The challenge of contesting structures that reproduce gender inequalities: the dual power of new managerialism and masculine norms in academic settings

Despite attempts to broaden access to higher education in the UK through widening participation policies from the 1990s onwards and more recent national and local prioritising of gender equality in institutional strategic planning via initiatives such as the Athena SWAN charter, radical gender change in numerical and cultural terms is allusive. This paper proposes that universities, in the context of accelerated change, remain ‘conservative’ organisations with regards to working norms and career progression. Increasingly research and higher education institutions have multiple demands laid on them – demands for scientific excellence, demands for organisational innovation, the need to respond to student needs – and gender equality is but one amongst many competing demands that require action and reflection. It is important to understand how multiple demands can reinforce or undermine each other in terms of organisational activities and change. Drawing on empirical and action research in a UK higher education institution, this paper explores managerialism and concepts of excellence and meritocracy through a gender-lens. Excellence can be defined as: high mobility; excellent networks; high citations and; high levels of research funding. The quantitative measurement of performance through instruments like the Research Excellence Framework (REF) recognise and foreground particular kinds of activities at the expense of others. In addition to these aspects, the highly competitive environment in academia may exacerbate inequality as research shows that women are less likely to put themselves forward in competitive contexts and are less likely than men to consider themselves as ‘excellent’. Masculine norms of career and working thrive in the environment of increasing competition and recurring research, teaching and administrative performance indicator measurements: women who adhere to masculine norms can succeed, but real change is sidestepped. The lack of meaningful structural change acts as a barrier to gender equality in the academy. The paper concludes by offering some examples and recommendations on how this issue can be addressed

Design methodology for integrating multipath systems (building services)

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on a geometrical integration methodology that can be used to organise some types of these systems. Most multipath delivery systems, such as Building Services (BSs), are arbitrarily distributed with no known solution to reduce the complexity in the way channels are arranged. Design/methodology/approach – Integration for optimal functionality through reduction of geometrical complexity is achieved by understanding the elements of complexity within current practices; identifying commonalities between the various components which can be used for integration; performing an axiomatic design to resolve design complications; adopting theory of inventive problem-solving for methodology and process development towards optimal functionality; and generating a mathematical solution to inform digital modelling of optimal design. The study takes into account thermophysical and electromagnetic interactions between utilities and uses novel mathematical manipulations based on designing a manifold of spherical and cylindrical geometries joined using Bezier surfaces. Findings – Once a solution was reached, computer-aided design (CAD) iterations were undertaken for channelling six BSs into a single unit. The outcome was concentric cylindrical–spherical shells superimposed with spacings of typically few millimetres to deliver/distribute the utilities. It is applied to bring together BSs into a single trunking system at minimal, yet appropriate, proximal distances, and it allows distribution of any number of services in any direction. Physical prototypes were produced and initial testing of their performance (reported elsewhere) has been encouraging. Originality/value – A design methodology for integrating arbitrary distributed paths/conduits. The approach could be incorporated into CAD tools as a design feature to facilitate integration of multipath delivery systems

Integrating BIM and GIS in railway projects: A critical review

The railway plays a significant role in human life by providing safe, reliable, costeffective services, which are environmental and drive economic growth. Significant decisions are taken at early stage of rail projects which need effective tools to avoid rework and save time, cost and increase work efficiency. Indeed, the continuous upgrading of this sector is needed to respond to technological advances, environmental change and increased customer demands. Integrating Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Geographic Information systems (GIS) is promising since the scope of BIM usually does not extend beyond the footprint of the “building”; it does not provide geospatial data. Therefore, integrating BIM with GIS provides a complete picture of the project. However, this integration is challenging especially in rail projects as they are amongst the most complicated projects and numerous parties are involved in making important decisions. This paper reviews the literature regarding integrating BIM with GIS systematically, with the aim of analysing the need for this integration and its benefits. The paper highlights a lack of a clear guideline for collaboration in the railway project lifecycle and indicates the need for research to focus on this issue as well as the possibility of applying integrated BIM with GIS as a potential solution to improve collaboration for better decision among project participants

The practicalities of transferring data between project collaboration systems used by the construction industry

