Research Practice Pathway - PMGT5892 PM Industrial Project

Natalie Perisa
My background is that of Structural Engineering followed by a law degree. In my career, the marriage of the two degrees has allowed me to practice as a construction lawyer working on a variety of contracts. An understanding of engineering coupled with contract experience has provided me opportunities in the project management field thus leading me to study Masters of Project Management at Sydney University. Entering into my final year of the Masters Program I am undertaking under the supervision of Liaquat Hossain, Director of the Project Management Graduate Programme a thesis which examines coordination problems in construction projects. The goal is to understand the inherent relationships that exist between project team coordination and performance in a construction project. In so doing, social network analysis will be studied to decipher whether there is any such correlation. My findings will be based on research in these areas as well as studying a live construction project in order to come to my conclusion. It is anticipated that my knowledge in this area shall develop through further research, discussions with specialists in the construction arena and through navigating my way through this interesting subject matter until I reach my destiny -the conclusion.

Jafar Hamra

Title: Measuring large construction project coordination through social network

The research focuses on exploring the coordination aspect of a large construction project through Social Network Analysis to determine whether or not there are any factors significantly affecting the productivity in term of performance during the course of the project.

In this research, a model for construction project coordination will be created and used to study the relationship between social network measurements and coordination. The following questions guide this
study: What specific types of Social Network measurement drives for coordination in construction project? Are ‘well-connected’ people able to exercise greater coordination within the construction project?

Greg Robson

Greg works with Australia's leading forensic engineering consultancy, managing and consulting on mining business improvement projects. His major clients include BHP Billiton, Vale, Rio Tinto, Inmet and others. He has managed projects on five continents, including with multi-national teams. To fiinsh off his Masters degree, Greg's research asks "What is the effect on various social networks indicators when a major incident (e.g. fatality) occurs?"
Greg's future research will, he hopes, discover predictive indicators in social networks to help prevent mining accidents and improve the sector's project management performance.