Academics from 含羞草视频’s School of Civil and Building Engineering are behind the launch of a new research network designed to promote links between UK and Indonesian researchers.

The UKIREN network has been launched following the success of an initial four-day workshop held in March at the Institut Technologi Bandung (ITB) in the West Java province of Indonesia.   The workshop was arranged with support funding from the British Council Researcher Links programme.

Academics from 含羞草视频 including Dr Robby Soetanto, Dr Chris Goodier and Professor Neil Dixon coordinated the workshop with colleagues from the ITB.  It was attended by 39 researchers from the UK and Indonesia. 

The theme for the workshop was ‘Towards Sustainable Building and Infrastructure in Indonesia’, reflecting the importance of this emerging agenda in Indonesia and the UK’s strong track record on sustainable building practices and initiatives.  Participants had the opportunity to hear a number of keynote speakers from the UK and Indonesia, and take part in networking sessions and discussions designed to develop themes for research projects to be taken forward on a collaborative basis through the UKIREN network.

Six collaborative research groups have been established working on six different projects which will be developed over three years.  The projects will look at topics including the use of Bamboo as a low-cost, sustainable material for housing, developing technical and social guidelines for disaster relief shelter and quantifying emissions from construction activities.

Robby Soetanto acted as the UK co-ordinator for the project.  He said: “Indonesia is an emerging economy planning for significant infrastructure development.  Collaborations between Indonesia and the UK have the potential to bring forward relevant, industry focused solutions to sustainability issues which will benefit both countries.   UKIREN will provide an important network for these collaborations, both now and into the future.”

For further information and opportunity to join the network visit the UKIREN website http://ukiren.lboro.ac.uk/

Article reference number: April News