As part of an industry-lead initiative, standards have been developed to enable bulk exchange of project data between project collaboration systems used by the construction industry. Through the work of developing exchange standards to the practical implementation of data transfer, this paper examines the issues that need to be addressed by both solution providers and their clients when considering moving a project’s data between two different instances of collaborative software. It highlights the practical difficulties of keeping the consistency of the data during the transfer process and gives solutions that can help to overcome these and other problems. The paper draws on experience gained through the development of vendor-neutral standards and real-life project migrations to put forward procedures which should be adopted by vendors, and gives insight into the underlying process for clients. The paper will form a vital framework for clients to determine if the benefits of moving projects between suppliers outweigh the difficulties associated with the move, and to help vendors put processes in place to best facilitate the transfer

Design approach for the integration of services in buildings

This paper describes a novel methodology to group building services (BSs) into a single trunking system at minimal proximal distances between them. The study focused on solving the geometrical complexity encountered in conventional arrangements of BSs, while taking into account thermophysical and electromagnetic interactions between services together with building regulations. The potential solution for delivery and distribution of BSs in any number of directions is an ‟onion layers„ type of design, using novel mathematical manipulations based on manifolds of spherical and cylindrical geometries joined using Bezier surfaces. Computer Aided Design iterations were undertaken for channelling six BSs into a single unit including water, air, electricity and data. It consists of concentric cylindrical-spherical shells superimposed at few millimetres gaps (channels) for which physical prototypes were produced

The development of a cross-national approach to gender equality in higher education institutions: observations from a European project

The development of a cross-national approach to gender equality in higher education institutions: observations from a European projec

The development of a comprehensive framework for measuring business performance in construction

Business performance measurement has been the subject of considerable research over the past fifteen years. Most of this research has been triggered by the inadequacy of financial indicators and the increasing use of non-financial indicators. Consequently, companies have to choose from many available frameworks / methods to monitor their business performance such as the Balanced Scorecard, Excellence Models and industry key performance indicators (KPI). The choice of one framework / method over the others might omit important performance information, and the use of more than one simultaneously can cause confusion and the use of valuable time and resources. This paper describes the PhD research underway to develop a comprehensive business performance measurement framework for construction organizations. The research adopts a hypothetico-deductive approach that comprises two main stages. First, the framework is formulated from existing well-established frameworks in literature. The second stage is the empirical testing of the framework that uses triangulated methods for collecting and analysing data. The paper further discusses the scope of the research within the industry, and finally the use of the framework in measuring business performance and its interface with the construction KPI

Theoretical formulation of a framework for measuring business performance in construction

Business performance measurement, across industries, has significantly changed over the past two decades, integrating non-financial with financial measures. Moreover, the Egan and Latham reports have advocated performance improvement in the construction industry, with performance measurement being a key element. The purpose of this paper is to theoretically formulate a framework for measuring business performance in construction. The framework builds upon the well-established principles of the Balanced Scorecard and Business Excellence models. Formulation is based on integrating the criteria / perspectives of the founding frameworks into performance factors, and integrating the underlying logic. The formulation process is evaluated by comparing the proposed framework against the Balanced Scorecard, Excellence models, Total Quality Management frameworks in literature, and to the Performance Prism. The proposed framework is further adapted for construction companies and is shown to include the Construction Best Practice Programme - Key Performance Indicators that are based on Egan's industry report

Interdisciplinary content, contestations of knowledge and informational transparency in engineering curriculum

With the introduction of key information sets (KIS) for all university programmes in the UK from 2012, the character, content and delivery of university degrees may be increasingly used by potential students to differentiate between degree programmes. Therefore, developments in curricula and the relationship to the profession are of growing importance. In this paper, we explore the role of programme content in prospective students’ decision-making and describe the prevalence of interdisciplinary content in civil engineering curricula. Following this, we detail student perceptions of interdisciplinary content. It is found that universities currently operate a varied approach to transparency regarding curriculum; students pay little attention to programme content before embarking on their chosen degree; and engineering students view interdisciplinary content in the curriculum with ambivalence, usually ascribing its necessity in the preparation for post-university employmen

BIM enabled building energy modelling: development and verification of a GBXML to IDF conversion method

As part of the Design4Energy retrofit scenario a methodology is developed that uses Building Information Modelling (BIM) of existing domestic buildings to assess their energy performance using a Building Energy Modelling (BEM) technique. The focus is on the conversion process from gbXML BIM export file to an idf file for EnergyPlusTM. The conversion process is broken down into six steps of progressive addition of idf objects to enable verification. The measured operational data are used to assess the adequacy of the defaults being used