Construction Analytics

The UK National Infrastructure Delivery Plan commits over £100bn of public investment in infrastructure to 2021 (HM Government, “Construction 2025”, Report URN/BIS/13/955). Major infrastructure projects generate a huge volume of data, but several industry reviews have exposed the fragmented nature of the construction industry as one of its key blockers to change, limiting its competitiveness, productivity and quality of output.

Since 2015, the University of Edinburgh Business School and Costain, a UK based leading engineering and infrastructure company have established and sustained a strategic collaboration focused on business model transformation via data-driven innovation. With a supply chain comprising over 200 strategic suppliers, Costain is ideally positioned within the Scottish and UK construction ecosystem to tackle this challenge. This TRAIN@Ed fellowship aims at consolidating and expanding this partnership.

The aim of this TRAIN@Ed Fellowship is to engage across a number of regional and national major infrastructure projects to investigate opportunities for achieving data-driven innovation in construction by leveraging predictive and prescriptive analytics solutions.
Areas of shared interest include, but are not limited to, investigating
• opportunities arising from new developments in underground asset mapping (see e.g. Project Iceberg, funded by CATAPULT; and EPSRC funded “Assessing the Underground”);
• data-driven solutions for on-site warehousing in construction projects;
• benefits stemming from and/or barriers to the adoption of an innovative Carbon Infrastructure Transformation tool recently developed by our team.
The TRAIN@Ed Fellow will have the opportunity to work closely with Costain staff across a range of regional and national infrastructure projects. She/he will receive mentoring and training both from the Business School and from Costain. By leveraging experience matured in the context of our CITT project (https://bit.ly/2CZUo2Y), the TRAIN@Ed Fellow will be encouraged to explore technology transfer pathways to commercialization of tools produced in the context of this project. We do expect our “living lab” to eventually become a self sustaining endeavor (either at the university or within Costain) that will continuously explore new opportunities for business model transformation via data-driven innovation in construction supply chains.

The project will be led by Dr. Roberto Rossi (Business School) and Tim Embley (Costain). The Fellow will join our existing team which comprises several academics and industry partners. The Fellow will also have access to Costain training network across the UK, which includes leading universities (e.g. Cambridge, UCL, Warwick) and over 25 PhD students. Costain will provide access to their network of over 200 suppliers and strategic partners, inviting engagement with leading infrastructure clients responsible for critical National infrastructure systems.

The ideal candidate will have a PhD in Computer Science and/or Management Science. Hybrid profiles (e.g. Computer/Industrial Engineering degree + PhD in Artificial Intelligence) are particularly sought. We are looking for a self-motivated person who is passionate about industry change and will bring their own enthusiasm to make this a success for industry and research. The specific research lines can be set by mutual agreement.

Main contact: Dr. Roberto Rossi (roberto.rossi@ed.ac.uk)
More information: https://www.ed.ac.uk/human-resources/jobs/train-ed
Deadline: 30th of April