The impact of training and development on career advancement of professional women in the UK construction industry

The redressing the gender imbalance in the UK construction industry has been emphasised on numerous occasions and many researchers have identified that women can contribute in an immense way towards the construction industry development. However, construction industry has failed to attract and retain women who are interested in a construction career. Participation of women is still very low in some parts of the industry, in particular, at a time when skilled people at all levels of the industry are in demand. Further, Training and Development (T&D) activities have been identified as one of the vital element for professional women’s career advancement in the construction industry. However, most of the concepts related to competitive advantages of T&D on professional women’s career advancement are imprecise and unstructured in the construction industry. There is little evidence of an accepted theoretical framework for applying the ideas and there is even less in the way of empirical evidence concerning the validity and utility of these concepts. This paper presents the how much/how little impact T&D has on women’s career advancement. This paper is based on data collected from professional women in the UK construction industry

Career advancement of the professional women in the UK construction industry: Career success factors

The issue regarding the lack of women in the UK construction industry has become more prominent for some time, attracting government and industry wide attention due to this potential skill shortage facing the industry. In order to meet these future demands the industry cannot rely on recruiting only from the male workforce. Therefore women?s participation for the construction industry especially for professional level is important. This paper explores the importance of career success factors among professional women in the UK construction industry to achieve their career advancement. E-questionnaires were designed and data was collected from 31 professional women, consist of 10 women in idealism career phase (early career phase),10 in endurance career phase (mid career phase) and 11 from reinventive career phase (advanced career phase). Using relative important index technique, the level of importance of career success factors were group in to three categories. The critical career success factors, moderately important career success factors and the least important career success factors were categorised among women in each career phase. The results indicated that the age and gender didn?t have impact on professional women?s career advancement. Ability to work with people have been identified as one of the critical career success factors both in early and mid career with the highest overall index of 1.00, while strategic vision has became the one of the critical career success factor in advanced career with the highest index of 0.95. The finding of this study will have input towards the identification of different training and development activities to advance women?s career in the construction industr

Waste management strategies during post disaster phase: A case of Sri Lanka

Natural or man made disasters cause serious negative impacts on life, property, livelihood and industries often resulting in permanent changes to societies and environments. In disasters, creation of waste due to damaged buildings and infrastructure is unavoidable. If these wastes are not properly managed, serious environmental and economic burdens will fall on general living conditions, reconstruction and as well as general waste collection processes. Therefore, management of disaster waste has emerged as a critical issue and poses a significant challenge to governing bodies in responding to a disaster. This is not unique to Sri Lanka which is prone to frequent natural disasters such as floods, landslides and droughts apart from the Asian Tsunami of 2004. This paper addresses post disaster waste management strategies adopted and issues and challenges encountered at both national and local levels in Sri Lanka during post - Indian Ocean Tsunami period. A comprehensive literature review and a field survey were conducted to gather information. Accordingly, most affected six districts were selected based on three types of disasters namely floods, landslide and the Tsunami. Seven national institutes responsible for managing disasters were selected for collection of data at national level. Semi-structured interviews were used as the main method of data collection at each stage and content analysis was used to analyze data that was collected. Local level findings revealed that strategies, issues and challenges vary according to the type of disaster, magnitude and location. Unavailability of a centralized body, poor implementation of rules and regulations; poor standards of local expertise and capacities, inadequate funds, lack of communication and coordination were identified as key issues at national level

Capacity building towards resilience: context of post disaster waste management

Capacity building provides an opportunity to understand strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities towards a resilient future through identification of broader issues around sustainable development of a particular program, project or process, including their unique cultural, social and ecological characteristics. Thus, concept of capacity building is an essential component in development theory and practice. In particular, in post disaster scenarios, focus has been placed upon local capacity building as a means of increasing resilience to natural hazards. In this context, this paper focuses on concept of capacity building and its role in post disaster waste management towards building future resilience. Case studies have been conducted to gather information on existing capacities of post disaster waste management in Sri Lanka. Semi-structured interviews were held as the main data collection method and content analysis was used to analyse collected data. Results of existing capacities and identified gaps of post disaster waste management are presented in key areas as skills and confidence building, links and collaborations, continuity and sustainability, research and development, communication and coordination, organisational implementations and investments in infrastructure. Finally, the paper concludes with proposed recommendations for enhancing capacities of post disaster waste management towards future resilience

