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The OMEGA Centre Seminar Series focuses on topics related to the planning, appraisal and delivery of mega infrastructure projects and their impacts on development. All are welcome.
All are welcome and participation is free. Please ensure to reserve a space via the event page.
The OMEGA Centre has undertaken a wide range of research and consultancy studies on several pressing issues related to: the treatment of “Risk, Uncertainty and Complexity” in project decision-making, the “Power of Context” on such decision-making, and the role of “Sustainability and Sustainable Development Visions” for mega project infrastructure investments.
The Seminar Programme allows the OMEGA Centre to provide a platform to present findings of recently completed and on-going infrastructure projects globally, and to engage with a wide audience from academia and praxis. We invite speakers involved in a variety of aspects of mega infrastructure project developments with a view to encouraging cross-disciplinary collaboration and knowledge-transfer. See a list of past and current contributors below.
The seminars especially looks to foster the generation of innovative approaches to tackling/addressing current and future threats, risks and opportunities of contemporary megaproject decision-making and decision-making in future environments.
Planning the Net Zero Airport: A new approach to airport planning that better captures the complexities and velocity of change in our contemporary world
Date: Wednesday 22 November 2023
Time: 5:30-7:00pm GMT
Location: Hybrid
Decentralised Sanitary Infrastructure as a Critical Agent of State-led Development: The case of Addis Ababa in Ethiopia
Date: Wednesday 6 December 2023
Time: 5:30-7:00pm GMT
Location: Hybrid
The 2 US$ Trillion US Green Infrastructure Plan: A critical review of prospects and challenges ahead
Date: Postponed
Time: 5:30-7:00pm GMT
Location: Hybrid
Past events
- 2018-19 Seminars
16 January 2019 London’s Cross Rail 1: Progress & Prospects
Speaker: Geoff Hobbs, Director of Public Service Transport Planning, Transport for London (TfL), London30 January 2019 International Challenges & Lessons in Governance for Megaproject Planning, Appraisal & Delivery
Speaker: Måns Lönnroth, Former State Secretary for Environment & Sometime Board Member of Volvo Research & Education Foundations (VREF), Gothenburg, Sweden20 February 2019 The Thames Tideway Tunnel & Developments in Public Private Partnership (PPP) Arrangements
Speaker: Mike Pugsley, Finance and Commercial Director, Agilia Infrastructure Partners, London27 February 2019 Nature, Scope & Scale of Global Infrastructure Knowledge Gap: A World Economic Forum Perspective Vangelis, Papakonstantinou, Lead, System Initiative Shaping the Future of Long-term Investing, Infrastructure & Development, World Economic Forum (WEF), Geneva
6 March 2019 The Belt and Road Initiative in South-Eastern Europe: A Focus on Serbian Infrastructure Projects
Speaker: Pedja Sovilj, Director, Infrastructure Delivery Unit, Office of Prime Minister, Government of Republic of Serbia13 March 2019 HM Treasury’s New Green Book on Central Government Guidance for Appraisal and Evaluation: Implications for UK’s New Mega Infrastructure Projects
Speaker: Joseph Lowe, Editor of Green Book, Head of Economics Branch, Public Spending Group, HM Treasury, UK- 2019-20 Seminars
23 October 2019 The Railway Metropolis: How Planners, politicians and developers shaped modern London
Speaker: Michael Schabas, Partner, FCP Rail, London and Senior Advisor to Metrolinx, Toronto20 November 2019 21st Century Megaproject Port Development & Logistics: Prospects & problems in the use of blockchain
Speaker: Wolfgang Lehmacher, Sometime Director & Head of Supply Chain and Transport Industries, World Economic Forum, Geneva4 December 2020 The Sizewell Nuclear Plant: Challenges and prospects of public private-partnership
Speaker: Amar Qureshi & Mike Pugely, Directors, Agilia Infrastructure Partners, London11 December 2019 Defining Benefits on Mega Projects – A way through the fog
Speaker: Paul Mansell, Independent Advisor to IPA UK; Visiting Senior Lecturer, Bartlett School of Construction & Project Management, UCL & Managing Director, ImpaQt Consulting Ltd29 January 2020 The Belt and Road Initiative in Eastern Europe: A focus on Serbian Infrastructure Projects
