Personal
- Name
- Professor Stephen Kajewski
- Position(s)
- Head of School
Science and Engineering Faculty,
Civil Engineering and The Built Environment - Discipline *
- Building, Civil Engineering
- Phone
- +61 7 3138 2676
- Fax
- +61 7 3138 1170
- s.kajewski@qut.edu.au
- Location
- View location details (QUT staff and student access only)
- Qualifications
-
PhD (Queensland University of Technology), MBuiltEnv(ProjMgt) (Queensland University of Technology), GDProjMgt (Queensland University of Technology), BEng(Hons) (Queensland Inst. of Technology)
- Professional memberships
and associations - Fellow, Australian Institute of Building
- Fellow, Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors
Biography
Background
- Head of School – Urban Development
- Director – Project Management Academy
Professor Kajewski is the Head of the School of Urban Development at QUT. The school incorporates the discipline areas of
- civil engineering
- construction management
- property economics
- project management
- quantity surveying
- urban and regional planning
- surveying/spatial science.
He is also the Director of the QUT Project Management Academy – a joint initiative of the Faculties of Business and Built Environment & Engineering – established for the purpose of delivering international executive education programs and research in the field of project management.
Professor Kajewski is an engineer and project manager with experience in the disciplines of structural engineering design and construction project management, having worked across a diverse range of projects in private practice before joining QUT in 1992.
He holds
- a Bachelor of Engineering
- Graduate Diploma in Project Management
- Master of Built Environment (Project Management)
- a Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering.
He has lectured at the university and internationally in the areas of
- industrial, low-rise and high-rise commercial construction management
- building technology
- international construction
- current issues in construction management
- project management.
Main areas of research
Professor Kajewski has been active in obtaining and managing research grants. He has been the principle investigator and project leader for grants with a total cash value of over $1 million over the past five years. Much of this research has been in the area of the use of advanced information and communication technology (ICT) in the architecture, engineering and construction industries.
Professor Kajewski’s research expertise concerns the use of innovative Information and communication technologies in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction industries. His research is undertaken with the strong support and involvement of university, government, and industry partners. The projects are premised on developing and demonstrating leadership in facilitating the use of online technologies for the design, management and construction of building and civil construction projects, by identifying and implementing advanced communication and information technology solutions that
- improve resource management
- support and integrate total project life cycle considerations
- increase efficiencies on projects
- ultimately reducing overall cost
- improving project outcomes to participants in the public and private sectors.
Grants
Funding
Professor Kajewski has received over $1 million in research funding since year 2000.
Selected list of awarded grants
Within the broad field of construction and project management-related research, Professor Kajewski has completed the following projects
- March 2004 – June 2006: Enabling Team Collaboration with Pervasive and Mobile Computing ($237,400)
Grant body: CRC-Construction Innovation
Team project: QUT, University of Sydney, CSIRO, Queensland Department of Main Roads, Queensland Department of Public Works, John Hold Group Pty Ltd, Woods Bagot Pty Ltd
Tangible outcomes: Developments in pervasive computing technology including mobile computing, wireless networks, and human-computer interfaces, have matured and decreased in cost such that it is now possible to deploy them reliably in the construction industry. These technologies enhance the ability for teams to collaborate in the office, on the construction site, and from remote offices by providing un-tethered access to building construction information and new types of interactions with collaboration software that were not possible with a keyboard and mouse. This project is a first step in creating opportunities to study and enhance the use of pervasive computing technologies, beginning with mobile computing and novel HCI devices. These devices will enable mobility with constant access to construction information, augment digital interaction with information created by CRC developed software applications for collaboration, and facilitate the intangible interpersonal human interaction that is still the bedrock of effective collaboration. - 2001 – 2003: Project Team Integration: Communication, Coordination and Decision Support ($218,683)
Grant body: CRC-Construction Innovation
Team project: QUT, University of Newcastle, CSIRO
Tangible outcomes: This project focuses on the potential of information and communication technology to integrate construction project teams. It will facilitate the development of a research and development agenda focusing on the development of on-line tools/systems that provide decision support for the whole project life-cycle. It will evaluate the use of Internet-based Construction Project Management (ICPM); e-tendering; e-archiving; and cultural barriers/enablers to ICPM. - 2000 – 2005: Skill Development for Innovative Procurement Environments in Construction ($246,159)
Grant body: ARC SPIRT
Tangible outcomes: This project will identify skills for more effective participation in sophisticated procurement environments and assist industry and government prepare the Australian construction workforce for the future. Current research activities on the project are focusing on the skill sets necessary for the successful adoption and implementation of information and communication technology. - 2000 – 2002: Online Remote Construction Management (ORCM) Project ($250,000)
Grant body: Industry-funded
Team project: QUT, CSIRO
Tangible outcomes: This project trialed and evaluated internet-based communications systems that allowed collaborative design and construction to be undertaken between members of a geographically dispersed building project consortium. Such systems substantially enhance the capacity of design and construction professional and trades personnel to improve the two-way flow of accurate, appropriate and timely information between central offices and remote project sites, by utilising sophisticated computing functionality together with advanced communications technology.
Awards and recognitions
- 1996: Inaugural F.E. Crowle Memorial Award for Excellence in Teaching – a national award was open to all university academics and awarded for teaching performance that is judged to be superior to the normal standard expected from a lecturer in construction or building studies.
Teaching
1996: Inaugural F.E. Crowle Memorial Award for Excellence in Teaching – a national award was open to all university academics and awarded for teaching performance which is judged to be superior to the normal standard expected from a lecturer in construction or building studies.
Professor Kajewski joined an ethos of “student as client”, and that quality teaching and the facilitation of learning is paramount to success as a university and personal satisfaction as a member of the academic team. His primary aim in the pursuit of this philosophy was to provide students with an environment conducive to high quality learning, so that they maximise their understanding of their chosen discipline as well as their societal role as members of the global community.
His teaching activities at QUT have spanned the spectrum of university teaching activities from involvement in all year levels of undergraduate programs, postgraduate coursework and research programs, higher-degree supervision and extensive involvement with continuing professional education (CPE) activities both nationally and internationally.
At an undergraduate level, Professor Kajewski aims to move students from a learning environment that tends to be based around the more traditional lecture approaches, where basic theoretical knowledge is presented in easily digested and familiar formats through, to the final years of undergraduate study where a high degree of importance is placed on developing the students’ ability to critically analyse information and draw upon accumulated knowledge and skills to formulate appropriate responses to both familiar and unfamiliar situations.
Postgraduate students have different needs, and their learning requirements and reasons for returning to university often demand alternative approaches. Professor Kajewski’s aim with postgraduate students is not solely to instil knowledge – rather, the aim is to stimulate critical thinking and analysis by introducing concepts, current issues and contentious points of view that generate debate and discussion in the student cohort.
Through a carefully controlled mix of traditional lecture, case study analysis, critical debate, and discussion, he generates interactive environments in which as much teaching is done by the individual students as is by done himself.
Publications
For more publications by this staff member, visit QUT ePrints, the University's research repository.
