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About CIES
Our Vision
Our vision is to be the leading internationally recognised research centre in the region, for investigating, understanding and predicting the safety and behaviour of engineering infrastructure under in-service and overload (or limit) conditions.
We aim to be the nexus of the various scientific disciplines in the broad fields of engineering infrastructure; its design, evaluation, performance and retrofit.
Our Origin
CIES was established as a University of New South Wales research centre in January 2007 to facilitate advanced research in all aspects of civil engineering infrastructure, embodying building structures, bridges, tunnels, roads, railways, pavements and the like.
The core activities of the Infrastructure Centre are underpinned by a significant number of eminent academic staff of international renown in their respective fields, particularly in structural engineering, geotechnical engineering, advanced materials engineering, pavement engineering, engineering mechanics, computational mechanics and in laboratory testing.
We conduct pure and applied research with funding won from National Competitive Granting Schemes (particularly through the Australian Research Council’s Discovery and Linkage Project Schemes) as well as other contestable funding programs, and with direct support from industry. We also undertake commercial activity in collaboration with industry that is challenging and strategic in its nature. These research and commercial activities are conducted with essential physical resources, such as those of the Heavy Structures Research Laboratory, Advanced Materials Research Laboratory, Geotechnical Laboratory and our Advanced Computational Analysis Laboratory (ACAL).
The composite of structural, geotechnical and materials academics and researchers in the Infrastructure Centre is the leading group in Australia and in the region, containing four full professors in its cohort with a demonstrated capability for delivery of research outcomes.
CIES, or the Centre for Infrastructure Engineering and Safety, is a large, productive research centre focused on understanding and developing ways to investigate and predict the behaviour of engineering infrastructure under a range of conditions.
Ideally located at the UNSW Australia’s School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, CIES projects incorporate a number of engineering disciplines – from structural engineering to geotechnical engineering, and engineering materials to computational mechanics.
Multi-disciplinary collaboration for the best results
At CIES, we apply our skills to engineering and safety assessments of infrastructure. In particular we look at the risk management of buildings, bridges, dams, roads and other infrastructure when subjected to both in-service conditions and overload (or limit) conditions, such as in fire, earthquake, cyclone or blast situations, or when structures are exposed to hostile environments.
The centre aims to promote multi-disciplinary collaboration across the Faculties of Engineering, Science and the Built Environment at UNSW and to foster international and interdisciplinary research collaborations and partnerships with industry.
In short, CIES offers:
- World-class interdisciplinary research by a team made up of structural and geotechnical engineers and scientists.
- Access to advanced analytical, computational and experimental techniques and facilities.
- A forum for idea exchange and research collaboration between engineers and scientists.
- The ideal base from which to develop industry proposals and grant funding applications.
- Industry partnerships to secure the practical application of research outcomes.
- Opportunities for postgraduate students in a wide range of relevant disciplines.
Centre for Infrastructure Engineering and Safety
The School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
BLDG H20 Level 7 Room CE717
UNSW Sydney NSW 2052 Australia
Telephone: +61 2 9385 6853