Digitalisation towards Safety in Construction: The Facilitating Role of Industrialised Construction (Ref: MMC1-Safety)

About the Project

This PhD project lies at the intersection of three topics: Occupational Safety and Health (OSH), digital technologies and industrialised construction. Digital4OSH (https://www.digital4osh.com/) is a research group bringing together researchers and practitioners from Loughborough and across Europe. For several years, the group has been studying the application of digital technologies to the management of OSH in construction. Despite governmental support to realise broader pre-manufactured value in construction through Industrialised Construction (IC), our understanding of how various organisations operating in this space are leveraging digital technologies to manage building safety risks is limited. This project aligns with the Building Safety Act, and aims to explore how to better maintain a clear ‘golden thread’ of information throughout pre-manufactured construction products’ lifecycle. The PhD project will address an emerging need to explore how various industrialised systems, components, and structures align (or not) with the Building Safety Act. This will then inform the development of an online platform which records such safety performance using digital tools. One of the core objectives of this project is to enable the benchmarking of organisations and even countries against each other via a web-based platform. The platform also facilitates the sharing and dissemination of best practice reports. This research would address questions such as: How well are existing practices in line with the Building Safety Act? How can engagement with the use of a platform be incentivised? What data should/can be measured and how can it be visualised? How can the information within the online platform be aligned to organisational and national business models in the construction industry?

Name of primary supervisor/CDT lead:

Dr Ali M. Saad a.saad@lboro.ac.uk

Names of secondary supervisors:

Prof. Peter Demian https://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/abce/staff/peter-demian/

Dr Manuel Tender (External)

Entry requirements:

Applicants should have, or expect to achieve, at least a 2:1 honours degree (or equivalent) in a relevant subject. A relevant master’s degree and/or experience is desirable.

English language requirements:

Applicants must meet the minimum English language requirements. Further details are available on the International website (http://www.lboro.ac.uk/international/applicants/english/).

Bench fees required: No

Closing date of advert: 30th June 2026

Start date: July 2026, October 2026

Full-time/part-time availability: Full-time 3 years

Fee band: 2025/26 Band RB (UK £5,006, International £28,600)

How to apply:

All applications must be made online and must include a completed studentship application form (instead of a personal statement) and a two-page research proposal based on the project description outlining how you would approach the project and what methods you would use. Under programme name, please select ’Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering (Built Environment)’. Please quote advert reference MMC1Safety.

To avoid delays in processing your application, please ensure that you submit the minimum supporting documents including an up-to-date CV, but a personal statement is not required.

ABCE will use these selection criteria to make a decision on your application.

Project search terms:

construction management, occupational health, Industrialised construction; Modern Methods of Construction (MMC); Modular Construction; Volumetric; Prefabrication; Digital technologies; Digitalisation

Email Address ABCE:

ABCE.pgr@mailbox.lboro.ac.uk