I am Professor of Engineering Management and Digital Transformation in the Department of Civil Engineering and Management at The University of Manchester. My research explores how engineering, digital technologies and organisational systems can be designed to create safer, healthier and more sustainable workplaces. By integrating engineering, management, organisational psychology and human-centred design, I investigate how emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, digital twins and the Internet of Things (IoT), can be adopted responsibly to improve organisational performance, workforce wellbeing and societal resilience. I believe that technological innovation creates its greatest value when it is designed around people.

My academic journey began at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), where I studied Business Administration with a minor in Social Science. The interdisciplinary education and international outlook at HKUST fostered my interest in the intersection of technology, organisations and society, and laid the foundation for my interdisciplinary approach to research. After graduation, I spent almost a decade leading organisational change and digital transformation programmes for multinational organisations across Asia-Pacific, North America and Australia. Working across diverse industries and cultures gave me first-hand experience of how leadership, organisational systems and human behaviour determine the success of technological innovation.

While my industry experience provided a strong foundation in organisational change and digital transformation, it also exposed me to the significant safety, health and organisational challenges facing high-risk industries, particularly construction. Motivated to address these challenges, I pursued an MSc and PhD in Civil Engineering at the University of Maryland, where my research focused on improving occupational safety, health and well-being (OSHW) in construction through project and construction management. This unique combination of business, industry and engineering continues to shape my research today.

Since joining The University of Manchester in 2017 as a Lecturer, my research has evolved from construction OSHW to the broader challenges of engineering management and digital transformation. Drawing on my background in business, industry and engineering, I examine how organisations can successfully integrate emerging technologies while ensuring that innovation enhances safety, productivity and sustainability. My research increasingly focuses on the organisational, leadership and human dimensions of digital transformation, recognising that technological innovation succeeds not only because of engineering excellence, but because people, organisations and technology evolve together.

My research has been supported by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF), professional institutions, charities and industry partners. I have led and contributed to international collaborations across the UK, Japan, South Korea, ASEAN, Australia and North America, bringing together academia, industry and government to co-create practical solutions to complex engineering and societal challenges. In recognition of my contributions, I was named one of the Top 50 Women in Engineering: Safety and Security by the Women's Engineering Society in 2023 and received the Digital Women Award for Role Model – Leadership Impact in 2025.

Alongside my research, I am committed to developing people and strengthening international collaboration. I currently serve as the Faculty of Science and Engineering's Head of Internationalisation for ASEAN, Japan and Korea, Lead for Engineering Management within the Department of Civil Engineering and Management, and Platform Lead for Digital Safety and Health at the Thomas Ashton Institute, which is a strategic partnership between The University of Manchester and the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE). I also serve as an Associate Editor of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Journal of Management in Engineering.

Through research, education and international collaboration, I aim to advance engineering management as a discipline that connects technology, people and organisations to address some of society's most pressing challenges. My vision is to develop human-centred digital systems that improve safety, productivity and sustainability while enabling organisations and communities to thrive in an increasingly digital world.

Examples of Funded Research Projects:

• UK-Japan-Switzerland-Germany-Netherlands Transnational Network for Safer and Healthier Human-Robot Collaboration in Construction (Funded by Academy of Medical Sciences) Principal Investigator
• Streamlining the Adoption of Robotics in Construction through Advanced Human-Robot Collaboration and Safety Simulation (ARCHES - Japan and the UK) (Funded by Royal Society) Principal Investigator
• Synchronising Society 5.0 Innovations with Built Environment for Sustainable Growth and Yield in Japan and the UK (SYNERGY-Japan & the UK) Network (Funded by British Council) - Principal Investigator
• Digital Occupational Safety and Health (D-OSH) Network: Connecting Research, Policy and Practice in Construction Across Continents UK-Canada-South Korea (Funded by Academy of Medical Science) Principal Investigator
• High-Performance Graphene Enhanced Cement: A Revolutionary Innovation in Low Carbon Manufacturing Process (Funded by Innovate UK) - I led the work package to evaluate the occupational health and safety impact of the newly developed graphene-enhanced cement.
• Occupational Safety and Health - understanding decision making and the role of evidence (Funded by Lloyds Register Foundation and the Department of MACE) - I led the evaluation of the evidence of how occupational safety and health leading indicators have been applied and their effectiveness in high-risk industries.
• Machine learning-powered safety leading indicators for enhancing safety performance in high-risk industries (Funded by EPSRC-IAA - Principal Investigator) - I led a project team to identify the critical health and safety leading indicators of high-risk industries for the business partner by applying various machine learning methods.
• Keep the UK Building Safely Project (Funded by Health and Safety Executive) - I led the work package to simulate and model the COVID-19 transmission risk of construction sites with different protective measures (e.g. social distance, masks, and isolation, etc). The government commission report of the project can be found here: https://sites.manchester.ac.uk/covid19-national-project/2023/01/17/3726/
• Workplace well-being of project professionals (Funded by the Association for Project Management - Principal Investigator) - I led a project team to conduct the first benchmarking study on evaluating the well-being levels of project professionals and recommended ways to enhance it. The APM project report can be found here: https://www.apm.org.uk/news/new-research-finds-more-must-be-done-to-support-project-managers-wellbeing/