Professor Srinath Perera
Director, c4SMC
Chair of Built Environment & Construction Management
Team Lead
Professor Srinath Perera is the founding Director for the Centre for Smart Modern Construction and holds a personal chair in Built Environment and Construction Management in the School of Engineering, Design & Built Environment at Western Sydney University. He is a Chartered Quantity Surveyor and a fellow of the Australian Institute of Builders. He was admitted as a Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales in 2017. He is also a member of the Australian Institute of Project Management and the Australian Institute of Quantity Surveying. He holds a PhD from the University of Salford, UK. Professor Perera is a pioneer in the field of construction informatics, where his work contributed to the integration of AI technologies to construction management, subsequently developing his research in the area of e-business in construction. He has over 200 peer-reviewed publications and textbooks. He has had several million of international research grants for his research. He is the current president of the Australian Universities Building Education Association (AUBEA).
Professor Xiaohua Jin
Deputy Director, c4SMC
Director of Academic Programs (CM PG, PM PG, Construction Law)
Professor Xiaohua (Sean) Jin is a Professor in Project Management and the Director of Construction Management Postgraduate Programs in the School of Engineering Design & Built Environment at Western Sydney University. As a Stanford/Elsevier Top 2% Researcher in Building and Construction, Sean conducts research in the field of construction management and economics, particularly in Public-Private Partnership (PPP), Risk Management, workplace mental health and wellbeing, and AI in construction. Sean has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles in renowned journals and conferences and obtained competitive research grants/awards from international funding bodies and industry. Sean is the Deputy Director of the Centre for Smart Modern Construction (c4SMC). He is a Joint Coordinator of the International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction (CIB), a Board Member of the Association of Engineering, Project, and Production Management (EPPM), as well as an active member of AIPM and AIB.
Dr. Marini Samaratunga
Associate Lecturer in Construction Management
Dr. Marini Samaratunga is the Engagement Manager at the Centre for Smart Modern Construction (c4SMC), School of Engineering, Design & Built Environment, Western Sydney University, facilitating strategic collaboration between industry and academia to advance innovation in the built environment. With over two decades of experience across academia, the building industry, and the public sector, she has led large-scale, industry–government funded projects and managed interdisciplinary teams to deliver high-impact outcomes. Her collaborations with the NSW Office of the Building Commissioner and the Department of Planning and Environment have supported progress in sustainability and digital transformation across the construction sector. She holds a PhD in Built Environment funded by the CRC for Low Carbon Living and teaches in Architecture and Construction & Design Management programs at Western Sydney University. A registered RIBA-accredited architect, Dr. Samaratunga has contributed to numerous completed building projects and previously served with the NSW Department of Planning and Environment, supporting the implementation of the 2022 NSW SEPP (Sustainable Buildings) through the BASIX Materials Index.
Professor Kathy Tannous
Professor in Economics, Finance And Property
Professor in Economics and Finance in the School of Business at Western Sydney University, Global Challenge Lead: Fostering Health Communities, Cluster Lead of Sustainable Development Goal 3 for Health and Well-Being by International Association of Universities, and co-lead in Resilient Construction and Infrastructure Program at the Urban Transformation Research Centre. Dr W. Kathy Tannous is has a strong research program focused on using linked health administrative and surveys data for predictive modelling. She is currently supervising 10 PhD students in total with 7 on industry sourced scholarships. Dr Tannous currently has grants valuing over $10.5 million with agencies including Fire and Rescue NSW, The Butterfly Foundation, NSW Health, and National Health and Medical Research Council. She has over 100 publications that comprise combinations of academic journal articles, industry reports, book chapters and books. Her research is highly applied with strong impact on policy and practices at all levels.
Professor Chyi Lin Lee
Professor in construction management and property,
Discipline director of construction management and property at the UNSW
Professor Chyi Lin Lee is a Professor of Property at UNSW, with internationally recognised research in housing economics, ESG, machine learning, and property investment. His work is widely published in top journals such as Journal of Real Estate Finance & Economics, Housing Studies, and Journal of Cleaner Production. He has led numerous industry-funded projects, including with AHURI, Transport for NSW, the CRC-P Value Australia project, and international partners like EPRA and INREV. He is also a recipient of several research awards, including the Australian Property Institute Early Career Researcher Award.
Sachindra Hewavitharana
Research Assistant
PhD researcher
Sachindra is a doctoral researcher at C4SMC, conducting research on developing a trustworthy methodology for procurement and management of building services using blockchain technology. She holds an MSc in Project Management and a BSc (Hons) in Civil Engineering from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, where she earned Dean’s List recognition and a National Science Foundation research scholarship. She is a member of IESL and CIMA (UK). Sachindra has experience as a research assistant, planning engineer on international projects, and assistant director at Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Provincial Council and Local Government for more than five years. Her research interest areas lie in the digital technology applications in the construction industry, such as Enterprise Resource Planning Systems, Blockchain, Building Information Modelling and Document Management Systems. She was the secretary of the CIB student chapter (2023-2024), Western Sydney University.
Mona Jahangirzadeh
Research Assistant
PhD researcher
Mona’s doctoral research focuses on developing a comprehensive policy framework to support the digitalisation of the construction industry across Australia. This research integrates elements of policy development, strategic planning, and system Dynamics to address key barriers and opportunities associated with the digital transformation of the sector. She holds a Master of Research degree in Business Management (with honours) from a prominent university in Tehran. Her research interests include public policy, digitalisation, e-business, risk management, intelligence in management, and sustainable innovation. Mona has been an active member of the WSU–CIB Student Chapter since 2023, contributing to interdisciplinary research discussions and global collaboration in the built environment domain.
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