Rate My Professor Abbas Rajabifard

Professor Abbas Rajabifard is a professor in the Department of Infrastructure Engineering within the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology at the University of Melbourne. He holds key leadership positions including Discipline Leader of Geomatics, Associate Dean for Sustainability, Director of the Centre for Spatial Data Infrastructures and Land Administration (CSDILA), and Leader of the Future Infrastructure Research Platform. Previously, he served as Head of the Department of Infrastructure Engineering from 2012 to June 2020. Rajabifard earned his PhD from the University of Melbourne in 2002, with a thesis titled 'A Cadastral Model for Low Value Lands.' His academic career is marked by a strong track record in research, teaching, and leadership, establishing him as an internationally recognized scholar in geospatial engineering.

Rajabifard's research specializations encompass spatial data infrastructures (SDI), land administration, geomatics, geospatial science, sustainable development, digital twins, and resilient infrastructure systems. He chairs the Academic Network of the United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) and was nominated for the presidency of the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG) in 2022. His scholarly impact is evidenced by over 17,853 citations on Google Scholar. Key publications include the edited books 'Spatially Enabling Government, Industry and Citizens: Research and Development Perspectives' (2012, with David Coleman), 'Sustainable Development Goals Connectivity Dilemma: Land and Geospatial Information for Urban and Rural Resilience' (2019), and 'A Multi-View Framework to Assess Spatial Data Infrastructures' (with Joep Crompvoets et al.). Recent works address 3D cadastre implementation, building information modeling for underground land administration, and political economy in land reform. Among his honors, Rajabifard received the prestigious Fellowship from the International Research Centre of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals (CBAS) in 2024 for outstanding contributions to big data and sustainability in support of UN SDGs, as well as the University of Melbourne's inaugural Sustainability Fellowship. He contributes to global forums on geospatial leadership and sustainable infrastructure.