The successful delivery of megaprojects is frequently impeded by the complex and multifaceted risks associated with their supply chains. These challenges are exacerbated by the diverse network of stakeholders involved, encompassing both internal entities, such as contractors and consultants, and external actors, including governmental bodies and local communities. In the African context, these stakeholder networks are further complicated by decentralized governance structures and the involvement of international funding agencies. This study investigates the intricate relationships among stakeholders in African megaprojects through the lens of social network theory, aiming to understand how these interactions influence supply chain risk management. Online questionnaires administered in Ghana and South Africa produced 120 valid responses. Utilizing a partial correlation network analysis, the research identifies the central stakeholders within the network, examining the nature and strength of their interactions. The findings reveal that stakeholder interactions are predominantly characterized by information exchange, with consultants and clients emerging as pivotal actors due to their high centrality metrics—strength, closeness, and betweenness. These central stakeholders play a critical role in decision-making processes, information dissemination, and risk mitigation strategies within the supply chain. Moreover, the study highlights the significance of both strong and weak ties within the stakeholder network. While strong ties, such as those involving consultants, are key for shaping project outcomes, weak ties, particularly with external stakeholders such as local communities, provide access to diverse information and help identify emerging risks. The robust network model, evaluated through bootstrapping techniques, underscores the reliability of these findings, although it also calls for cautious interpretation due to some variability in edge weight estimations. This research contributes to the understanding of stakeholder interactions in African megaprojects and offers practical implications for improving supply chain risk management. By leveraging the insights gained from stakeholder centrality and interaction patterns, project managers can enhance communication, foster collaboration, and address risks more effectively, ultimately improving the overall success of megaprojects.

The contested nature of knowledge about sustainable development makes it difficult to embed sustainable development in engineering curricula, which tend to have a deterministic approach to understanding theoretical concepts. Such an approach does not align well with the emergent thinking of sustainable development, where thinking about the future requires dealing not only with what is known, but also with what is unknown and at times unknowable. Text-based approaches that privilege explicit and codified knowledge are limited in helping students visualise what a sustainable future might look like. To facilitate such visualisation would require expansion of the repertoire of tools and artefacts beyond text-based materials. In this article, we critically reflect on a series of student-centred ‘Open-space’ workshops over the past several years aimed at promoting debate and co-production of knowledge around developing sustainable futures using a range of artefacts such as pictorial illustrations, wiki terms, art materials and chill-out music. Attention is paid on critically appraising the role artefacts play in developing knowledge to empower students to collectively reflect on, imagine and visualise sustainable futures.

Building Information Modeling (BIM) related promises are numerous – reduction of the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry fragmentation, construction cost, and delivery time, as well as lifecycle optimization have been advocated in both literature and practice. But so are the challenges of BIM adoption: establishment and standardization of BIM data structures or ensuring the necessary skills and competencies for planning process participants. In this paper we present ongoing research on the integration of BIM in education through student experiments, based on a BIM-supported integrated design studio (IDS). Thereby the various features of BIM technology adopted in multidisciplinary conceptual design stage are explored and evaluated. Quantitative and qualitative research, in form of questionnaires and focus group discussions, addresses the people and process related challenges in such collaborative BIMsupported building projects. The analysis of three cycles of such IDSs has shown that the participants appreciate the collaborative approach, and benefit from working with other disciplines by sharing knowledge; however BIMtechnology has not significantly contributed to the improvement of the design quality.

Grand Challenges are ambitious yet specific goals to galvanize a scholarly community for focused research and high impact. We solicited contributions from ten leading thinkers in the field of Engineering Project Organization (EPO) to elicit their visions for EPO research. Based on content analysis of the text in these statements, and analytical concept mapping, we created a Grand Challenges synthesis framework to set the stage for the future of EPO research. This technical paper describes the six Grand Challenges and associated research thrusts that could define the future of scholarship and impact in the field. The paper also reflects on recent contributions to the field and identifies both barriers and community aspirations to addressing the Grand Challenges.

In considering the skill set AECO professionals bring to bear in the realization of the built environment those that address technical issues are usually considered preeminent. However, when issues move beyond those that can be solved by an individual, interpersonal skill may become equally important. Technical and interpersonal skills have a major impact on the nature of the inter-disciplinary relations that define the AECO industry and these relations are major contributors to the outcome of a project. The foundation for the technical skills is acquired through a set of prescribed courses during a student’s college education. These skills result from a pedagogical approach that results in explicit knowledge. We argue that the interpersonal skills and beliefs are also developed during this period. However, they are predominately a by-product of the pedagogical approach and result in tacit knowledge that prescribes a mode of interaction with other professionals. In this paper we begin to map this interpersonal skill set. We explore facets of this skill set and how a student’s tacit interpersonal skills change over the course of their college career. Understanding what students perceive as ‘truths’ and how these truths change during their educational experience will help us to develop pedagogical approaches that result in more effective inter-disciplinary relationships and ultimately superior projects.

