Our diverse and dedicated team of experts are united by a shared vision and passion for innovation.
Core members
Industry practitioner/expert members
Shadi Batarseh
Digital Project/Asset Management and Innovation Lead at Mott Macdonald
Shadi Batarseh has solid experience and knowledge in the area of Digital Innovation. He is a digital project delivery lead for a major infrastructure industry at his organisation. In addition, Shadi is an innovation and technology researcher doing PhD at the University of NSW.
The combined skills, as a practitioner and researcher, occupied him with innovative mindsets and methodological approaches to construct a Digital Project Management Paradigm.
Connect with Shadi on LinkedIn
Quan Nguyen
SENIOR DE MANAGER AT McCONNELL DOWELL
Quan is a Digital Engineering professional with over 25 years’ of experience in Design, Construction, Manufacturing and Asset Management. He is currently working as McConnell Dowell’s Senior DE Manager for the Australian Business Unit and is focused on digitally enabling MCD’s project teams through training, developing champions and learning from past projects.
Currently, his development projects include enhanced 5d processes, AI and reality capture processing development, and redefining the meaning of a CDE to be a Connected Data Ecosystem.
Maisara Al Rais
Digital Engineering Manager at Lendlease
Maisara is a seasoned Digital Engineering Manager with a rich portfolio that spans various stages of construction management, from pre-investment planning to handover and Operations and maintenance (O&M). Maisara has successfully spearheaded multiple 4D, 5D, and 7D Building Information Modeling (BIM) projects with a focus on leveraging digital tools to optimise construction processes. These projects have driven digital transformation across various organisations, fully compliant with international standards such as ISO 19650, ISO 19115, and ISO 16739.
Beyond BIM, Maisara is adept at utilising data analytics to inform data-driven decision-making in project management. His expertise extends to integrating asset data with designed models, providing a comprehensive view of construction projects.
Maisara's academic background is as robust as his professional experience. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in data science at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). He also holds a master’s degree in construction management from UNSW, a Postgraduate Diploma in Construction Project Management from the American University in Cairo, and a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Alexandria University. His professional affiliations include full membership with the Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM) and certification as a Project Management Professional (PMP).
Over the years, Maisara has held critical positions in reputable organisations, further solidifying his digital engineering and construction management expertise. He was the Digital Engineering Lead at WSP in New South Wales and the Senior Manager of Digital Engineering and Data Analytics at Sydney Metro. Maisara's multifaceted experience and ongoing education make him a leading figure in the field, continually pushing the boundaries of what's possible in digital construction management.
Connect with Maisara on LinkedIn
UTS academic members
Suhair Alkilani
Suhair Alkilani is a senior lecturer in Construction Management at the Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building (DAB) at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS).
She completed her bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Mutah University in Jordan, her Master of Engineering Management from University of Technology Sydney (UTS), and her PhD in construction management from the University of New South Wales-Australia (UNSW).
Prior to joining the DAB faculty at UTS, Suhair joined the School of Project Management at The University of Sydney as a Senior Lecturer and a Director of Postgraduate Programs in Project Management.
She also held a role as Head of Discipline of Project Management at Asia Pacific International College and has published extensively in the areas of construction industry performance and improvement, social innovation, social value, and social procurement in construction and infrastructure.
These projects involve delivering practical, policy and research outputs for government, industry and third-sector partners.
Martin Loosemore
Martin Loosemore is a Distinguished Professor of Construction Management at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia. He is a Visiting Professor at The University of Loughborough UK, an Honorary Professor at the University of Cape Town in South Africa and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Building.
Martin’s research focuses on the areas of innovation, risk management and corporate social responsibility and has received numerous international awards. In 2003 Martin was appointed advisor on international workplace productivity and reform to the Australian Federal Government’s 2003 Royal Commission into the Building and Construction Industry.
In 2009 he was appointed as a founding member to the Federal Built Environment Industry Innovation Council (BEIIC) and served for its entire two-term duration. The BEIIC advised the Federal Minister for Innovation, Industry Science and Research on innovation policy in climate change resilience, sustainability and industry competitiveness as well as issues such as regulatory reform, workforce capability, skills needs, access to new technologies and other priorities for the industry.
In 2014 Martin contributed significantly to 2014 Productivity Commission Inquiry report into Infrastructure and has written in various leading media outlets including the Australian Financial Review, Sydney Morning Herald, The Conversation, The Australian, The FifthEstate, Pro Bono Australia and The Mandarin.
He is currently a Gateway Reviewer Panel member for NSW Infrastructure, the independent statutory agency established in 2011 to assist the NSW Government in identifying and prioritising the delivery of critical public infrastructure for NSW. Since 2020, Martin has served as a founding member of the NSW Office of the Building Commissioner’s ‘Construct NSW’ Building Industry Reform Pillar 6 Working Group (using data and research to drive continuous improvement).
Chris Brown
Christopher Brown is a PhD candidate currently researching how work integrated learning (WIL) can be improved in the Australian construction industry. Chris' research seeks to help improve outcomes for students and construction organisations with a strong focus on gender equity, racial equity and social justice.
Chris is an experienced Building Information Modelling (BIM) educator who provides a classroom perspective on industry problems, as part of the Bachelor of Construction Project Management at UTS. Here, Chris leads an interdisciplinary teaching team of industry experts to deliver a stream of BIM courses that combine the most recent information on BIM technologies, processes, adoption and implementation strategies. Chris' teaching also involves short courses lecturing, tutoring and mentoring industry professionals how to use and better utilise 3D, 4D and 5D BIM.
Chris' teaching excellence has been recognised locally, nationally and internationally. Chris has been awarded the UTS DAB Excellence Award for innovative use of technology and learning technology in Undergraduate courses in 2020 and 2021. In 2022 Chris was also recognised as a runner-up for organising and managing the highest impact public event.
Chris has also received national and international recognition of his digital construction and BIM teaching though involvement in WorldSkills and the Skillaroos, where Chris is currently the Australian WorldSkills National Technical Expert for Digital Construction (Skill 58).
Peter Smith
Peter Smith specialises in international research into Project Cost Management practices and the implementation of leading-edge digital technologies such as Building Information Modelling (BIM) in the construction industry.
The focus of this research is on addressing the global problem of project cost overruns. This research also extends to housing affordability with a focus on the use of project life cycle costing applications to measure the real long-term cost of housing and the affordability and societal impacts of these costs.
He is Program Director of the Construction Project Management program in the School of the Built Environment at UTS and his teaching covers project cost management, procurement and contract management, project risk management, project safety management and professional practice.
Peter has won numerous national and international awards for his teaching, research and industry engagement. These include best paper awards, education/research awards and industry awards presented in Australia, Singapore, China, Slovenia, Brazil and South Africa.
Peter is Secretary-General of the International Cost Engineering Council, a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Quantity Surveyors and a corporate member of the Australian Institute of Project Management and the Australian Institute of Building. He is also engaged as an industry expert to provide advisory and expert witness services in relation to construction litigation matters.
