New CIOB president on innovation, overseas growth and his role model: VIDEO

Professor Ghassan Aouad, the 111th President of the Chartered Institute of Building, says he wants to make growing overseas membership one of his key achievements during his year in office.

In a wide-ranging interview, the vice president for academic affairs at the Gulf University for Science and Technology (GUST) in Kuwait emphasised the importance of leadership and innovation and spoke fondly of his mentor, the retired Salford Professor Peter Brandon and how he would like get the next generation of construction professionals interested in the CIOB while they are still at school and university.

“Growing our market globally is very important to us. We’re currently in the midst of drawing up a global strategy,” said Aouad.

He is the first CIOB president to come from the Middle East. He was born in Lebanon where he studied civil engineering at Beirut Arab University. Prior to his role at GUST he spent 20 years at Salford University, holding several roles including pro vice chancellor for research and innovation. During that time he successfully supervised 24 PhD students, authored three major research books and published 92 papers in top-rated journals. He has an MSc in Construction and a PhD in Construction IT from Loughborough University and was also president of the University of Wollongong in Dubai.

Speaking of the need for leadership and innovation he said: “The institute can play a major role in driving the innovation and agenda.

“Leadership and innovation go hand in hand. Leaders directly influence whether or not an individual or an entire organisation can innovate. They hold the key to the level of success new ideas have in an organisation. This skill in knowing when and how to encourage innovation is notoriously difficult to examine and share.

“But if we can make the breakthrough so that the whole industry can pool its knowledge and share its experiences then global construction itself will have even more to celebrate in the future.”

Aouad said it was important to capture the next generation of construction professionals early so that they could become aware of the CIOB while still in education. “I’m hoping to spend some time in universities and schools and also visit as many CIOB branches around the world as I can,” he said.

He said he was particularly proud how membership had grown in the Middle East to around 850 and provided a network and community of good practice, where construction professionals could share ideas.

Asked who had inspired him Aouad replied: “Peter Brandon is my role model. He employed me at Salford University and almost adopted me. He was a great leader and excellent researcher in construction management and a great friend.”

The new CIOB president has worked and trained extensively in both the UK and Arab markets and has recently been named as one of the top 10 academic leaders shaping education in the Middle East by the Middle East Economic Digest.