Evolution of Workplace Architecture as a Consequence of Technology Development | |
| | |
Meanwhile others have completed their scholarship period and are either continuing their studies or have moved on to new challenges.
While Ned Wales scholarship concluded in April, his PhD final thesis is due in September.
September 06: Scholars' Workshop
On 28 and 29 September, the next Scholars Workshop will be held at QUT Gardens Point campus. The two-day program will cover topics including Media Skills, Negotiation and Career Directions.
This latest workshop structured from the scholars feedback, builds on previous workshop themes of Entrepreneurship, Project Management, Commercialisation, Intellectual Property, Presentation Skills, Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods and Statistical Analysis. Using a variety of presenters and facilitators with expertise in the topics, as well as garnering industry involvement, has ensured that the workshops are highly relevant and provide a springboard for discussion, networking and learning opportunities for those attending.
July 06: Garry Creedy hits the road
Congratulations to
Construction Innovation scholar Garry Creedy who has finished his doctoral thesis and has returned to the Queensland Department of Main Roads after three years' research.
Garry's thesis is currently undergoing examination by academic and industry experts. His thesis subject is identifying and matching project risk factors to delivery capability in highway construction projects.
"It's a huge relief to finally have the thesis finished," said Garry. "I enjoyed the experience of full-time study immensely and especially value the international contacts I've made with highway construction researchers.
"Thanks go to everybody at the Department of Main Roads and Construction Innovation for the opportunity and all your help along the way."
The foundation for the research is drawn from the post-mortem analysis of those Queensland highway projects costing in excess of $1 million in which there was a significant budget over-run.
The analysis focuses on understanding how client project budgets go wrong when dealing with project risk. It identifies client risk variables that have contributed to significant cost over-run and then uses factor analysis and expert elicitation to establish importance-ranked client risks.
Since graduating as a civil engineer in 1972, Garry has worked in various highway construction engineer and project manager roles. He also has a Graduate Diploma of Business Administration from QUT, an MBA from Deakin University and a Graduate Certificate in Public Sector Management from Flinders University.
April 06: Judy Kraatz wins scholarship from Brisbane City Council
Congratulations to Judy Kraatz (
pictured), who has just been awarded a
Construction Innovation scholarship from Brisbane City Council (BCC).
Judy is no stranger to Construction Innovation. In her role as Architecture Group Manager at BCC, Judy was its representative on the Construction Innovation Research Committee and initiated our Microclimatic Impacts on the Built Environment project.
Judy left BCC in September 2005 to start her own sustainability and research consultancy, Terrella Consulting, and now returns to undertake her PhD in 'Critical success factors associated with major construction projects'.
"I have about 20 years' experience in the construction industry working on the design and delivery of major projects, and as an academic and researcher," Judy said. "This experience has helped me develop an understanding of some of the key issues in designing and delivering projects that meet stakeholders needs.
"There is some existing literature in this area, but it's important for the industry we continue to reassess these factors, especially as technology, processes, skills and expectations evolve."
Judy has bachelors degrees in architecture and design studies, both with honours.
March 06: Wei Peng wins Clients Driving Innovation Conference award
Construction Innovation scholar Wei Peng (
left with Dr Keith Hampson, CEO of
Construction Innovation) won the prestigious scholars award at the Clients Driving Innovation Conference, earning himself a two-day project management course.
Weis paper was a case study entitled Towards a loosely-wired design optimisation tool, which describes the mechanisms that allow CAD (computer-added design) tools to learn from their use to potentially help automate the design process and reduce errors.
Based at The University of Sydney's Key Centre of Design Computing and Cognition, Wei has a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering, a Master of Information Science and his PhD research topic is 'Adaptive design tool that learns'. He expects to complete his PhD in late 2006.
February 06: Joanne Jakovich creates waves at Powerhouse Museum
Construction Innovation scholar Joanne Jakovich has delighted visitors to Sydney's Powerhouse Museum with an exhibit that combines her doctoral research into sound-based interfaces with some good old fashioned fun.
Entitled 'Sonic Tai Chi', the exhibit is a responsive space where your every move simultaneously creates sound and leaves traces of colour on a large digital screen. Visitors also interact with virtual creatures they either create or destroy, something like a computer game.
Needless to say, the exhibit is very popular. "Everyone is intrigued with themselves, no matter how young or old," said Powerhouse curator Matthew Connell. "This is a unique space where visitors, particularly young children, have fun experimenting with digital images and sounds created by their own body movement."
Created jointly by Ms Jakovich and Dr Kirsty Beilharz from Key Centre of Design Computing and Cognition at The University of Sydney, the inspiration for the exhibit comes from Ms Jakovich's Construction Innovation doctoral research in creating a model of auditory gestures for intelligent environments.
"It's all about looking at how the traditional concepts of architecture and space can be interpreted or redefined using new tools," Ms Jakovich said.
"The 'bricks and mortar' of digital spaces are instilled into our perceptual systems through interaction," said Ms Jakovich. "Interfaces that provide feedback in response to movement allow the user to build a sensory model of how the space feels and looks while digitally immersed. These spatial cues surpass the typical limitations of the built environment, enabling constantly changing and infinitely expressive hyper-spaces."
The exhibit opened at the Powerhouse in mid-November 2005 and, while its season has been extended, it is expected to end soon.
For futher information:
Joanne Jakovich's Construction Innovation profile
http://www.jakovich.net/sonic
