The CIB Board consists of a broad range of individuals who hold senior leadership positions within their countries’ research and/or academic communities.
Each month we’ll introduce a Board member and ask them 3 questions on their organisation, how they see the benefits of CIB, and what they would like to achieve through the organisation in the coming years.
In this post we hear from Srinath Perera who is Chair of Built Environment & Construction Management at Western Sydney University in Australia. He is director of Centre for Smart Modern Construction c4SMC PG Construction Management programs.
Srinath is also Chair of the CIB Future Leaders committee
How would you describe your day job and areas of research interest?
I am the chair professor of Built Environment and Construction Management at Western Sydney University. I provide strategic direction to the construction programmes at the university. WSU is the host for one of the largest Construction Management degree programmes globally with over 2000 students. I am also the founding Director of the Centre for Smart Modern Construction, an industry collaborative research centre with a focus on Digitalisation, Industrialisation, Globalisation, Sustainability and Resilience. The centre has over 20 doctoral researchers working in these areas. My special research interests include, construction informatics, blockchain technology, IoT, BIM, carbon management, circular economy, offsite construction, disaster resilience among others.
What is your role on the CIB Board and how do you see the priorities?
I am the chair of the CIB Future leaders committee comprising the CIB student chapters and the CIB Early Career Researchers (ECR) Network. I see ECRs as the future of the CIB that will foster collaborations and advancements in global efforts of construction and built environment research. We established the CIB ECR network in 2020 which now hosts over 120 researchers globally providing a platform for international collaboration. My main priorities are to further develop the CIB ECR network and provide a gateway for ECRs to engage in broader CIB activities. I also see to re-energise the CIB student chapters providing the doctoral students opportunities to develop leadership skills and opportunities to collaborate both internally and externally beyond their universities.
How would you promote the value of CIB to someone thinking about joining?
CIB is a well-established network of world’s leading researchers in the built environment and construction industry. It provides any researcher a platform to collaborate with a growing network of international researchers and engage in its activities related to research such as the Vistas Programme. In modern research, collaboration is the key to success as researchers aim to resolve complex real-life problems. Especially, young researchers may end up in either industry or in academia, but they need to develop a network of collaborators. CIB provides this opportunity to meet established researchers. There are many awards and research grant opportunities available for members and gives built environment and construction researchers opportunities to develop their career like no other.
