PhDs win global award in Construction for SoBE

A team of early-career researchers completing their PhDs at Salford wanted to exploit the power of social media to plug industrialists and researchers alike into new knowledge in the field of design and build.

Their proposal for an interactive forum which draws on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn won the team the Future Leaders Award from the International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction (CIB).

The CIB is the world's foremost platform for information exchange in building and construction research and innovation with 5,000 experts from 500 member organisations.

Share research ideas 

Rana Muhammad Qasim, a second year PhD in the School, says there is a lack of communication between academics, industry experts and PhD researchers about existing or breaking research which could be of value to other stakeholders.

“This online forum will let users sign-up using their social media accounts like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn etc. and will also update their relevant posts on this forum in real time. Students will be able to share their research with peers to get feedback, find collaboration partners, collect data from the right audience and connect with experts in their field from all across the world.

Most knowledge he said is sadly stored on shelves when it could be shared on the internet.

The five strong team – all members of the University of Salford CIB Student Chapter, of which Rana is President – also include Sajedah Mollaselah, Ahmed Abou-Moeman, Seyed Payam Salamati and Anushka Rathnayake.

59 out of 60! 

Judges allocated them an astonishing 59 marks out of 60 for the proposed platform, which would work for the CIB community globally and be linked to the CIB main website.

Rana says the Student Chapter is perfect for gaining extra skills and to increase collaboration with fellow researchers.

“We write journal papers together and undertake mock PhD Assessments and organise sessions on how to write conference papers. We even set up an international food festival to talk and taste food from different countries.

Rana has already had several academic papers published on lean management and work flow organisation in highways projects.

Professor Les Ruddock, University of Salford CIB Board member and UK representative, said: “Many congratulations to our student researchers. The purpose of the Award is to expose future leaders of the building sector to the latest developments in building research, and clearly, these up-and-coming people are making themselves highly employable with their ingenuity and commitment.”