Capacity building towards sustainability: Context of post disaster waste management

Concept of Capacity Building is an essential component in development theory and practice. In developing countries, it is identified as a key concept in achieving sustainability. In particular, in post disaster scenarios, focus has been placed upon local capacity building as a means of increasing resilience to natural hazards. In this context, this paper focuses on concept of capacity building and its role on achieving sustainable post disaster waste management. A literature review and pilot study have been conducted to gather information on post disaster waste management in Sri Lanka. Semi-structured interviews were held as the main data collection method and content analysis was used to analyse collected data. Unavailability of a centralized body, poor implementation of rules and regulations; lack of skills and confidence, inadequate funds, lack of communication and coordination were identified as prevailing capacity gaps in post disaster waste management. Thus, finally paper proposes a framework for capacity building for sustainable post disaster waste management

Capacity building for sustainable post disaster waste management: Construction \& demolition waste

Disasters, both natural and man-made, have been occurring with increasing frequency and effect in recent decades in many countries around the world. Among them, Sri Lanka is yet to recover from the effects of December 2004 Tsunami. Among many other reasons it has been identified that lack of awareness of the mechanisms and systems for post disaster waste management is a critical issue of concern. None of the Sri Lankan academic institutions related to the field offer courses designed for the management of disaster waste within the country. Furthermore, none of these institutions conduct awareness programmes aimed at the public on new mechanisms and systems of management of disaster waste. To address these issues, this research aims to enhance capacities to develop new mechanisms and systems for sustainable post disaster waste management focusing on construction and demolition waste. To achieve the identified aim, the research will explore current status of disaster waste management in Sri Lanka and a framework will be proposed for enhancing capacities for sustainable disaster waste management in economical, social and technological aspects. The research methodology includes a comprehensive literature review, semi structured interviews and case study with selected personal views on management of disaster waste management. In this context, the objective of this paper is to present the current scenario of disaster waste management based on the results of a secondary survey

Field emission properties of nano-composite carbon nitride films

A modified cathodic arc technique has been used to deposit carbon nitride thin films directly on n+ Si substrates. Transmission Electron Microscopy showed that clusters of fullerene-like nanoparticles are embedded in the deposited material. Field emission in vacuum from as-grown films starts at an electric field strength of 3.8 V/micron. When the films were etched in an HF:NH4F solution for ten minutes, the threshold field decreased to 2.6 V/micron. The role of the carbon nanoparticles in the field emission process and the influence of the chemical etching treatment are discussed.Comment: 22 pages, 8 figures, submitted to J. Vac. Sc. Techn.

Inkjet-printed graphene electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells

We present a stable inkjet printable graphene ink, formulated in isopropyl alcohol via liquid phase exfoliation of chemically pristine graphite with a polymer stabilizer. The rheology and low deposition temperature of the ink allow uniform printing. We use the graphene ink to fabricate counter electrodes (CE) for natural and ruthenium-based dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The repeatability of the printing process for the CEs is demonstrated through an array of inkjet-printed graphene electrodes, with ∼5% standard deviation in the sheet resistance. As photosensitizers, we investigate natural tropical dye extracts from Pennisetum glaucum, Hibiscus sabdariffa and Caesalpinia pulcherrima. Among the three natural dyes, we find extracts from C. pulcherrima exhibit the best performance, with ∼0.9% conversion efficiency using a printed graphene CE and a comparable ∼1.1% efficiency using a platinum (Pt) CE. When used with N719 dye, the inkjet-printed graphene CE shows a ∼3.0% conversion efficiency, compared to ∼4.4% obtained using Pt CEs. Our results show that inkjet printable graphene inks, without any chemical functionalization, offers a flexible and scalable fabrication route, with a material cost of only ∼2.7% of the equivalent solution processed Pt-based electrodes.Authors acknowledge support from CAPREX, Cambridge Africa Alborada Fund, Carnegie-University of Ghana Next Generation of Africa Academics programme and the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) through a research fellowship (Graphlex)