In today's podcast we explore the role that academia and research can and must play in transforming infrastructure into the modern, joined up, innovative sector needed to deliver a sustainable future for communities.

My guest is Jeni Giambona, Associate Dean of Knowledge Exchange and Enterprise at the University of Southampton Business School, where she is also a Professor and a Member of the Centre for Resilient Socio-Technical Systems. More on that later.

But full alumni disclosure – it is 30 years since I started my own undergrad course in Civil Engineering at Southampton University – fond if distant memories even if I’m not sure anyone there really remembers my particular academic contribution!

Operating at a slight higher academic level, Jeni has worked in the higher education world and been involved at the sharp end of research for around two decades and specialises in Knowledge exchange and dissemination, engagement and systems thinking.

It is fair to say that driving and investing in innovation remains key to boosting the infrastructure sector’s productivity and the outcomes - setting up projects and our approach to the delivery of asset management in new and better ways.

That means embracing a systems approach; really doubling down on the need for collaboration and supply chain engagement; and of course investing in new data and digital technologies to help us to truly understand how infrastructure works.

All of which is firmly on Jeni’s research and teaching agenda at Southampton as she attempts to infect the sector with her passion and enthusiasm for change and pursuit of better outcomes – let’s hear more.

Resources

University of Southampton Business School

Systems Thinking and Leadership Development Executive Education

Leaders and Entrepreneurs-in-Residence programme

New Forest Business Partnership

UK Higher Education and Transnational Education Mission

The Newfoundland breed