Associate Professor
Associate Professor Samad Sepasgozar
PhD (UNSW)
Arts,Design & Architecture
School of Built Environment
Associated Professor Samad Sepasgzoar was named as Top Researcher nationally by The Australian and recognized as Wolrd’s Top 2% Researcher by Standard University based on his citations and research performance. He was also awarded as one of the World’s Top 1% Reviewers by Publons, Web of Science.
He is the Deputy Head of Research, Associate Editor for the Journal of Architectural Engineering (ACE: USA), and an Academic Editor (Editorial Board) of Scientific Reports Nature (H-index: 213).
A/Professor Sepasgzoar is an editor and referee for various prestigious journals. He has also been recognized in the invitation to become an editorial board member, guest editor, or reviewer for over 60 leading high-ranked scholarly journals and as a lead assessor for national research projects.
Dr Sepasgzoar published over 200 peer-reviewed papers on trending topics, mainly focusing on interdisciplinary topics: Building Construction, Architecture, City, Remote Sensing, Manufacturing, Information Systems, Computer Science, and Sustainability.
World leaders rapidly recognized his publications and projects annually, as evidenced by the Technology of the Year Finalist, National Australian Construction Award, Best Paper awards for papers published in high-quality Q1 journals, and world-class conferences every year.
- Publications
- Media
- Grants
- Awards
- Research Activities
- Engagement
- Teaching and Supervision
Research Grants and Projects
- Chief investigator: Trailing Real Time Locating Systems (RTLS) in construction, valued at $42,000 including industry in-kind contribution.
- External Researcher: Trailing Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) in construction, valued at $183,000.
- Mix Reality Construction Learning (for Construction and Architecture), Scientia Education Investment Fund Grant, Pro Vice-Chancellor Education, UNSW, $170,000.
- Digital job site monitoring systems for construction, Research Infrastructure Scheme (RIS), Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research), UNSW, $109,229.
- Developing a digital construction laboratory, Research Infrastructure Scheme (RIS), Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research), UNSW, $38,199.
- Utilising the concept of the Internet of Things for Emissions Monitoring and Location Tracking on Major Construction Sites Using Sensor-based Mechanisms, ECR UNSW Faculty of Built Environment, $29,000.
- Trialling Real‐Time Locating System Technologies for Construction Operation Management, ECR UNSW Faculty of Built Environment, $9,000 cash + $41,000 in-kind = $50,000.
- Inspiring Learning Initiative Project for BLDG1021, Portfolio of the Pro Vice Chancellor (Education), $20,000, 2017.
Selected seed and engagement grants
- Cross faculty lab for urban water resilience and sponge cities, Cross-Faculty Research Grant, $10,000.
- A Wiki-based Framework for Enhancing Students Achievements in Research Projects, Scholarship of Learning and Teaching [SOLT] Grants, ECR UNSW Faculty of Built Environment, $3,000.
- Utilization of Digital Technologies for Property Management, Research Start Program 2017, ECR UNSW Faculty of Built Environment, $2,400.
- Supervisor (Chief investigator), Developing laser scanner technology acceptance model in the construction industry, valued at $2,400, Early Research Grant for a postgrad student.
- Investigator, Flipped learning and role play group project (RP-GP) for construction education (an inter-disciplinary collaborative study).
- Challenges of Implementation of Laser Scanners in Building Construction, ECR UNSW Faculty of Built Environment, $2,400.
Scientia PhD Scholarships and Higher Degree Research (HDR) Projects
Two of his joint projects awarded Scientia PhD Scholarships to recruit PhD students. This was a prestigious and highly competitive award aimed at harnessing cutting-edge research to solve complex problems. The projects are:
- Advanced knowledge-based design information modelling, valued at $200,000.
- Integrated system for 3D optimisation of construction site layout planning, valued at $200,000.
