Research Associates
Dr Soheila Kookalani
Dr Soheila Kookalani is a postdoctoral research associate at Cambridge University, where she is working on the “Reuse of Structural Steel in Construction (RESTOR)” project. She brings a diverse skill set to her research endeavors with backgrounds in architecture, civil engineering, and computer science. She completed her Ph.D. at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, specializing in machine learning-based computing and generative models for structural design and optimization. She strives to integrate cutting-edge technologies into the field, driven by a passion for sustainable construction practices.
Dr Mudan Wang
Dr Mudan Wang is a Research Associate in Digital Twin Construction sponsored by DigitAl and physical incrEmental renovation packaGes/systems enhancing envIronmentaland energetic behaviour and use of Resources (AEGIR). She will be working on automatically generating operation phase geometrical digital twins models of buildings to be renovated based on machine learning and AI technique. She completed her PhD on Construction Management at the University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney) with UNSW Scientia scholarship. Her PhD research focuses on developing laser scanning based quality check method for onsite assembly stage in prefabrication construction. Her research interests include digital twin, 3D reconstruction, laser scanning, and prefabrication construction. She obtained her Bachelor’s Degree in Construction Management and Master’s Degree in Architectural and Civil Engineering from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, as an Outstanding Graduate and Postgraduate.
Dr Hamidreza Alavi
Dr. Hamidreza Alavi is a Research Associate at the University of Cambridge, where he is actively involved in two cutting-edge projects. The first project, 'OMICRON,' aims to revolutionize the maintenance, renewal, and upgrading of roads through the implementation of robotized technologies and intelligent decision support tools. In the second project, 'AEGIR,' he contributes to the development of digitAl and physical incrEmental renovation packaGes/systems that enhance environmental and energetic behavior while optimizing resource utilization. Dr. Alavi holds a PhD in Construction Engineering from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) and has previously served as an Associate Professor at UPC's Department of Project and Construction Engineering (DPCE). His remarkable research contributions have been recognized through numerous high-quality publications in renowned scientific journals. He has also made significant contributions to the scholarly community as a reviewer for esteemed journals such as Automation in Construction, Building Research & Information, Facilities, Architectural Engineering and Design Management, Sustainability, Electronics, Energies, Future Internet, Civileng, and Buildings. His research topics focus on BIM, Digital Twin, Artificial Intelligence, Facility Management, Data Integration, Augmented Reality, Mobile applications, and Decision support systems.
Dr Shuyan Li
Shuyan Li is a research associate working with Ioannis Brilakis. Her role is to lead a work package of BIM2TWIN project, funded by European Commission H2020. In this project, she is applying 3D object detection to building point clouds and using the outcome for construction progress measurement and quality control. She is broadly interested in computer vision and machine learning. Her current research focuses on representation learning, point cloud processing and transfer learning. In Jan. 2022, she got her doctor’s degree in the Department of Automation at Tsinghua University. Please see her bio website and google scholar for more details. Bio website: https://lily1994.github.io/. Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=6_-FIp8AAAAJ&hl=en.
Dr Alwyn Mathew
Dr Alwyn Mathew is a Research Associate sponsored by BIM2WIN, Horizon 2020 (EU research and innovation program) funded project on developing 3D mobile mapping solutions for large-scale infrastructure assets. Prior to this, Dr Mathew was a post-doctoral research assistant at the University of Dundee, developing advanced 3D vision systems for endoscopy devices. He holds a Computer Science and Engineering doctoral degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Patna. Dr Mathew's expertise spans digital twin technologies, 3D reconstruction, laser scanning, and photogrammetry.
PhD Students
Rui Kang
Rui Kang is a PhD student in Digital Roads of the Future (DRF) research group, sponsored by CSC Cambridge International Scholarship. Her research focuses on using machine learning methods to optimise road maintenance planning on the basis of digital twins. Her project is in collaboration with National Highway and Trimble. Rui graduated from Southeast University in China with a Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering and a Bachelor’s Degree in Project Management.
Fergus Mok
Fergus Mok is enrolled in the 1+3 MRes/PhD programme of the FIBE2 CDT, currently in his Master year. His research focuses on integrating legacy data sources from National Highways with the road digital twin through data science techniques. Fergus graduated from the University of Cambridge in 2022 with an MEng and BA specialising in Information and Computer Engineering. His undergraduate final year research project involved using computer vision to automatically detect road defects from imagery and point clouds data.
