Nuno Gil

Contact information Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) Academic Director, Centre for Infrastructure Development (taskforce) Manchester Business School The University of Manchester Booth Street East, #F5 Manchester, M15 6PB United Kingdom Tel: 44 (0) 161 306 3486 Fax: 44 (0) 161 306 3505 Email: nuno.gil@mbs.ac.uk Downloadable Curriculum Vitae

Research Vision

I focus my research on new infrastructure design and management, researching the programme- and project-based development processes, design architectures, procurement & contracting strategies, risk management practices, and organizational/governance structures involved in the delivery of new infrastructure. I define infrastructure in a socio-economic rather than technical way so as to include transportation assets (e.g., airports, roads, railways, ports), utility networks (e.g., gas, water, electricity), resource extraction facilities (e.g., mines, offshore platforms, pipelines), and social assets (e.g., hospitals, prisons, schools). These assets are key components of the large socio-technical systems, e.g., railway/air travel, electricity/water supply, healthcare, education, which deliver services central to the continuance and growth of every community and state. Ensuring that everyone has access to these services at affordable costs protects equity and public welfare. Crucially, a conflation of factors - population increase, immigration flows, deterioration and obsolescence of existing assets, global supply chains - has created massive pressure and urgency to develop new infrastructure around the world.

The motivation for my work is the worldwide transformation of public infrastructure into business in the last decades as a means to bridge the infrastructure gap. As state budgets have come under pressure and neo-liberal discourses gained force, a growing number of governments have opened up the infrastructure sector to private-sector capital. This phenomenon encompasses three major schemes: sale of state-owned infrastructure firms, concessions/project finance initiatives, and outsourcing conventional public services. Infrastructure has also become increasingly attractive to investment firms, pension funds, and infrastructure funds  - infrastructure assets supposedly can provide secure, steady inflation-proof income, and market-beating returns due to their monopoly-like position. Still, whilst new markets to develop infrastructure have started to open to international firms, competition has increased dramatically because of particular operators benefiting from favourable credit lines backed by national governments.

My research develops theory, conceptual framing, and methods for communicating with key project stakeholders - promoters, suppliers (design consultancies, contractors, manufacturers), and customers - how to structure new infrastructure development projects and programmes in order that they unfold efficiently and effectively in a multi-stakeholder, uncertain, and resource-constrained environment. My core research questions ask:

• How to design and develop affordable infrastructure for evolvability, i.e., design new infrastructure assets that are affordable and can cope economically with foreseeable change in business and user needs, regulation, and technology over their service life (aka 'future-proof' infrastructure)?
• How to best reconcile commercial acumen and public interest in new infrastructure design and development projects/programmes?
• To which extent can infrastructure design architectures be modularized?
• How to accelerate infrastructure development projects/programmes?
  
• How to build strategic options into new infrastructure design and development project/programmes under uncertainty?
• Which design safeguards can bring value to the business?
• How can design help to reconcile the hetereogeneous interests of infrastructure promoters, suppliers, users, and affected communities?

Click here to download early version of my research vision in Mandarin (研究视角)

Bio

Nuno earned a PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering, UC Berkeley, and interdisciplinary certificates in the Management of Technology and  in Logistics with the Haas Business School.  He had professional practice stints in structural engineering design and project management, following completion of a 5-year degree in Civil Engineering in the Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, Portugal. He joined the Manchester Business School at The University of Manchester in October 2004. Nuno has worked, or done research, with various organizations including IDC/CH2M HILL,  Intel, Rolls Royce, British Airports Authority (BAA), BP, Manchester City Council, Network Rail, Beetham Organization Ltd., EDP-Energias de Portugal, and the Portuguese Government. He has several years of executive education experience, namely on project planning to the Rolls Royce Project Management Professional Development Program, on lean construction to the North-West Development Agency, and on contracting and procurement strategy to the BP Managing Projects College. Nuno is Academic Director of the MBS Centre for Infrastructure Development taskforce, and coordinator of the case study strategy for the BP Managing Projects College.

Awards and Distinctions

• 2010-12, PMI Sponsored Research Program award, Project Management Institute (PMI)
  
• 2008-09, Global Research Award, Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE)
  
• 2008, MBS Bursary, with Mr. Guilherme Biesek
• 2005, ORS Award, with Mr. Kazem Yaghootkar
• 2005, ECCH Philip Law case development scholarship, with Mr. Kazem Yaghootkar
• 2004-07, First Grant award, The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
• 2003-04, Newly Appointed Lecturers in Science, Engineering and Mathematics award, The Nuffield Foundation.
• 2001-02, One-year Post-Doctoral Studies Fellowship award, Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia.
• 2001, 6-months  Post-Doctoral Studies Fellowship award, Fundação Luso-Americana para o Desenvolvimento.
• 1997-2001, Four-year Doctoral Studies Fellowship award, Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia.
• 1995, MSc degree awarded with Honors (Magna Cum Lauda), October 
• 1994-95, 1-year Post-Graduate Studies Fellowship award, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian.
• 1992, Academic Award Edgar Sousa Cardoso for Best Undergraduate Student in Civil Engineering, Instituto Superior Técnico.