Some other projects funded by students’ external sponsors are:
- Digital Capacity Development for Industry 4.0 implementation: Cases of Australian Construction and Mining sectors
- Inter-infrastructure digital twin for infrastructure construction planning in smart cities
- Developing a big data visualization model for smart infrastructure: A case of Sydney
- Modelling information and developing metrics for evaluation of 3D Printing performance
- Blockchain technology to secure data for digital twin throughout smart buildings life cycle
- Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) for bushfire mapping
- Immersive Virtual Reality-based Designing for Residential Building
- Implementing Intelligent Construction Contracts
- Sustainable Construction Operation using Robotic Vision
- A Novel Progress Monitoring System using 3D Point Clouds
- Developing a computational design spatial decision-support tool for material waste optimisation in building projects
Awards
Dr Samad Sepasgozar has received multiple awards or recognitions annually, such as:
- 2022, Editor's Choice Paper: Big Data and Cognitive Computing (Q1), the paper entitled ‘Big Data and Its Applications in Smart Real Estate and the Disaster Management Life Cycle’, Big Data and Cognitive Computing;
- 2021, One of the top 2% of researchers in the world by Stanford University, among all scientific disciplines, and the only person at Levels A to D in my School;
- 2021, Highly Cited Paper: Applied Sciences, the paper entitled ‘A Systematic Content Review of Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things Applications in Smart Home’;
- 2021, Editor's Choice Paper: Buildings (Q1), the paper entitled ‘Differentiating Digital Twin from Digital Shadow: Elucidating a Paradigm Shift to Expedite a Smart, Sustainable Built Environment’;
- 2020, Technology of the Year Finalist, National Australian Construction Award (ACA20)
- 2020, Editor's Choice Paper: Buildings (Q1), the paper entitled A Systematic Review of Digital Technology Adoption in Off-Site Construction: Current Status and Future Direction towards Industry 4.0.
- 2020, Editor's Choice Paper: Buildings (Q1), the paper entitled ‘Additive Manufacturing Applications for Industry 4.0’.
- 2019, Top Reviewer Award in Cross-Field, September 2019 (Publons, Web of Science).
- 2019, Technology of the Year Finalist, National Australian Construction Award (ACA19)
- 2018, The Best Paper Award from the 42nd Best Paper of Australasian Universities Building Educators (AUBEA) conference hosted by the School of Design and the Built Environment, Curtin University in Singapore, 2018.
- 2018, KPMG Inspiring Teacher Award in a First-Year Undergraduate Program voted by students at UNSW, October 2018. The only person from my previous and current faculty to receive the award, it was announced by the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Education) and KPMG.
- 2017, Outstanding Paper Award for the paper published in the Journal of Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management - quartile 1: Engineering, Construction, and Architectural Management Literati Awards: the paper 'Conceptualising information and equipment technology adoption in construction' was chosen as Outstanding Paper winner;
- 2016, The Best Paper Award from the 2016 Modular and Offsite Construction (MOC) Summit hosted by the University of Alberta, Canada.
Appointments and scientific services
- Associate Editor, Journal of Architectural Engineering, Quartile 1 in Architecture (Scimago Q1), ASCE publisher (American Society of Civil Engineers)
- Academic handling editor (editorial board member) of Scientific Reports Nature (H-index: 213)
- Lead Assessor for national research projects, New Zealand
- Editorial board member of Construction Innovation, (Scimago Q1)
- Associate Editor, Frontiers in Built Environment, Quartile 1 in Building and Construction (Scopus Q1)
- Series Editor for Advanced Digital Technologies for the Built Environment books, Editor for multiple books including BIM practices and Digital Twin transformation. Tier one publisher, Routledge Taylor & Francis group.
- Editorial board member, guest editor, or reviewer of 55 peer-reviewed journals (mainly Q1) published by Nature, Elsevier, Emerald, Taylor & Francis Group, Routledge, and others.
A/ Prof Sepasgozar's research projects focus on interdisciplinary topics: Building Construction, Architecture, City, Remote Sensing, Manufacturing, Information Systems, Computer science, and Sustainability.
A/ Prof Sepasgozar's recent papers clearly indicate his experience in mixed research methods (i.e. qualitative and quantitative) and in interdisciplinary areas of building construction, technology (e.g. equipment, BIM and laser scanners), Smart Cities, Smart Homes, Smart Building, and management (at organization and project levels). Other themes in which he has an interest are related to creating needs and applications for new technologies (e.g., Digital Twin, Geo-ICT, Laser Scanners, BIM, and GIS) and automation in order to solve problems in construction, transportation, and urban management. The main theme is the implementation of sensing technologies for measuring emissions in construction sites.