Peihang (Hank) Luo
Peihang (Hank) Luo is an MRes + PhD student at the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Future Infrastructure and Built Environment (FIBE2 CDT). Peihang’s research focuses on the visualisation and human-information interaction of the road metaverse (a system of road digital twins) and the digital road infrastructure system. Peihang is part of the Digital Roads of the Future Initiative and is sponsored by Bentley Systems, National Highways and Costain. Peihang graduated from the University of Cambridge in 2022 with a BA & MEng degree in Engineering (specialising in Information and Computer Engineering, Electrical and Information Sciences, and Instrumentation and Control). Peihang’s research interests lie in the human-computer interaction design of computer systems, especially with the application of natural language interactions and Large Language Models (LLMs).
Maciej Trzeciak
Mr Trzeciak is a PhD student in Engineering sponsored by BP, GeoSLAM, Laing O'Rourke, Topcon Positioning Group, and Trimble. Expected to graduate in 2023, Maciej holds a Bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the Wroclaw University of Technology, Poland where he was awarded Rector’s scholarships & graduated with the highest distinction. He worked both in the industry, as a structural engineer at BuroHappold Engineering in Berlin, and academia, as a research associate at the Technical University of Munich. His PhD project is focused on improving long-distance 3D mobile mapping of large-scale infrastructure assets in near real-time.
Yuandong Pan
Mr Pan is a PhD doctoral candidate of Technical University of Munich, hired under Ioannis’s TUM fellowship. In 2015 he received his bachelor’s degree at Dalian University of Technology in China. In 2019 he received his Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany. His experieince is in artificial intelligence, particularly deep learning and image processing. His current research focuses on developing robust methods for creating digital twins of the built environment using artificial intelligence methods such as deep learning to interprete point cloud data.
Zhiqi HU
Ms Zhiqi HU is a PhD Student in Engineering at the Construction Information Technology group of the Laing O'Rourke Centre on a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Studentship. Zhiqi holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Automation from Zhejiang University & a Master's Degree in Intelligent Building from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, where she gained several awards including the Outstanding Student Award. Her work experience includes IT, Venture Capital, and Real Estate companies. Her research project for the PhD focuses on updating model geometry from registered point cloud and image datasets.
Jialei Ding
Ms Jialei Ding is a PhD student in Infrastructure Digitalisation and Gamification at the Construction Information Technology group. Her PhD is in partnership with Loclab Gmbh in Germany and funded through the CBIM training network. Jialei's research focuses on creating geometric digital twins of existing roads using videogrammetry, in combination with game technologies. Jialei holds a BEng in Civil Engineering from The University of Edinburgh and an MSc in Transport from London Imperial College.
Viktor Drobnyi
Mr Drobnyi is a PhD Student in Engineering and an ESR in the CBIM project sponsored by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie foundation. Viktor holds a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science from Innopolis University and a Master's Degree in Informatics with a major in Computer Vision from the Technical University of Munich. He has previously worked as a computer vision engineer at RoadAR. Viktor's PhD research is focused on the automation of infrastructure object detection of buildings on raw sensor data, including point cloud data & image data.
Diana Davletshina
Ms Davletshina is a PhD student within EPSRC Industrial CASE studentship at the Department of Engineering in partnership with National Highways and co-sponsored by Costain. Diana's research focuses on automating the process of generating digital twins of roads using existing large-scale visual and spatial datasets to reduce costs and enable performance optimisation, failure prediction and future scenario modelling. Diana holds a Master's degree in Data Science from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Innopolis University.
Haritha Jayasinghe
Haritha Jayasinghe is a member of the 3rd cohort of Future Infrastructure and Built Environment: Resilience in a Changing World (FIBE2) CDT, a 1+3 year MRes and PhD programme. Haritha's project is focused on the digitization of industrial facilities, and it is conducted in partnership with AVEVA and BP. This project aims to facilitate the automated creation of digital twins of industrial assets using point cloud scans, in order to assist industrial facility owners to manage operations of complex facilities. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering from The University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, specializing in Computer Science & Engineering.
Percy Lam
Percy Lam is an MRes + PhD student at the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Future Infrastructure and Built Environment. His PhD research focuses on the construction and maintenance of a digital twin for highway networks. Percy graduated from the University of Cambridge with MEng and MA in Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering in 2016. His professional experience includes geotechnical and construction engineering on the expansion of the Hong Kong International Airport.