PMI recognises School professor for his role in advancing project management knowledge and practice

Prof Andrew Davies has been presented with the Project Management Institute (PMI) David I Cleland Project Management Literature Award at the PMI’s Global Conference 2018 in Los Angeles. The award recognises the significance of Andrew’s 2017 book Projects: A Very Short Introduction in the field of project management. 

The book has been instrumental in providing a wide audience with an accessible introduction to the challenges and importance of effective organisation and management of projects. It is one of few published books to comprehensively study the role of projects in history, theory and practice. 

The book explores a highly innovative, adaptive and flexible model of project management that Andrew argues is vital to cope with the world’s dynamically changing conditions and societal challenges, such as climate change and rapid urbanisation. Some of the world’s biggest achievements are used as case studies, including the Erie Canal, the Apollo Moon landing, Japanese product development and Chinese eco-city projects.

Discussions in the book are informing the development of the Future of Project Management partnership founded by Arup, UCL and the Association of Project Management. The partnership is a combination of best practice, emerging trends, an interactive site for debate about change in the project management profession, and a roadmap for future academic and professional research.

As a result of the book’s publication and its growing influence in the field of project management, Andrew has been invited to the University of Technology in Sydney later this year as a Distinguished Visiting Scholar. 

On receiving the award, Andrew said:

“I’m really delighted to receive this award. It builds on the work of Prof Peter Morris’ contribution to the field of project management by placing projects in history, showing how they develop and continue to shape and influence the world.”

PMI is the world’s largest professional project management body with over 500,000 members worldwide. The PMI David I Cleland Project Management Literature Award recognises the author of a published book that significantly advances project management knowledge, concepts and practice.

 Andrew is Professor of the Management of Projects in the School of Construction and Project Management. He has published in a range of leading management journals such as California Management Review and MIT Sloan Management Review. Andrew’s research interests lie in the management and organisation of large, complex infrastructure megaprojects such as Heathrow Terminal 5 and Crossrail.