Professor Shankar Sankaran (rear, 2nd from left) is leading the Project Governance by Engineers initiative.
Shankar Sankaran, Professor of Organisational Project Management in the School of Built Environment is leading Project Governance by Engineers. This is an initiative led by the College of Leadership and Management (Sydney), part of Engineers Australia, to improve opportunities for built environment professionals and engineers to take on governance roles in projects and organisations.
As Professor Sankaran observes, built environment disciplines – Planning, Property Development, Construction and Project Management – all involve projects, and good governance can help deliver beneficial project outcomes. Furthermore, for efficient and effective outcomes, the transition from research outputs to outcomes needs to be managed by professionals through proven project governance protocols.
The initiative will host a series of workshops with industry leaders using real life case studies to discuss various aspects of project governance to improve the knowledge of governance protocols in professionals taking on governance roles.
The knowledge gained from the workshops will also help build a knowledge base for Engineers Australia’s Community of Practice on Project Excellence, which Professor Sankaran is also a member of. They will also publish a white paper based on the workshops.
The next workshop - Project governance by engineers - sponsor governance and culture on 29 November – will focus on the responsibilities of project sponsors to establish effective governance structures, roles, processes, and culture in major projects to deliver sustainable outcomes that will benefit the community.