Academic history

• 2008-09, Visiting Senior Lecturer (Visiting Scholar), Centre for Research in Global Projects (CRGP), Stanford University
• 2002, Visiting Scholar, Leaders for Manufacturing-Systems Design and Management Program, MIT, Spring.
• 2001, PhD in Engineering - Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California at Berkeley, December.
• 2001, Certificate in the Management of Technology, University of California at Berkeley, December.
• 2001, Certificate in Logistics, University of California at Berkeley, December.
• 1995, MSc in Conservation of Historic Towns and Buildings, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, October.
• 1992, Diploma in Civil Engineering (Licenciado em Engenharia Civil, 5 years degree), Instituto Superior Técnico, October.

Professional Development Workshop Organizing/Presentations

• 2010, Management at the Public-private Interface: Insights from the World of Infrastructure. Professional Development Workshop, Academy of Management conference, Montreal, 7 August, 10.15 -12.15pm, Les Palais des Congres, 513C. You can download the PDW programme and presentations by clicking on the links below.
  
• PDW programme
  
• Nuno Gil, Introduction
• Glenn Ballard, Collaboration and Competition
  
• Andrew Davies, Lars Frederiksen, Learning to Deliver Ecocities
  
• Jeffrey Funk, Using Industry Architecture as Method of Analysis
  
• Jochen Markard, Transformation of Infrastructures
  
• Peter Klein (Discussant)
  
• 2010, New Infrastructure Development: A Research Agenda and Sample of Outputs, Singapore University of Technology & Design (SUTD), June, Singapore.
  
• 2010, Invited Panelist, Energy, Real Estate & Infrastructure vs. Innovation/Technology and Strategy Investing: Commonalities and Different Perspectives, Real Options: Theory meets Practice. 14th Annual International Conference, June, Rome.
• 2010, Risk Management and Design Flexibility: Substitutes or Complements? Insights from Heathrow’s Terminal 5 Project, Research Seminar Series, School of Economics and Business, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, May, Lisbon.
  
• 2010, Using Relational Contracts to Support Large-scale Engineering Projects:A 4-Force Analysis of the Terminal 5 (T5) Project, Heathrow Airport. Faculty of Construction and Land Use Public Seminar, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, April.
• Click here to see slides from the talk
• Click here to see abstract of the talk
  
• 2010, Risk Management and Design Flexibility: Substitutes or Complements? Insights from Heathrow’s Terminal 5 Project, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, April.
  
• Click here to see slides from the talk
  
• 2009, Managing Large-scale Infrastructure Projects. Faculdade de Ciências Económicas e Empresariais. Universidade Católica Portuguesa, December 4, Lisbon, Portugal
  
• 2009, Infrastructure meets Business: Building New Bridges, Mending Old Ones. Professional Development Workshop, Academy of Management conference, Chicago, August 7, Friday, 1.30-5pm. You can download the PDW programme and presentations by clicking on the links below.
  • PDW programme
  • Nuno Gil, Infrastructure meets business: Introduction
  • Glenn Ballard, California prison receivership project
  • Young H. Kwak, Understanding public private partnerships (PPP) for infrastructure development
  • Dennis Lorenzin, Leagility in global telecom services - an application
  • Andrew Davies, Innovation in megaprojects
  • Graham Winch, Towards a Theory of Escalation in Major Project Organising  (companion paper)
  • Hagen Worch, Jochen Markard, Closing the Capability Gap
  • Jochen Markard, Characteristics of Infrastructure Sectors and
    Implications for Innovation Processes
  • Donald Lessard, Complexity (in Large Scale Infrastructure Projects) 
  • Carliss Baldwin, The Design of Infrastructure
  • Michael Jacobides, Infrastructure and Management Research.Some reflections and thoughts moving forward
• 2009, Insights on Infrastructure Co-development: The case of the T5 Programme. Centre for Research in Global Projects, Stanford University, April
• Click here to see slides from the talk
  
