Dr Zhen Chen

Lecturer

Architecture

Contact

Personal statement

Dr Zhen Chen, known as George, is the Lecturer in Construction Management, Academic Leader (2018–) of Digital Construction research cluster, Course Director (2020–2023) for MSc Advanced Construction Technologies and BIM, and Convener (2019–2023) of the Departmental Research Ethics Committee in Architecture Department at Strathclyde.

George has enduring specialty interest in construction engineering and management and has professional experiences from serving at companies, organisations and universities around the world. He has developed expertise in engineering and management for the design, construction and operation of the built environment with regard to constructability, dependability and sustainability. Along the way of his journey, the momentum from his family and friends is enormous.

George has engaged in many construction projects in China in 1990s, and worked at various professional positions, including Architect, Building Surveyor, Construction Engineer, Construction Supervisor, Construction/Engineering Consultant, Quantity Surveyor, and Professional Trainer. He was a registered Construction Supervisor working at the Shanghai Pudong International Airport (Phase I, CNY 13bn) construction project in Shanghai from 1996 to 1998, and developed a rule-based Expert System for crack diagnosis in cast-in-place reinforced concrete structures. His algorithm developed for the reliability analysis of retaining structure systems in deep foundation construction has served at the Shanghai Raffles City project in 1997 and the Runyang Yangtze River Bridge project in 2002.

Through collaborations with academic and industry partners, George has secured and managed over £3m worth of research grants in UK and internationally, and is an academic participant to some large EPSRC projects in UK since 2005. He has engaged in more than 80 funded research projects, and made contributions to over 300 academic publications and over 100 plenary lectures and presentations at national and international events. His books “Megaproject Risk Analysis & Simulation: A Dynamic Systems Approach” (2017), “Multicriteria Decision-Making for the Sustainable Built Environment” (2007), “Environmental Management in Construction: A Quantitative Approach” (2006), and “Intelligent Methods for Construction” (1997) are collected at national libraries and academic libraries around the world.

George was an EPSRC funded Senior Research Fellow (2005–2007) for IDCOP (Innovation in Design, Construction and Operation of Building for People) project and CMIPS (Co-ordinated Management of Intelligent Pervasive Spaces) project at the University of Reading. He was a Royal Society funded Visiting Scholar (2011) to ETH Zurich. He was the Management Committee member (2011–2015) of EU COST Action on the Effective Design and Delivery of Megaprojects in the European Union, and the Founder & Leader (2012–2016) of Megaproject Management research group for the Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Building Design funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE) at Heriot-Watt University. He serves on technical committees at ADS, ASCE, BSI, CEN, CIBSE, ISO, and TRB. He is the Specialty Chief Editor in Construction Management at Frontiers in Built Environment (Journal Impact Factor 2023: 3.0).

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Professional Activities

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) (External organisation)
Member
2022
Webinar: Reliable Megaproject Sustainability
Speaker
17/11/2021
Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers: Engineering Sustainability (Journal)
Peer reviewer
15/5/2021
Member of the Program Committee, The 2nd International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Computer Engineering
Participant
20/4/2021
The principles of facilities management and reflective justifications
Speaker
12/2/2021
Grant Reviewer for EPSRC
Consultant
2021

More professional activities

Projects

Research collaboration with Stevens Institute of Technology, USA
Chen, Zhen (Principal Investigator)
10-Jan-2021
BS 8536:2022 Design, manufacture and construction for operability. Code of practice
Chen, Zhen (Principal Investigator)
New British standard development.
19-Jan-2021 - 31-Jan-2022
EN 15221-9 Facility Management - Principles and processes
Chen, Zhen (Principal Investigator)
New European standard development.
02-Jan-2020
COST Action CA19134 Distributed Knowledge Graphs
Chen, Zhen (CoPI)
23-Jan-2020 - 22-Jan-2024
An International Survey on the Reduction of Coronavirus Transmission in Real Estate
Chen, Zhen (Principal Investigator)
20-Jan-2020
PhD project by Alaeddin Ali Ahmed Etakali
Chen, Zhen (Principal Investigator)
Primary Supervisor
Overseas PhD scholarship provided by the Libyan Government
01-Jan-2020 - 31-Jan-2023

More projects

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Contact

Dr Zhen Chen
Lecturer
Architecture

Email: z.chen@strath.ac.uk
Tel: 548 3171