Details of his areas of interest, research methods, and tools are listed as follows:
Areas of interest: Smart Cities, Smart Construction, Smart Building, BIM, Lidar, computer vision applications, information and communication systems, GIS, sensing technology, human-machine interfaces, instrumentation and sensors, Web-based BIM, BIM integration with robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Sustainable innovation, project management, Construction 4.0, technology management, construction technology, tunnelling and infrastructure, international and industrial building construction, technology diffusion and implementation, risk management, decision making theories, organisational studies, virtual reality and information modelling, Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Construction, advanced surveying and positioning, augmented and virtual reality, machine control systems, management systems, networking and communications, unmanned aerial vehicle data acquisition, unmanned measurement systems, disaster management, low carbon emission, transportation and urban management, entrepreneurship, and education.
Methods: Mixed methods (triangulation and cross-validation techniques), machine/deep learning, quantitative techniques (e.g., pattern recognition and data mining, fuzzy clustering, hard clustering, factor analysis, principal component analysis, AHP), and qualitative analysis (semi-structured interviews, structured and unstructured interviews, ethnography, photo analysis).
Tools and instruments: Using all tools associated with Digital Twin, Metaverse, BIM, GIS, Bentley, Leica Cyclone - 3D Point Cloud Processing Software, NVivo, SPSS, AMOS, SmartPLS, Matlab, Expert Choice, Virtual/Augmented Reality, Protégé, System Dynamics and teaching tools (e.g., Moodle: wiki, forum, e-assessment, Blackboard).
Associate Editor, Editorial Board member, or Reviewer for over 60 leading journals, including:
- Scientific Reports - Nature;
- Journal of Cleaner Production;
- Automation in Construction;
- Journal of Building Engineering;
- Engineering Construction Architecture and Management;
- Technological Forecasting and Social Change;
- Telematics and Informatics (Elsevier);
- Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering (En Edition) (Elsevier)
- Applied Acoustics (Elsevier)
- IEEE Access;
- 'Technology, Mind, and Behavior';
- Journal of Construction Engineering and Management (ASCE);
- International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management
- Construction Innovation
- International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis
- Journal of Civil Engineering and Management (Vilnius Gediminas Technical University);
- International Journal of Construction Management cc
- Intelligent Buildings International
- Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science;
- Transportation Research Part C;
- ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information;
- Energies;
- Sustainability;
- Sensors;
- Water;
- Applied Sciences;
- Buildings;
- Symmetry;
- Materials;
- Electronics;
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health;
- Journal of Surveying;
- ASC International Proceedings of the Annual Conference;
- Journal of Surveying, Construction, and Property (University of Malaya).
- Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering;
- Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology;
- TEKNIKA: JURNAL SAINS DAN TEKNOLOGI, Universitas Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa, Indonesia;
- Frontiers Built Environment
- Aerial and Space Networks
- Behaviour & Information Technology
- Journal of Architectural Engineering
- Built Environment Project and Asset Management
- Computers in Industry
- Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology
- Journal of Architectural Engineering and Design Management
and others...
Leadership and engagement
Dr Sepasgozar’s outstanding performance in leadership and engagement is evident in his establishment of the Digital Construction Virtual Lab (ConXR Development) and forming teams to work within the Faculty of Built Environment. Being invited as an editorial or committee member, session chair, or reviewer for more than 45 leading journals (mostly Q1) and world-class conferences is further indicative of his outstanding performance.
Dr Sepasgozar is increasingly invited to join journals and conferences to review scholarly papers. In recent years, his collaboration has been extended in terms of co-authoring scholarly articles, applying for funding, co-organising workshops, co-editing books with a wide range of international universities including:
- Hong Kong Polytechnique University,
- The Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) University,
- Shanghai Jiao Tong University,
- the University of Melbourne,
- Monash University,
- Griffith University,
- Western Sydney University,
- Deakin University,
- University Technology Sydney,
- University of Malaya,
- Birmingham City University.
