Ambi Ambituuni

My research interests focus on the interface between engineering and the society mainly from two approaches. On one hand, I focus on the optimization of sociotechnical engineering management from the perspectives of project management; safety, risk and environment management; regulations and policies; and knowledge management. On the other hand, I take a critical perspective on the role of actors within systems and organizations. Consequently, my research falls within the broader context of the following key areas:

Areas of Expertise:

• Managing risks in safety-critical environment
• Optimization of construction and operation of safety critical assets
• Regulations and governance of the petroleum and safety-critical industries.
• Risk assessment, management and communication
• Resiliance, realibility and systems integrity.
• Human resource management in project-based organizations
• Projects in the society
• Social housing 
• Pricing of project products
• Critical social and environmental accounting
• Knowledge management and knowledge transfer
• Anti-corruption within the petroleum industry

I am a recipient of the prestigious Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) scholarship for both MSc and Ph.D. I also contributed and won numerous research grants, notable amongst which is my contribution to the Newcastle Innovation Project, which, amongst other factors, earned a consortium of universities including Newcastle Durham, Glasgow, St Andrews and Stirling Universities the sum of £5 million as research funding from NERC.

Grants and Funding Won

• Committee Lead: Newcastle Postgraduate Innovative Project in 2013: Supported a proposal and bid development that won a consortium of universities including Durham, Glasgow, St Andrews, and Stirling Universities the sum of £5 million from NERC to fund in over 60 Ph.D. studentships.
• A grant worth £5k to organize the Glasgow-Newcastle-Durham Networking Conference 2013.
• Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), 2012: Wrote a Ph.D. research proposal, participated in a competitive assessment process and won a full scholarship worth £120K.
• Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), 2010: Won £20k full overseas MSc scholarship

Teaching

As a Senior Lecturer in Project Management and an Associate Course Director of the BA International Business course, I teach at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels and also supervise a number of Ph.D. students. I have module leadership responsibilities which also include preparing and designing teaching materials and assessments focusing project management modules. I utilize innovative tools and techniques to maximize student engagement. Typical innovative pedagogical tools I have used include LEGO Serious Play, Kahoot, gamification of learning, Business and Project Simulation, MS Project and Primavera. I have (or have had) module leadership responsibility of the following modules:
• Principles of Project Management
• Event Project Management
• Risk Management
• Project Planning and Control
• Managing Engineering Projects
• Internal Business Dynamics

Selected Scholarly Engagements

Peer Reviewer:
Safety Science; Energy; IEEE Transaction on Engineering Management; British Academy of Management; European Academy of Management; The West Africa Built Environment Research (WABER) Conference.

Conference attendance:
2018 EURAM Conference, Iceland.
31st Annual Conference of the British Academy of Management (BAM), 5-7 September 2017, University of Warwick
APM Project Management Conference 2017: 27 April, London
10th Pipeline Technology Conference 2015. Berlin, Germany
6th SAFE Conference. An Annual Conference for Safety, Security and Risk Management Professionals Opatija, Croatia, 6th to 8th May 2015.