Research and innovation play a significant role in the continuous development of the built environment sector. The past few decades, however, have shown that realizing the true potential and impact of research and development in the construction industry considerably depends on the collaboration between different actors in this environment. This collaboration can be enabled at a regional, national, and international level. The higher the level of collaboration, the more value it may bring to the construction industry, and one of the pre-eminent global organizations is CIB, the International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction. CIB is the worldwide network of building and construction experts who improve their performance through international co-operation and information exchange with their peers to improve the quality and impact of research and innovation activities in the sector.
CIB´s mission to support ‘Collaboration for Innovation in the Built environment’ is well recognized by the research community in the sector. One indication of this recognition is the growth of Student Chapters and Early Career Researchers (ECRs) membership in the last three decades. A CIB Student Chapter may be a local, regional, national or even international organized group of students, provided that those students are enrolled at CIB Member universities and preferably have an identifiable common interest in the work of one or more CIB Commissions. Examples of different types of CIB Student Chapters can be seen here.
ECRs are a population of researchers who are potentially engaged in research or innovation activities to impact the construction and built environment sectors. They are ambitious and looking to develop their career, so development of research skills, connections with researchers and stakeholder organizations around the world, and profile and recognition are some of the opportunities they are looking for.
ECRs and members of student chapters are the future players of research and development in the construction and built environment sector. In 2022, CIB had 16 Student Chapters and 100 ECR members. In early 2023 CIB has received three expressions of interest for the establishment of new Student Chapters, which will expand the network in South Africa and Australia. The complete list of CIB Student Chapters can be seen here. A similar pattern of growth is also seen in the number of ECR members which has grown by 25%. CIB’s ECR network covers countries in Europe, Australia, Asia, America, and Africa.
This growth indicates the strong appeal of CIB to this audience, with the benefits including:
- Networking: Becoming a member of CIB provides a valuable opportunity for the early career researchers to expand their professional network by connecting with junior and senior scholars in the built environment sector around the world.
- Career opportunities: Members receive notification of academic job opportunities in different universities and countries.
- Competence development: A CIB member has access to a range of webinars and seminars which are conducted all over the world, providing a basis for enhancing the professional competence of academics in teaching and research.
- Funding: Eligibility to apply for CIB’s Awards and funding. Only CIB members (with paid-up membership) can apply for these opportunities. Some examples are the Future Leaders award, Best Doctoral Dissertation award, and Vistas funding. Details of these opportunities can be seen here .
- International research collaboration:CIB establishes and maintains continuous collaboration among researchers and industry professionals in the sector. This provides a remarkable opportunity for ECRs to get involved in international research collaborations by joining a large network of junior and senior scholars.
- International recognition: ECRs who become CIB members get the opportunity to be recognized on the international level for their scholarly activities. This recognition is realized through the awards described above, and through collaboration in the CIB network. Another opportunity is the possibility of leading a CIB Working Commission or Task Group.
CIB still offers complementary individual membership for Early Career Researchers in 2023, whether employed by a CIB Member institution or not. The registration link for joining the ECR network can be found here.