Engineers in construction and manufacturing are expected to be able to work with and lead diverse, multidisciplinary teams. Engineering students entering the workforce must be not only technically competent, but also possess skills in working with other people. These traits are frequently lacking with newly graduated engineering students due to the highly technical focus of their curriculum. The opportunity to develop Emotional Intelligence skills is limited. This research proposed that Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) undergraduate students may possess a higher level of Emotional Intelligence than Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) undergraduate students. The research also proposed that if differences were observed, that causal influences could be identified. Undergraduate engineering students at The Citadel completed The TalentSmart Emotional Intelligence Appraisal® along with demographic data and a variety of questions regarding their undergraduate experience. This research included freshman and senior students in Civil and Environmental (CEE) and Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at The Citadel. These surveys suggested that undergraduate engineering students increase their EI score as they advance from Freshman to Senior year. The surveys also suggest that Electrical and ComputerEngineering (ECE) Majors do not advance in their EI scores from Freshman to Senior year as well as Civil and Environmental (CEE) majors. A positive connection was established between work experience and the impact on higher levels of EI. A positive correlation for growth in EI score was also demonstrated for students who attended high schools with smaller graduating classes. Based on the results of this research, the paper proposes CEE and ECE faculty place increased emphasis on encouraging students to pursue summer jobs, internships, and similar extracurricular programs. Both CEE and ECE faculty should evaluate their curriculum with an eye towards inculcating learning opportunities for EI into course work. Additionally, faculty and admission officials should give at least equal consideration to admitting students who graduate from smaller schools that may offer less college prep courses that may appeal to admissions officials.

Editorial for Volume 7 Issue 1

Previous research efforts have attempted to identify the necessary Building Information Modelling (BIM) skills for individuals. However, prior works did not explore those needed for entry-level positions, and may be susceptible to respondents’ bias. This study proposes using methods that do not require individual responses to identify those skills that are related to BIM. Specifically, the authors suggest using publicly available data on social networking profiles. This paper presents the results of the authors’ research on identifying skills that are related to BIM and how they might be used in the industry. This study identifies those skills for graduating students by analysing social networking profiles and entry-level job advertisements. Additionally, the job tasks in those advertisements are analysed to illustrate how the skills might be used. This study performs those analyses to answer the following: (1) How do the skills differ between those that are possessed by individuals related to BIM and those that are listed in entry-level job advertisements that require BIM? And (2) How do the job tasks differ between BIM-specialized and nonBIM-specialized positions from the same entry-level job advertisements? The results suggest that there are discrepancies between the skills identified from the profiles and the advertisements. Additionally, while BIM skills may be a standard expectation in all positions in the future, there are BIM tasks that may disappear when BIM reaches maturity in the industry. Identifying and prioritizing the critical skills based on this type of analysis may enable educators to better prepare students for long-term success.

This paper presents the results from an academic-industry partnership where a team of university researchers and architecture, engineering, and construction industry (AEC) professionals compared a physical mockup to an immersive virtual reality (VR) environment. The goals of this research were to understand how and in what ways VR can replace the use of physical mockups. The study included an experiment where two groups of AEC professionals reviewed a physical mockup and a VR mockup of the same hotel room layout. Group members were asked first to evaluate each mockup from the owner's standpoint as hotel guests and housekeepers, and then suggest design changes based on their professional expertise individually. The groups were then asked to discuss the design together and make a team decision. At the end of the experiment, participants reflected on how the VR mockup did or did not meet their needs in reviewing the room design. The findings from this study show that VR cannot yet fully replace physical mockups due to the user dimension perception, lack of touch sense, unrealistic simulation in VR, and the need for physical samples. However, participants reported VR could be a cost-efficient tool to look at design options and layout in the early design phase and get feedback from the project team and end-users before the construction of the physical mockup to save potential time and money in rework. They also suggested using VR for visualization of the conflicts between different building systems in 3D coordination process

This paper presents a research agenda for Social Network Analysis (SNA) in Digitalization in Sustainable Built Environment research (DSBE). The paper contains a description of SNA, and reviews the use of SNA in DSBE research. Also, the paper identifies future research challenges that SNA can help resolve. A literature review of DSBE finds that of 506 articles in 36 journals, only 1 article includes SNA. This is surprising, given the growing interest in SNA in digitally related fields. We review the 506 DSBE articles and analyze how SNA can contribute to the field. To understand how SNA can be used in DSBE research, we also analyze how SNA has been applied in Digitalization in Built Environment research that is not focused on sustainability. Findings are that SNA can be a useful and powerful tool, because it can help in analysis of how multiple actors interact, which is a common theme in built environment research. An example is that architects, contractors, and developers are separate actor groups that can improve sustainable solutions through networked cooperation. Another area in which SNA can advance research is in the study of how actor networks of companies or people relate to networks of data or physical buildings or sensors. An example is that actors may change their behavior based on sensor data, and SNA can study sensor data networks and actor behavior networks as interconnected layers. Methodological advances are key to advancing research to meet sustainability challenges. Specifically, SNA can make it possible for the built environment area to advance sustainability and digitalization research, because SNA has a rich array of empirical and conceptual tools for the study of networks.