Associate Professor Riza Yosia Sunindijo
PhD (ʹڲƱ), MEng (Asian Institute of Technology), MEng (Petra Christian University), BEng (Petra Christian University), Member of Australian Institute of Building (MAIB), Member of Chartered Institute of Building (MCIOB)
Associate Professor Riza Yosia Sunindijo is Deputy Head of School (Research) and Associate Professorin ʹڲƱ Built Environment. He joined ʹڲƱ in 2009 as a sessional staff before becoming a full-time academic in 2013. He was the Undergraduate Coordinator of the Construction Management and Property program (2014-2017) and the Director of Postgraduate Research at the ʹڲƱ Built Environment (2018-2020). He is a top 2% scientist according to Stanford University. Prior to his career in academia, he worked as a structural engineer, contract administrator, site engineer, project engineer, project manager, and sustainability champion inmulti-national construction and project management organisations.
He is drawn to construction due to the dynamic nature of the discipline where various stakeholders collaborate to achieve common project objectives. He also appreciates the contributions of the discipline to develop a nation and provide critical infrastructure that enhances the wellbeing of people.
He is particularly passionate in the areas of health and safety, mental health, leadership, and women's empowerment within the discipline, where he has focussed his research efforts for a number of years. He is also interested in research in disaster management and construction management in the context of Indonesia and developing countries. He has received recognition and awards forhis teaching and research performance, and has been invited to deliver seminars, talks, and keynote speeches nationally and internationally.
- Publications
- Media
- Grants
- Awards
- Research Activities
- Engagement
- Teaching and Supervision
2025
- Lessons Learnt from the Industry Innovation Program and Pilot Projects from Infrastructure NSW (with A/Prof Cynthia Changxin Wang) - $41,063
2024
- School Research Grant on “Facilitating and Inhibiting Factors of Positive Mental Health among Australian Construction Workers”, $6,636.84
- Enhancing Infrastructure Project Governance Practices and Strategies to Engage Stakeholders in Creating and Distributing Social Value fromProject Governance and Controls Symposium (with Dr Roksana Jahan Tumpa (CQU), Dr Amir Ghanbaripour (Bond), Dr Marzena Baker (ACU)) - $10,000
2023
- Waterproofing Design Principles training fund from Aqualand, and also in collaboration withRoss Taylor & Associates, TAFE NSW, and the Office of the NSW Building Commissioner - $50,000
- Developing a Health and Safety Maturity Framework for Small Construction Businesses: An Interventional Studyfrom NSW Centre for Work Health and Safety (WHS) (withDr Tanvi Newaz (UoN), Dr Marcus Jefferies (UoN), Professor Temitope Egbelakin (UoN), Dr Maggie Tang (UoN)) - $140,828
2022
- Attracting, retaining and empowering women in construction from theDepartment of the Prime Minister and Cabinet/Women’s Leadership and Development Program - Lead and Succeed (with Dr Cynthia Changxin Wang) - $2,311,000
2021
- Machine learning for infrastructure defect detection through employing rule-based verification on aerial imagery from Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) (with Dr Ahmed Hammad and Mr Hafiz Suliman Munawar)- $13,000
2020
- New Colombo Plan/ʹڲƱ Ambassador: International construction study trip to Indonesia - $37,400
2019
- New Colombo Plan/ʹڲƱ Ambassador: International construction study trip to Indonesia - $52,000
- International Research Collaboration with Universitas Indonesia: Industry 4.0:A New Approach for Occupational Health & Safety (OHS) Management - $20,000 (with Dr Mohammad Mojtahedi)
2018
- Faculty learning and teaching grant: Feasible delivery of research seminar for HDR candidates - $3,000 (with Prof Robert Freestone and Dr Paola Favaro)
- New Colombo Plan/ʹڲƱ Ambassador: International construction study trip to Indonesia - $20,000
2017
- Faculty research grant: Hospital safety index: Evaluating hospital disaster preparedness in Indonesia - $9,000 (with Dr Bee Oo)
- Inspired learning initiative: High-rise building construction digital uplifting - $10,000
- ʹڲƱ-Indonesia seed fund: The development of safety culture framework for infrastructure projects in Indonesia - $10,000 (with Prof Martin Loosemore)
- ʹڲƱ-Indonesia seed fund: A procurement system selection framework for post-disaster reconstruction - $10,000 (with Dr Bee Oo)
