R M I T C I B S t u d e n t C h a p t e r

One of our academic advisors, Professor Kerry London and two of our chapter members, Peng Zhang and Jessica Siva presented on the topic of “internationalisation”. The seminar went really well and you can read more about it in this edition of our newsletter. We are looking to organise another session in the next semester so remember to check out our Facebook or Twitter pages for updates on this.

2012 promises to be yet another exciting year for us. One of the key events we will be holding later on this year is an Industry-Academic Forum. The Forum will provide an opportunity for postgraduate students to present their journeys and highlight challenges related to built environment research. A panel comprising a number of thought leaders in the Australian construction industry will respond and discuss ways to address the challenges raised. We are delighted to have received commitment from the CIB President John McCarthy who will be a member of the panel at the event.

Many interesting and exciting ideas have been discussed at our meetings over the past year and I look forward to another great year filled with intelligent debates, new initiatives, exciting events and of course, many more cupcakes! My heartfelt thanks go to the Committee and Chapter members who have been not only dedicated and tireless in their efforts to keep our Chapter active and lively but also an absolute delight to work with. I would also like to thank our three academic advisors for their ongoing invaluable advice and guidance – we are indebted to them for their support. We are also thankful for the continued support provided by our Head of School, Professor Ron Wakefield as well as all other members of the School.

Our Newsletter Committee have produced yet another high quality newsletter publication – special thanks to Nawaf and Linda for a fine effort in putting together this newsletter. Thanks also to all those who have contributed to the newsletter. We have so much more to share with you in the coming months so stay tuned!

Jessica Siva

President

President's Column: 2011 was a big year for the RMIT CIB Student Chapter. So many achievements have been made by our Chapter members in such a short timeframe that we can be proud of. Our Committee and Chapter members have worked hard in developing and introducing new initiatives as well as organising various events and activities. Since the CIB Board

approved the establishment of our Chapter in June last year we have created a website, produced two newsletters, presented at numerous conferences and forums, produced over 50 publications, held more than 10 meetings and perhaps most importantly, consumed over 100 cupcakes baked by our multi-talented treasurer, Kartina Alauddin!

An interesting new initiative we have introduced is the “Friends of the RMIT CIB student chapter”. The Friends of the CIB Student Chapter was established to foster collaboration and exchange of knowledge between research students across universities. Our approach has always been to be an inclusive Chapter and we hope that through the Friends of the CIB Student Chapter we are able to develop strong positive relationships with an even wider network of researchers both locally and internationally. We have already received keen interest from various universities and we are very excited to start formalising these relationships and continue to build more linkages through this initiative.

We have also been eager to move forward with social media as a way to connect and engage with others more widely and directly through Facebook and Twitter. Visit our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/RmitCibStudentChapter and remember to ‘like’ our page. Follow us on Twitter at RMIT_CIB_SC. We regularly update our Facebook and Twitter pages with all our latest happenings. Our Twitter account is updated not only in English but also in Bahasa Malaysia, Bahasa Indonesia, Chinese, Persian and Arabic. Do join us as we embark on our new online adventure.

Last month we jointly organised a Research Seminar with the School of Property, Construction and Project Management through the lunchtime research seminar series.

This issue’s student profiles

Inside

Chapter Members’ Publications + conferences

2

3

RMIT-CIB Student Chapter Newsletter 2012 Issue number 2 Page 1

Henry Liu

Mr. Junxiao Liu (Henry) has been awarded a Master of

Construction Management (by research) and a Bachelor of

Law by Deakin University and South China University of

Technology respectively. In addition, Henry is a reviewer of

Journal of Construction Management & Economics (CME),

vice-president of RMIT’s CIB student chapter, and the

members of AIQS, CIPD (UK) as well as CIOB. Henry also has

industrial experience in China. From 2006 to 2009, Henry was

employed as a human resource supervisor and business

development manager in a multinational health product

company and a well-known property group in South China.

