Professor M. Sohail (Khan)

Prime research area

Provision of sustainable urban infrastructure to the bottom billion people through partnering – policy, planning, procurement, management and innovation including transformative technologies . 

Thematic interests

• Sustainable infrastructure provision including for the bottom (socially and economically deprived) billion people including political dimensions
• Partnering to serve the urban poor: Improving urban services and fighting corruption. Improving urban quality of life using governance and management principles in the context of urban infrastructure services like water, sanitation and public transport. The issues looked into are partnering, values, access to and quality of urban services, combating corruption, improving accountability and transparency, service provision in uncertain environment, conflict resolutions, strategic decision making 
• Organisational relationships including role of private sector, not for profit organisation in infrastructure provision, public-private partnerships (PPPs) for the urban environment, privatization (incl. water sector) – procurement, type of contacts including concessions, tariff setting and regulation 
• Performance excellence, triggering and sustaining excellence, life cycle performance analysis, monitoring indicators, benchmarking, entrepreneurship including social entrepreneurship in urban service provision including community partnered procurement, and good practices analysis 
• Innovative research methods and their applications in the context of urban infrastructure provision. 
• Transformative Technologies, Innovation and inventions in processes and products to assist improving quality of life of the bottom billions..

Current research activity 

The issues of interest in no particular order:, Sustainability, Transformative Technologies Infrastructure economics, infrastructure development and finance, infrastructure policy and politics, Accountability and transparency, anti-corruption, construction, project management, project delivery, energy security, innovative toilets, private sector development and partnering, public infrastructure management, water policy, consumer behavior, Employment creation, incentives, markets, pricing and tariffs, project finance, public private partnerships, and organizational relationships.

• Sourani, A and Sohail, M (2013) Enabling sustainable construction in UK public procurement, Proceedings of the ICE - Management, Procurement and Law, Volume 166(Issue 6), pp.297-312, ISSN: 1751-4304. DOI:10.1680/mpal.12.00022.
• Scott, P, Cotton, A, Sohail Khan, M (2013) Tenure security and household investment decisions for urban sanitation: The case of Dakar, Senegal, Habitat International, 40, pp.58-64, ISSN: 0197-3975. DOI: 10.1016/j.habitatint.2013.02.004.
• Danso-Boateng, E, Holdich, RG, Shama, G, Wheatley, AD, Sohail, M, Martin, SJ (2013) Kinetics of faecal biomass hydrothermal carbonisation for hydrochar production, Applied Energy, 111, pp.351-357, DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2013.04.090.
• Sourani, A and Sohail, M(2015) The Delphi Method: Review and Use in Construction Management Research, International Journal of Construction Education and Research, 11(1), pp.54-76, ISSN: 1557-8771. DOI: 10.1080/15578771.2014.917132.
• Ogunlowo, OO, Bristow, AL, Sohail, M (2015) Developing compressed natural gas as an automotive fuel in Nigeria: Lessons from international markets, ENERGY POLICY, 76, pp.7-17, ISSN: 0301-4215. DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2014.10.025.
• Afolabi, OOD,Sohail, M, Thomas, CPL (2015) Microwave Hydrothermal Carbonization of Human Biowastes, WASTE AND BIOMASS VALORIZATION, 6(2), pp.147-157, ISSN: 1877-2641. DOI: 10.1007/s12649-014-9333-4
• Scott, P, Cotton, A, Sohail, M (2015) Using tenure to build a "sanitation cityscape": narrowing decisions for targeted sanitation interventions, ENVIRONMENT AND URBANIZATION, 27(2), pp.389-406, ISSN: 0956-2478. DOI: 10.1177/0956247815569415.
• Sohail, M, Cavill, S, Afolabi, OOD (2016) Transformative technologies for safely managed sanitation, Municipal Engineer ICE Proceedings, ISSN: 1753-7789. DOI: 10.1680/jmuen.16.00026.
• Ogunlowo, OO, Bristow, AL, Sohail, M (2017) A stakeholder analysis of the automotive industry’s use of compressed natural gas in Nigeria, Transport Policy, 53, pp.58-69, ISSN: 1879-310X. DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2016.09.001
• Afolabi, OOD and Sohail, M (2017) Microwaving human faecal sludge as a viable sanitation technology option for treatment and value recovery, Journal of Environmental Management, 187, pp.401-415, ISSN: 1095-8630. DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2016.10.067
• Afolabi, OOD and Sohail, (2017) Comparative evaluation of conventional and microwave hydrothermal carbonization of human biowaste for value recovery, Water Science and Technology, 75(5), ISSN: 0273-1223. DOI: 10.2166/wst.2017.164.
• Afolabi, OOD, Sohail, M, THOMAS, CLP (2017) Characterization of solid fuel chars recovered from microwave hydrothermal carbonization of human biowaste, Energy, 134, pp.74-89, ISSN: 0360-5442. DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2017.06.010.
• Edgar, C, Sohail, M, Cavill, S, Sohail, M (2017) Rethinking the effectiveness of defecation postures and practices: it’s not what you do it’s the way that you do it!, Waterlines, ISSN: 0262-8104.https://doi.org/10.3362/1756-3488.17-00019
• Cepeda, DM, Sohail (Khan), M, Ogunlowo, OO, Sohail, M (2017) Understanding the Critical Success Factors for Delivery of Megaprojects in Colombia, Proceedings of the ICE - Management, Procurement and Law, MPL-D-17-00005R2, ISSN: 1751-4304.https://doi.org/10.1680/jmapl.17.00005
• 15 O.Ogunlowo O, Sohail M, Bristow AL. Stakeholder consensus on the use of compressed natural gas as automotive fuel in Nigeria Case Studies on Transport Policy, Volume 6, Issue 4,  pp 613-628, December  2018.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cstp.2018.07.011 
• Afolabi, OOD, Sohail, M, Cheng, Y. (2019) Optimisation and characterisation of hydrochar production from spent coffee grounds by hydrothermal carbonisation, Renewable Energy, First published version available online: 19-SEP-2019, DOI information: 10.1016/j.renene.2019.09.098

Undergraduate

19CVC006 Research Dissertation

19CVC023 Civil Engineering for Developing Countries

19CVD002 Research Dissertation

Postgraduate

19CVP258 Urban Infrastructure

19CVP292 Research Dissertation

19CVP298 Research Dissertation

19CVP319 Research Methods

19CVP410 Management of Water and Environmental Sanitation Services

19CVP412 Management of Village Water Services

Career 

I joined 含羞草视频 from industry in 1993 , following a career in infrastructure project management with an American corporation. I was attracted to work in international development with specific reference to sustainable urban infrastructure provision. Now Professor of Sustainable Infrastructure at WEDC, I have published more than 200 journal papers, books and conference papers and has international experience of more than 30 countries. I am also  a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers, a member of the editorial panel of an Institution of Civil Engineers journal, have served on several scientific committees and refereed several journals and research submissions for esteemed journals.

Professional affiliations

Awards

Examples of esteemed professional activities