2016
- ARC Linkage: Innovative procurement theories to optimise education per cost of school - $391,000
2014
- Early career researcher faculty research grant: Improving health and safety in small construction organisations in Australia: Strategies and challenges - $12,000
Research, Development and Technology Professional Excellence award from the Australian Institute of Building NSW Chapter for the Handbook of Drivers of Continuous Improvement in Construction Health, Safety, and Wellbeing, 2025
Research, Development and Technology High Commendation award from the Australian Institute of Building NSW Chapter for the ʹڲƱ Women in Construction project (with Cynthia, Changxin Wang), 2024
Social Impact Award and People’s Choice Award during the Digital Makers Demo Day, sponsored by ʹڲƱ Founders program, for the PsycheGuard project (with Samuel Frimpong, Emmanuel Boateng, Cynthia Changxin Wang, and Carol Hon), 2024
Echo360 Impact Grant Award, Echo360 A/NZ, 2023
Exemplary Teaching Practice Award in the category of "Linking Learning to Context", ʹڲƱ, 2022
Best paper award in the theme "Education in Built Environment" for a paper entitled 'Retention over Attraction: A Review of Factors Affecting Women's Experiences in the Australian Construction Industry' - the 45th AUBEA Conference, 23-25 November 2022 (co-authored by Amir Ghanbaripour, Roksana Jahan Tumpa, Weiwei Zhang, Parinaz Yousefian, Ranka Novak Camozzi, Carol Hon, Nima Talebian, Tingting Liu, Mina Hemmati)
Silver medal in best paper award category for a paper entitled 'Empowering Female Students to be Successful Professionals in the Construction Industry' - Digital and Empathic Architecture Civil Engineering, 2021 (co-authored by Christina Liem and Cynthia Changxin Wang)
Research supervisor award from Arc Postgraduate Council, ʹڲƱ, 2019
Merit paper award for a paper entitled 'Job Stress Characteristics of Chinese Engineering Design Professionals: A Case Study of Suzhou' - 24th International Symposium on Advancement of Construction Management and Real Estate, 2019 (co-authored by Shang Zhang and Shane Galvin)
Australian Institute of Building (AIB)F E Crowle Award for Teaching Excellence, 2019
Best paper award for a paper entitled 'People-centred Perspective on Resilience: A Story of Urban Kampung in Surabaya, Indonesia' - 12th Conference of International Forum on Urbanism, 2019 (co-authored by Shirleyana, Scott Hawken, and David Sanderson)
Built Environment Award for Teaching Excellence, 2016
Built Environment Staff Excellence Award, Research Excellence - Lecturer, 2016
Built Environment Staff Excellence Award, Research Excellence - Lecturer, 2014
Australian Institute of Building (AIB) NSW Chapter President's Research Award, 2013
CATEI High Achiever, S1/2013
Best paper award - Association of Researchers in Construction Management (ARCOM) Conference, 2011
UIPA Scholarship, University of New South Wales, 2009-12
- Client roles in health and safety:Clients are in the best position to drive the cultural change needed to bring about safety improvements as they initiate project development and make key decisions concerning budget, project objectives, and performance criteria which can create pressures and constraints on health and safety implementation. Strategies should be proposed so that clients are more proactively involved in health and safety.
- Health and safety in small and medium construction organisations:Today market leaders have established health and safety management systems, thus their performance is significantly better than the national average. The industry, however, is still dominated by small and medium organisations who are facing difficulties in improving their health and safety performance due to economic pressures. Strategies are needed to address this issue.
- Safety culture:Improving health and safety requires safety culture development in organisations. Such development requires the integration of the psychological, behavioural, and corporate dimensions of safety culture. Practical methods and strategies to develop and measure safety culture is one of the needs of the industry.
- Mental health: Due to the stressful work environment, construction personnel are experiencing mental health issues. How can the industry improve the wellbeing of its workers?
- Learning from other high-risk industries:Some high-risk industries have better health and safety than the construction industry. What can the construction industry learn from them? Can t