Muhammad Ali Noor is a graduate of Civil Engineering from

NWFP University of Engineering and Technology Peshawar,

Pakistan. He received his Masters (MSc) in Project and

Enterprise Management from University College London

(UCL), UK in addition to Masters (MSc) in Economics from

University of Peshawar, Pakistan. He has submitted his Doctor

of Philosophy (PhD) thesis with specialisation in project

procurement at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology

(RMIT) University, Australia. He has experience of working in

public sector in Pakistan especially in infrastructure projects

funded by the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and

the United Nations in addition to projects funded

by Government of Pakistan.

Mohammed Ali Noor

RMIT-CIB Student Chapter Newsletter 2012 Issue number 2 Page 2

RMIT CIB Student Chapter Members Name Role

Jessica Siva President

Farshid Rahmani Vice President

Peng Zhang Secretary

Kartina Alauddin Treasurer

Adnan Fadjar Communications officer – external

Tracy Cooke Communications officer – internal

Nor Haslinda Abas Newsletter Committee

Nawaf Alshanbri Newsletter Committee

Wejen Reddy Member

Payam Pi Member

Navid Akrami Member

Ehsan Gharaie Member- Alumni

Mohammad Ali Noor Member- Alumni

Henry Lau Member- Alumni

Prof Kerry London Student Chapter Advisor

Dr Malik Khalfan Student Chapter Advisor

Dr Tayyab Maqsood Student Chapter Advisor

RMIT-CIB members of this issue:

For More information about CIB, please visit:

http://www.cibworld.nl/site/home/index.html

The RMIT CIB Student Chapter jointly organised a seminar with the School

of Property, Construction and Project Management through the

Research Seminar Series on Wednesday 18th April 2012. The title of the

presentation was "Internationalisation" and the model of presentation

used was the supervisor-student approach. This involved presentations by

a supervisor, followed by their students. One of the Chapter's academic

advisors, Professor Kerry London presented on "exporting creativity". Kerry

also briefly talked about the CIB Student Chapter and its recent activities.

Following this two of Kerry's students and Chapter members, Peng Zhang

and Jessica Siva, presented on their PhD research. The theme of the

seminar was "Publishing during PhD studies" and the presenters discussed

their experiences and highlighted some of the challenges and benefits

associated with publishing during their studies.

RMIT CIB Student Chapter Seminar

Friends of RMIT CIB Student Chapter

The “Friends of RMIT CIB Student Chapter” seeks to foster collaboration and exchange of knowledge between postgraduate and undergraduate research students across universities. This broader network of students serves to provide its members with an increased opportunity to engage with the wider academic community. Through the Friends of CIB Student Chapter network members are able to gain access into the diverse expertise and experiences of its members.

http://www.rmit.edu.au/propertyconstruction/cibstudentchapter

http://www.facebook.com/RmitCibStudentChapter

https://twitter.com/#!/RMIT_CIB_SC

Connect with us:

Publishing During your PhD; RMIT success at a CIB conference...

For Direct Contact:

RMIT-CIB external communicator: Adnan Fadjar

adnan.fadjar@rmit.edu.au

Phone: 0399251724

RMIT-CIB Student Chapter Newsletter 2012 Issue number 2 Page 3

Publishing during your PhD is important as it enriches your

experience and helps you to become connected to your

international research community. My earliest conferences

impressed upon me two very important ideas; the importance of

addressing universality in our research and an immense sense of

humbleness - as it made me realise I was truly at the very

beginning of my research career. During my PhD from day one my supervisor drove

home hard the discipline of writing and publishing. I had an excellent experience during

both of my postgraduate research degrees.

I always felt a sense of achievement when I published a conference paper – actually

managed to travel to the conference without getting on the wrong plane and then

stand up and present and withstand the questions and answer with a modicum of

intelligence. During my PhD I managed to have some journal papers and book

chapters published too.

My training as a researcher and the experiences I have had shape the way I supervise

my students. At different times during our PhD we will feel more confident in our ability

to be able to publish. We should be engaging in the international community and

exposing our ideas to our peers. Putting our ideas down on paper forces us to commit

to a position at some point in our research journey. It is important to remember that it is

a journey and that our ideas will evolve and the more times we force ourselves to ‘dig

deep’ and really think about ‘what is it I am really on about’ and then expose our ideas

for feedback the richer our work will eventually become. I am delighted that all my

students always seems excited and passionate about the publishing process and are

highly engaged and committed.

