Sustainable Construction Management and Education (SCME)

Leader: Associate Professor Vivian Tam

Members: Khoa Le, Xiaohua Jin, Yingbin Feng, Mary Hardie, Swapan Saha and Sepani Senaratne

The Sustainable Construction Management and Education team has a strong group of actively engaged researchers. It aims to develop strategies for responding to climate change while embedding engaged learning in the construction management program as part of the Western Sydney University Strategic Plan. Undergraduate student numbers have increased significantly since 2007. The enrolment surge indicates a need to conduct research into improving sustainable construction education.

In 2006-2011, the team published 187 journal publications / 93.3 weighted journal publications of about 50% ERA2010 A/A* and received external grants from ARC, ALTC, industrial and overseas funding bodies as well as internal grants. The Group leads the first of two ARC Discovery Project under the Field of Research Code 1202 Building in life cycle cost and carbon emissions on green building implementation for 2015-2017. The Group also participated in two ALTC grants on lifelong learning pathways and have two PhD completions. The team has also built up a strong network with national and international researchers with a concentration on Sustainable Construction Management and Education.

The core members in the Sustainable Construction Management and Education team, represents a highly productive, focused group of researchers in Sustainable Construction Management and Education. The team includes 3 early career researchers. The outcomes from the team can improve the sustainability in construction and curriculum of the Construction Management program. The team aims to establish further contact with industry partners, which will lead to future interest in consultancy and engaged research.

• Associate Prof Vivian Tam is Group Leader and conducts research in cost effectiveness of sustainable construction and green building implementation with the consideration of recent carbon tax scheme under the climate change framework and examines the behaviour and performance of recycled concrete using laboratory testing and numerical modeling for high-grade concrete applications. These activities bring cutting edge knowledge and technologies to the construction management and education.
• Dr Khoa Le conducts research in wireless communications and advanced signal processing including wavelet and image processing with emphasis on theoretical system performance monitoring and improvement. He is one of the most well-known researchers on applying diversity techniques to single- and multi-carrier wireless systems. Dr. Le also conducts research in sustainable construction management and quality assessment using signal processing and wavelet techniques for data analysis and dominant factor identification.
• Dr Xiaohua (Sean) Jin conducts research in socially and economically sustainable infrastructure development and relationship-based procurement (including public-private partnership, alliancing, partnering, Joint Venture, etc). His other main research interests include construction economics; project management; risk management; and ICT in construction.
• Dr Yingbin Feng conducts research in construction health and safety.
• Dr Mary Hardie conducts research in technical innovations, innovation delivery, innovation diffusion, construction industry Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and construction education.
• Dr Swapan Saha conducts research in 4D CAD software to improve the learning and teaching delivery of construction project management.
• Dr Sepani Senaratne conducts research mainly in knowledge management and project teams in construction. Recently, she got involved in research into economical sustainability of building structures. Her other main research interests include organisation and project change management; linking research, teaching and practice in Built environment; and, lean construction.