Dr Jennifer Whyte

Reader in Innovation and Design

School of Construction Management and Engineering

University of Reading, UK

Email address: J.Whyte [at] reading.ac.uk

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The Design Innovation Research Centre has a vision of a new mode of design in the digital economy. Launched in January 2010, as an exploration group, funded through the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) flagship "Challenging Engineering" programme (£1m, 5 years), it now has its own homepage at http://www.reading.ac.uk/designinnovation/. It has developed out of a trajectory of work within, and is incubated as part of, the Innovative Construction Research Centre at the University of Reading. Current members of the Centre are:

As leader of this new exploration group, I have been building the team with a focus on developing new processes and tools for the design of buildings and infrastructure in the digital age, through research that is international, inter-disciplinary and engaged with industry. The work has three objectives:

  1. to develop a repository of international best-practice. In this theme, the Centre's scientific study team examines design practices on major building projects and programmes.

  2. to develop novel engineering solutions through design innovation and playful engineering. Here the engineering solutions team will take the learning from practice into the laboratory to develop new tools and processes.

  3. to establish the Centre as an internationally-leading research centre. As a new kind of engineering laboratory, the Centre is inter-disciplinary, international and engaged with industry. It is supported by a digital and physical infrastructure, and all of the members of the Centre are engaged in its wider activities.

Selected Research Projects

The team brings together and extends a trajectory of research on digital practices at the University of Reading. Projects include:

'Infrastructure through Life: Technology Use in Global Projects' (2008-2011), which is EPSRC funded through the Innovative Construction Research Centre. This project aims to develop practical understanding of how digital modelling can support the delivery of global projects. We are conducting both historical cases and research on ongoing projects. The project team are Carmel Lindvist and myself. More details of the project are available at: http://www.icrc-reading.org/projects/projectdetails.asp?projectid=101&pubid=101

'Building Safely by Design' (2010-2012), which is funded by the Institute of Operational Safety and Health. This project aims to identify effective modes of interaction between builders and designers in which they collaborate, with the aid of a virtual reality tool as a catalyst for their conversation, to design safe construction processes. The project started in March 2010 and involves Dr Wei Zhou and myself.

The international advisory board for the Centre are Prof Ray Levitt (Stanford); Prof Kristian Kreiner (Copenhagen Business School); Prof Andre Doree (University of Twente) and Dr Andrew Davies (Imperial College London). Industrial collaborators include Arup, Halcrow, Vinci, Bentley and Fulcro.

Visit the Centre website to find out more: http://www.reading.ac.uk/designinnovation/.