I am particularly pleased though to be able to tell you about the success of two of your

colleagues, Jessica Siva and Peng Zhang. In 2011 we travelled to KL, Malaysia to a

conference that was on international business in construction. There research studies

are very different but they both involve ideas of internationalisation. In 2011, previous

year, Jess and I had attended this same conference as I had presented as a keynote

and Jess presented her PhD theoretical framework. In 2012 the two of them presented

back to back in one session … and although I suppose I am somewhat biased I simply

thought to myself … ‘that was so powerful… there work is the best at this conference.’

Each in their own way presented extremely different material but RMIT looked very

good – they acquitted themselves so well. They were confidant yet humble in

approach. The audience responded with interesting questions and they both handled

them well – with clarity and yet with an openness and thoughtfulness to how their work

could be enriched by the questions. There was a moment there when one of Peng’s

slides was a little sparse, as not all the material had come out – but he beautifully

carried on and no one was the wiser (except Jess and I). Most significantly though each

student won an Award from the conference. Jess won the Emerald Publisher Best Paper

Award and Peng won Innovative Paper Award. So RMIT students really did look great! It

wasn’t just their proud supervisor being a little biased.

Professor Kerry London

Management of Construction: Research to Practice (26 – 29 June 2012, Montreal, Canada)

Organized by working commissions: W055 (Construction Industry Economics), W065 (Organisation and Management of Construction), W089 (Education in the Built Environment), W118 (Clients and Users in Construction)

Hosted by The Ecole Superieure de Technologie of Universite de Quebec (ETS).

Siva, J. and London, K. Client led innovation on megaprojects: novel low energy cooling system in Singapore’s SportsHub

London, K. and Siva, J.A social network analysis of built environment national research centres in a national innovation program

Zhang, P. and London, K. "A Comparative Analysis of Construction Industry International Performance between China and United States Using the International Advanced Index"

Recent Publications

1. Noor, M.A., Khalfan, M.M.A and Maqsood, T (2011). “Investigating Infrastructure Procurement in Pakistan”. Construction in Developing Countries Conference CIB W107 Hanoi, Vietnam in November 2011.

2. Khalfan, M.M.A., Maqsood, T., Edgbu, C. and Noor, M.A., (2011). “Supply Chain Capital in Construction Industry: A Conceptual Model”. Information Technology for Construction and Information and Knowledge Management in Building CIB W078 and W102 Joint Conference held in Sophia Antipolis – France on 26-28 October 2011.

3. Siva, J. and London, K. (2011) "Governmentality of megaprojects: using social network analysis to investigate client decision-making in international construction" was awarded the International Construction Business Management Symposium 2011 Emerald Distinguished Paper Award

4. Zhang, P and London, K (2011) "The relationship between degree of internationalisation and firm financial performance" was awarded the International Construction Business Management Symposium 2011 Certificate for innovative paper. 3&4 “The Symposium included a joint workshop and meeting of CIB Task Group 82 (Marketing in Construction) and Task Group W112 (Culture in Construction) with the theme of “Culture and Marketing in Construction”.

5. Abas, N, Blismas, N and Lingard, H 2011, 'Development of a knowledge-based energy damage model to assess occupational health and safety (OHS) construction risks in Malaysia', in Jack Davis (ed.) Prevention: Means to the End of Construction Injuries, illnesses, and Fatalities, CIBW099, Washington, United States, August 24-26, 2011, pp. 1-16.

6. Siva, J and London, K. (2012) Client learning for successful architect-client relationships, Engineering Construction and Architectural Management Journal (ECAM), vol 19, issue 3, pp. 253-268, ECAM is a CIB encouraged journal

7. London, K. and Siva, J. Integrated supply chain model for innovation: a case study of an innovation in the Australian residential sector, International conference of innovation and sustainable construction in developing countries, CIBW107, Hanoi, 1-3 Nov 2011

8. Siva, J. and London, K. The cultural political economy of megaprojects: governmentality and the social realm of client decision-making, CIBW96 Architectural Management in the digital arena, Vienna, 13-14 October 2011

Upcoming CIB conferences