Dr Sepasgozar has been involved in a wide range of problem-solving discussions with industry partners, including vendors and construction companies while investigating and engaging in their events to explore current challenges to the industry in terms of digital transformation. He has collected data in a scientific way from construction technology events, interviewed more than 200 practitioners, mainly from Australia and the US, and is a part of associations including the following associations to share ideas and to disseminate the results of his studies.
- the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB),
- Engineers Australia,
- the Australian Institute of Building (AIB), and
- the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
My Research Supervision
- Blockchain to secure digital twin data from smart buildings
- Implementing Intelligent Construction Contracts
- Modeling building information for 3D construction printing
- A Novel Progress Monitoring System using 3D Point Clouds
- Modelling consumers' experience of using online information for Smart Real Estate Management
- Immersive Virtual Reality-based Designing for Residential Building
- Integrated system for 3D optimisation of construction site layout planning
My Teaching
Teaching
- Industrial and Infrastructure Construction
- Construction Risk Management and Business Analytics
- Building Structures
- Research Methods in the Built Environment
- Research Project
- Thesis
2016-Present
Dr Sepasgozar teaches Industrial and Infrastructure Construction to a class of 285 students. He designed and applied a large class Flipped Classroom technique using an innovative on-line Role Play method for a Group Project (RP-GP). A team consists of 10 tutors helping to run 12 weekly workshops, monitor 27 online group projects on Moodle including over 300 WiKi pages, and 14 Virtual Reality simulator workshops for students. Five modules include truck and shovel equipment; 3D 360 degree panoramas of Northparkes Mines visualisation; truck pre-shift inspection and hazard awareness are demonstrated for students by two tutors.
1999 to 2015
Dr Sepasgozar taught technology and technically-based subjects in a variety of disciplines in construction management, building construction, architecture, civil and environmental engineering, surveying, and geography (e.g. cartography) from 1999 to the present. Dr Sepasgozar was a discipline director for Building Construction and Architecture at IAU, and some of the subjects that he taught as a lecturer at different universities have been: Industrial and Infrastructure Construction, Research Projects, Project Management Principals, Surveying, Technical Drawings and Cartography.
Research Supervision (Since 2016)
Dr Sepasgozar is currently involved in several research projects. He is also initiating new projects for prospective PhD students and funding schemes. Selected current projects and topics are listed below:
Topics worked on by Research Assistants (Alphabetical order)
- Visualising RTLS in a GIS environment
- Visualising RTLS in Building Information Modelling (BIM)
- Application of RTLS for enhancing labour safety in construction sites
PhD/MPhil students’ research topics
- Implementation of artificial intelligence for detecting modular objects in construction
- Developing a novel technology adoption framework for real estate online platforms: users' perception and adoption barriers
- Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) for bushfire mapping
- A knowledge-based approach for vulnerability assessment of buildings due to land subsidence using LIDAR, InSAR and GPS data over Sydney, Australia
- Sustainable construction operation using machine learning
- Developing a computational design spatial decision-support tool for material waste optimisation in building projects.
- Modelling information and developing metrics for evaluation of 3D Printing performance
- Developing a big data visualization model for smart infrastructure: A case of Sydney
- Implementing intelligent construction contracts
- Immersive virtual reality-based design for residential building
- Integrated system for 3D optimisation of construction site layout planning
- Advanced knowledge-based design information modelling for sustainable off-site construction
- Blockchain technology to secure data for digital twin throughout the smart buildings life cycle
- Modeling mixed reality adoption in heavy construction projects
- Digital capacity development for industry 4.0 implementation: cases of Australian construction and mining sectors
Masters’ Research Projects (Alphabetical order)
- Andersson, J., A comparison between Sydney and Stockholm regarding factors that influence house prices (in a GIS environment)
- Peng Jinghan, F., Application of visualisation technologies in residential property marketing
- Yin, K., A survey on laser scanner technologies in construction
- Zaini, I., The application of drones in construction
- Zaini, I., The application of RTLS for measuring labour consumption and production
A full list of research activities and publications will be provided to prospective collaborators and research funding sponsors on request.