Development of an intelligent scheduling system to optimise the sustainability measures in multi-disciplinary engineering projects
Academic Institution: University of Strathclyde
Academic Supervisor: Dr Tse Chiu Wong
Industry Partner: Morrison Construction
Phd Student:
Start Date:
Abstract
This 4-year PhD project, run in partnership between the University of Strathclyde and Morrison Construction, a major part of Galliford Try group, will be the first to develop of an intelligent scheduling system to optimise the sustainability measures in multi-disciplinary engineering projects. This project will explore how data analytics (DA) and artificial intelligence (AI) techniques can support the optimisation of sustainability across financial, social and environmental pillars.
Within Galliford Try group, project delivery is supported by a system which provide procedures for tasks at different project phases delivered in line with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) plan of work. However, within the group there is no robust approach to exploit data for improving project performance. As such, this project will develop a mechanism by which DA and AI capabilities will be acquired to improve data management. This will include capturing both subjective and objective project data and interrogating the data to identify important yet hidden data patterns and trends to enable the company to learn from past and ongoing projects, monitor task outcomes and adapt to changes along different project phases. The intelligent mechanism will be embedded into the scheduling system to manage all critical tasks (decisions) with an aim to optimise the project sustainability.
The project outcomes are:
Construction of an analytical capability to support dynamic project analysis and reporting
Generation of decision-making knowledge from past projects and stakeholders; and
Development of an intelligent scheduling system with self-learning and adapting capabilities to optimise project sustainability.
This project will help the company determine the best investment in time and cost to meet the scope while optimising the project sustainability. This will enable the company and the sector to grow in the most sustainable direction without compromising the society and environment.