Speaker: Pedja Sovilj, Director, Infrastructure Delivery Unit, Office of Prime Minister, Government of Republic of Serbia12 February 2020 How Government Built USA’s wealth and infrastructure: Lessons for 21st Century
Speaker: Ian Wray, Visiting Professor, Heseltine Institute for Public Policy, University of Liverpool25 March 2020 Toward More Holistic Approaches to Mega Transport Project Appraisal in Latin America: A review of selected IADB case studies,
Speaker: Juan Alberti, External Consultant to Inter-American Development Bank, Washington D.C.- 2021-22 Seminars
28 October 2021 The Sizewell Nuclear Plant: Challenges & prospects of public private-partnership in UK
Speaker: Amar Qureshi & Chris Wright, Directors, Agilia Infrastructure Partners, London15 December 2021 Adaptive Regulation and Planning for Utility for Mega Infrastructure Projects: Issues for economic regulation in water and energy
Speaker: Dr. Martin Hurst, Sustainability First & OMEGA Centre, UCL26 January 2022 Toward More Holistic Approaches to Mega Transport Project Appraisal in Latin America: A Lessons from the Bus Rapid Transit Project in Bogotá, Colombia
Speaker: Daniel Oviedo, Lecturer in Urban Transport and Development Planning, Bartlett Development Planning Unit, University College London23 February 2022 The Two Stories of London’s Crossrail
Speaker: Christian Wolmar, Writer and Broadcaster on Transport, London23 March 2022 The ‘Power of Context’ and Addressing Risk & Uncertainty in Mega Infrastructure Decisionmaking: What has the global financial crisis, climate change and COVID-19 taught us?
Speaker: Prof. Harry T. Dimitriou, Bartlett Professor of Planning Studies & Director of OMEGA Centre, UCL- 2022-23 Seminars
2 November 2022 The Two Stories of London’s Crossrail
Speaker: Christian Wolmar, Writer and Broadcaster on Transport, London23 November 2022 Re-orienting Development: The dynamics and effects of Chinese infrastructure investment in Europe
Speaker: Dr. Samuel Rogers, Postdoctoral Research Associate, REDEFINE, School of Social Sciences and Global Studies, The Open University, Milton Keynes7 December 2022 Evaluation of Complexity Across the Nexus: A Summary of CECAN’s Research Findings of Relevance to Mega Infrastructure Policy and Planning
Speaker: Prof. Liz Varga, Professor of Complex Systems, Department of Civil, Environmental & Geomatic Engineering, UCL, London22 February 2023 Socio-economic and Environmental Impacts of Megaprojects and Sustainable Infrastructure: The role and importance of accounting studies
Speakers: Dr. Laura Corazza, Assistant Professor in Sustainability Accounting and Accountability and Dr. Dario Cottafava, Post-Doc Research Fellow, Department of Management, University of Turin8 March 2023 The Cynefin Framework and Megaproject Decision-making
Speaker: Prof. David Snowden, Director and Founder - The Cynefin Centre and CSO, The Cynefin Company, Wales15 March 2023 The ‘Power of Context’ and Addressing Risk & Uncertainty in Mega Infrastructure Decisionmaking: What has the global financial crisis, climate change and COVID-19 taught us?
Speaker: Prof. Harry T. Dimitriou, Bartlett Professor of Planning Studies and Director of OMEGA Centre, UCL, London- 2023-24 Seminars
11 October 2023 The ‘Power of Context’ and Addressing Risk & Uncertainty in Mega Infrastructure Decision-making: What changes in globalisation, climate change and COVID-19 have taught us?
Speakers: Prof. Harry T. Dimitriou, Bartlett Professor of Planning Studies and Director of OMEGA Centre, UCL, Prof. Anthony Costello, Professor of Global Health and Sustainable Development, Vice-Provost (Research, Innovation and Global Engagement), UCL and Prof. Paul Ekins, Professor of Resources and Environment Policy, Bartlett School of Environment, Energy & Resources, UCL25 October 2023 Socio-economic and Environmental Impacts of Megaprojects and Sustainable Infrastructure: The role and importance of accounting studies
Speaker: Professor Laura Corazza, Assistant Professor in Sustainability Accounting and Accountability, Department of Management, University of Turin
Further details about the OMEGA Seminar Programme can be found on the OMEGA Centre’s website.
Further details of each seminar will be circulated nearer the time. For enquiries and to join the mailing list, please contact Hanadi Samhan (hanadi.samhan.18@ucl.ac.uk) or Prof. Harry T. Dimitriou, the Convenor of the OMEGA Seminar Programme (h.dimitriou@ucl.ac.uk).