• 2009, Developing Evolvable Infrastructure: Modularity and Safeguards in Design. Engineering Technology Management Division, National University of Singapore, February
• Click here to see slides from the talk
• 2009, Infrastructure meets Business Globally: What to Expect from PFI? The Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors, City University of Hong Kong, February
• Click here to see slides from the talk
• 2008, Developing Evolvable, or Future-proof Infrastructure: Integrating Modularity and Safeguards in Design. Engineering and Project Management Group Seminar, U.C. Berkeley, October
• Click here to see slides from the talk
• 2008, Reconciling Conflicting Institutional Logics in Design: Insights from Cases of Involving Teachers in New High-School Developments Centre for Research in Global Projects, Stanford University, October
  • Click here to see slides from the talk
• 2008, End-user Involvement in School Design. Centre for Equity in Education, School of Education, University of Manchester, July
• 2008, Democratizing Social Infrastructure Development, RIBE Seminar Series, University of Reading, June
• 2008, From Lean Construction to Contracting Strategy Maps, EDP - Energias de Portugal, May, Coimbra, Portugal
• 2008, Teacher Involvement in School Design: How to Do it? 2nd Annual Conference of The Herbert Simon Institute, The University of Manchester, April 16.
  
• 2008, Co-development of New Infrastructures: The Cases of Schools and Airports. Eawag - Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Cirus- Innovation Research in Utility Sectors, Zurich, Switzerland, March 14.
• 2007, The Management of Large Engineering (Infrastructure) Projects: Debating a Research Agenda, Professional Development Workshop, Academy of Management Conference, Philadelphia, August 4. You can download the presentations by clicking on the links below:

Nuno Gil (MBS), The Management of Large Engineering (Infrastructure) Projects: Debating a Research Agenda

Stewart Clegg and Tyrone Pitsis (UTS), Megaprojects

Ray Levitt (Stanford), Research Challenges for Governance of Infrastructure Projects in Emerging Markets

Graham Winch (MBS), Issues in Investment Appraisal:The Challenge of Financing Large Engineering Projects

Don Lessard (MIT), Complexity, Risk, and Performance in Major Projects: An Exploratory Analysis in the Oil and Gas Sector

• 2007, Managing and Developing Complex Projects under Uncertainty: The case of an Airport Expansion Project. Half-day workshop, Management Research Centre, ISCTE Business School, May 31, Lisbon

Editor of Special Journal Issues

• 2008-09, Co-editor with Sara Beckman of the California Management Review special issue Infrastructure Meets Business: Mending Old Bridges, Building New Ones. This issue was published in Feb 2009. You can download original call for papers by clicking on the link below:
  • Call for Papers

Employment record

• 6/2007- , Senior Lecturer, Manchester Business School, The University of Manchester
• 10/2004 - 5/2007, Lecturer, Manchester Business School, The University of Manchester
• 1/2002 - 9/2004, Lecturer, Project Management Division, Manchester Centre for Civil & Construction Engineering, UMIST
• Fall 2001, Graduate Teaching Assistant, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California at Berkeley
• 1998-2001, Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California at Berkeley
• 2001, Project Manager Assistant,  Summer Internship, Industrial Design Corporation (IDC), CH2M HILL
• 2000, Scheduler Assistant, Summer Internship, Industrial Design Corporation (IDC), CH2M HILL
• 1991-97 Teaching and Research Assistant, Department of Civil Engineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisboa, Portugal
  
• 1996, Project Engineer, Planege - Project Management Consultant (part-time)
• 1993-94, Structural Design Engineer, Segadães Tavares & Associados (STA) (part-time)

Executive Education

• 2009-10, Programme director (MSc./Diploma/Certificate in Commercial Management) and Unit Coordinator (Commercial Strategy and Tactics; Legal Issues), MBS Executive Development Centre
  
• 2008-, Unit Coordinator, Working Collaboratively, MBA for Construction Executives, MBS Worldwide
• 2007-, Unit coordinator, Contracting and Procurement Strategy, British Petroleum (BP) Managing Projects College
• 2002-04, Unit Coordinator, Planning and Resource Management, Project Management Professional Development Programme (PMPDP) (aka Rolls Royce Programme)
• 2004, Training Module Coordinator, Lean Construction, North West Development Agency (NWDA)

Professional Memberships and Affiliations

• BP Managing Projects College
  • 2007-: Case Study Strategy Coordinator
  • 2007 : Acting MBS Programme Director (January-March)
• The Herbet Simon Institute, The University of Manchester
  • 2007-: Affiliated Faculty
• Manchester Institute of Innovation Research, The University of Manchester
  • 2008-: Affiliated Faculty
• MBA for Construction Executives Steering Group, MBS Worldwide
  • 2005 -: Member
• Centre for Research in the Management of Projects (CRMP), Manchester Business School
  
  • 2002 -: Affiliated Faculty
  • 2006 -2010 (May): Deputy Director
• Institution of Civil Engineers
  • 2003 - : Chartered Member
  • 2003 - : Academic Representative at the North West Project Management Special Interest Group
• Ordem dos Engenheiros (Portuguese Society of Engineers)
  • 1992 - 2002: Chartered Member

Last updated June 28, 2010, Nuno Gil