Bigger than the sum of its parts

For PhD student Xavier Estrella, undertaking a collaborative doctoral degree through the UTS Key Technology Partnerships (KTP) program was a turning point in his academic career. 

Originally from Ecuador, Xavier was enrolled at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (UC | Chile) to complete a PhD in structural engineering. He wanted to explore the seismic design standards for buildings in earthquake-prone areas, but with one key difference: he was particularly interested in timber buildings, rather than the concrete buildings that are common across South America. 

“When it comes to earthquakes, everyone wants concrete buildings because they feel safer, but from a sustainability point of view, that’s not a good solution,” Xavier says. 

“So we as a university, but also with backing from the government, were trying to develop new solutions to the question of how we can build sustainable earthquake-proof buildings from alternative materials – in this case, timber.” 

Solving a complex challenge with a joint PhD

At UC | Chile, one of the leading earthquake engineering universities in South America, if not the world, Xavier found all the structural and seismic engineering expertise he could have hoped for.

But at the same time, the prevalence of concrete buildings in Chile meant the local timber building market was almost non-existent. As a result, there was little in the way of timber engineering research on which to base his work. 

So, Xavier started looking further afield and quickly found himself in contact with Professor Keith Crews, an internationally recognised timber engineering expert and Professor of Structural Engineering at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). UTS and UC | Chile have a Key Technology Partnership agreement and a Collaborative Doctoral Degree agreement to facilitate international PhD training and research collaboration.

“I thought, okay, it’s a long shot, to send an email to someone I’ve never met, but let’s give it a try. So, I sent him my email, telling him about my project, and he was super kind and replied,” Xavier says. 

Professor Crews introduced Xavier to his colleague, Assistant Professor Sardar Malek, another researcher with a growing profile in timber engineering research. Malek agreed to work with him; from there, they established what eventually became the UTS component of a joint UC | Chile /UTS PhD.

Contributing to a strategic international partnership 

Xavier was jointly supervised by academics at UC | Chile and UTS throughout his candidature and completed the final year of his PhD in Sydney. He says that academically, the experience took his research to the next level:

“From a technical and scientific point of view, the contribution from both institutions was priceless,” he says.  

The earthquake engineering in Chile is the best, but the timber engineering was not really well developed, and that was the key point where UTS made a huge contribution.

Xavier Estrella (Postdoctoral fellow)

Studying in Australia also offered a raft of professional, intercultural and social benefits.

“The soft takeaways for me are as valuable as the technical,” Xavier says.  

“At UTS, they helped me so much – the curriculum, the publications, and of course, improving my English. 

“Australia is also super international, which really helped me build my professional networks.” 

Xavier’s experience as the first UTS/UC | Chile collaborative PhD student has paved the way for future students to benefit from the combined expertise of both universities. 

And the benefits extend far beyond the completion of the PhD itself: today, Xavier is a postdoctoral fellow at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, a position he secured in large part, he says, because of his Australian experience.