Project and program management and business model innovation

About our research

Engineering Project Management underpins the successful delivery of complex infrastructure, energy, and technology systems. In an era marked by rapid digital transformation, climate challenges, and shifting stakeholder demands, traditional project delivery models are no longer sufficient. There is an urgent need for more adaptive, agile, collaborative, and innovation-driven approaches to managing strategic value and benefits with projects from concept to completion.

Our research group focuses on redefining project management through the integration of open innovation, digital technologies, and systems thinking. Led by Robert Moehler, our work explores how organisations can better collaborate across boundaries, manage uncertainty, and embed sustainability into the project life cycle. We engage with industry, government, and academia to co-develop methods that improve project & program performance, capability development, and long-term value creation.

Our current research themes include:

• Open Innovation in Project Delivery – Investigating how knowledge flows, external partnerships, and innovation ecosystems enhance infrastructure outcomes
• Digital Platforms, Project Ecosystems & Resource Ecologies – Designing and governing platform architectures that orchestrate data, capabilities, and sourcing strategies across networks of projects, enabling rapid recombination, scaling, and agile response
• Sustainability and Collaborative Governance – Enabling more inclusive, adaptive, and value-driven approaches to infrastructure planning and execution
• Boundary Objects and Knowledge Integration – Understanding how tools, artefacts, and interfaces facilitate learning across diverse project stakeholders

“Our research is reimagining project management through innovation ecosystems, digital platforms, and sustainable delivery, to empower the next generation of engineering project management by linking strategy, data, and collaboration to optimise value across complex, dynamic project environments” -- Robert Moehler

Our mission is to advance the theory and practice of engineering project management by generating actionable knowledge that improves resilience, innovation, and sustainability in complex project environments.