Dr Juliano Denicol awarded the 2023 PMI Young Researcher Award

Dr Juliano Denicol, Programme Director of UCL's MBA in Major Infrastructure Delivery, has been awarded the 2023 Young Researcher Award from Project Management Institute (PMI) for his research on megaproject management. 

The PMI Young Researcher Award recognises scientists that are significantly advancing the theory and practice of project management. The PMI research awards honours individuals who demonstrate dedication, original concepts, and leadership in academia. Only one Young Researcher Award is granted per year by PMI.

Dr Denicol’s research is driven by solutions to improve society through the management of megaprojects, contributing to improve the performance of such complex endeavours being delivered around the world. It advances the scientific debate to transform the way infrastructure clients are developing programme management strategies to deliver societal benefits beyond the asset.

The research disseminates management and leadership insights to advance practices building upon several case-studies around the world. Iconic megaprojects in the UK include: High Speed 1, Heathrow Airport Terminal 5, London 2012 Olympics, Crossrail, Thames Tideway Tunnel, and High Speed 2.

His recent research includes the world’s largest systematic review on the causes and cures of poor megaproject performance, where over 6,000 papers were analysed, identifying a total of 18 causes and 54 cures. The review advances our knowledge by categorising what is known about megaprojects, unpacking what is unknown, identifying emerging strategies and practices, and outlining a novel research agenda. The ground-breaking research attracted significant media attention and revealed that the academic understanding and exploration of those endeavours is fragmented, and draws upon theoretical lenses that often over-emphasise the causes, rather than the solutions.

The research emphasises the interplay between intra- and inter-organisational relationships in megaprojects, exploring the concurrent formation of a new client entity and its supply chain strategies. A recent article at the International Journal of Project Management (IJPM) presents the architecture of megaproject organising, from intra- to inter-organisational design, and ultimately to system-level design. It provides a structure to design, decompose, and integrate the relationships between the main actors of the megaproject organisational system. It demonstrates the reconfiguration not only of the structure, but also of the functions of supply chain actors, implying that clients should continuously and proactively shape the dynamic system. Six London's megaprojects that represent more than £100 Bn have been analysed through 171 interviews.

The research conducted at UCL’s Megaproject Delivery Centre, founded by Dr Denicol, emphasises the importance of connecting scientific findings with policy makers and senior leaders through clear managerial recommendations.

Current research areas to improve the performance of megaprojects include:

• Programme Management
• Organisation Design
• Procurement
• Supply Chain Management
• Systems Integration

Dr Juliano Denicol said: “I am hugely honoured to receive the 2023 Young Researcher Award from PMI! I am grateful to inspiring mentors and colleagues for the support, leadership, and research projects. Megaproject management research needs to advance at scale, co-creating scientific solutions with governments and firms to match the size of the global infrastructure gap. The shift in performance is urgent to provide infrastructure to local communities and given the scale of the global energy transition.

This award will work as strong incentive and platform to go even faster on our exploration of scientific findings to improve performance and support the delivery of major and megaprojects around the world. We are on a mission to transform infrastructure performance and I am looking forward to engaging with PMI’s network of professionals from more than 200 countries to co-create solutions and advance our thinking.”

Dr Juliano Denicol is the Director of the Megaproject Delivery Centre at UCL and the founding Programme Director of the MBA Major Infrastructure Delivery. Before joining UCL, Juliano has worked as a supply chain management consultant at High Speed 2, the largest infrastructure project in Europe, and advisor to the European Commission on public procurement policies.

Juliano’s work on megaprojects has been regarded of high global impact receiving multiple research awards, including the prestigious 2022 Project Management Research Paper of the Year Award from the Association for Project Management (APM). Other awards include the Most Cited and Most Downloaded Paper of the Year from the Project Management Journal (PMJ), the 2019 Global Young Researcher Award from the IPMA, and the 2019 Best Reviewer Award from the Project Organising SIG of the European Academy of Management (EURAM).

Twitter: @Juliano_Denicol 
LinkedIn: Juliano_Denicol