UNSW Engineering CIES welcomes new Director
Welcome to the new Director of the UNSW Centre for Infrastructure, Engineering and Safety, (CIES) Professor Hamid Valipour.
Published on the 12 February 2025
Hamid is a leading structural engineering researcher with a particular focus on improving . His work investigates the behaviour and development of innovative hybrid structures that fully exploit the advantages of timber, steel and concrete. His goal is to develop innovative structural systems with lower energy and carbon footprints and also structures (especially connections) which are easier to fabricate, assemble and dismantle.
Since gaining his PhD from UNSW in 2009, Hamid has been successful in obtaining five highly sought after ARC Discovery Project grants. He and his research team are always searching for new methods of efficient and accurate modelling, analysis and design of hybrid structural systems under short- and long-term service loads. Â A stalwart member of the CIES senior team, and a keen advocate of academic-industry connections, Hamid has been CIES Deputy Director since 2022.
Head of the School of Civil & Environmental Engineering  welcomed the new Director, saying ‘Hamid brings a wealth of experience and a proven track record of leadership, and I am confident he will lead CIES to new heights of success.
‘I would also like to take this opportunity,’ Professor Khalili said, ‘to extend my heartfelt gratitude to for his outstanding leadership of CIES over the past seven years. Chongmin's dedication, strategic vision and leadership have been instrumental in the success of the Centre.’
In the seven years of Chongmin’s dedicated and selfless leadership, CIES has gone from strength to strength – with a 60% increase in annual numbers of industry and government funded research projects, a doubling of income from federal and state government grants, and a 40% increase in academic staff.   It has increased its focus on sustainability, decarbonisation and the development of new engineering materials and processes.
Chongmin will continue his own world-leading research which led to the development of a numerical method, known as the scaled boundary finite element method, that makes it possible to analyse complicated geometries that are frequently found in construction, and to allow analysis of critical infrastructure data in seconds or minutes, rather than the hours or days required using pre-existing tools. Chongmin will also continue to contribute to the School of Civil & Environmental Engineering as a valued member of the School’s Senior Executive Group (SEG).
CIES welcomes Hamid to his exciting new role and sincerely thanks Chongmin for his exceptional contributions to the Centre.
About CIES: The CIES vision is to be the leading internationally recognised research centre in the region, for investigating, understanding and predicting the safety and behaviour of engineering infrastructure under in-service and limit conditions. We achieve this as an integral part of a circular economy, dedicated to high societal productivity and minimised waste. We aim to be the nexus of the various scientific disciplines in the broad fields of engineering infrastructure; its design, evaluation, construction, performance, retrofit and reuse.
