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2022 Project Leadership in a Changing World Symposium

3&10 November, 2022

The series of International Symposia are designed to share the latest thinking on project leadership across an international research, policy and practice community. The main audience for this online symposium was our international peers; a secondary audience was the international professional bodies and key client organisations. One outcome was identifying and setting up links with key groups around the world.

The 2023, third International Symposium on Project Leadership in a Changing World will be held on 9 and 16 November. 

Agenda

November 3 (Morning Session)
9:00am – 9:15am Morning: Introductions and Welcome ​
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbd1lTi5e5w

Welcome

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[AC_PRO id=4928]

9:15am – 9:50am Session 1: Project Teams and Project Leadership  ​

 

Chair:

[AC_PRO id=4899]

Project leadership increasingly occurs in the context of increasing risks, requiring adaptability to change, especially as projects grow in duration and complexity. With a focus on the emerging demands that are placed on project leaders and teams, we explore the ways that our existing narrative of project leadership and cultures of team management need to grow to meet capability and lifecycle constraints.

Framing Questions:

  • How do our expectations of project leaders need to change to meet the demands of increasing risk and complexity?
  • What approaches can leaders use to move teams from an expectation of competition to collaboration?
  • Is it reasonable to expect a single individual to lead through all phases of a major project, and if not, what are the implications?

Panel Speakers

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9:50am –10:25am Session 2: Collaborative Contracts, Project Governance and Set-Up  

 

Chair:

[AC_PRO id=4903]

Whilst capital-intensive, project-based sectors have made remarkable progress towards the use of collaborative supplier contracts, the governance of relationships with local communities, local authorities, interest groups, activists and other non-user groups has received much less attention. And yet, as pressure mounts for major projects to produce socially valuable outcomes, good management of these so-called nonmarket stakeholder relationships is  critical if projects are to meet traditional performance expectations.

Framing Questions:

  • What is the value of investing in community benefit agreements?
  • Where to draw the line when dealing with activist groups?
  • What criteria are available to determine the legitimacy of nonmarket stakeholder claims?
  • What conflict-resolution structures are available in the context?

Panel Speakers:

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10:25am –11:25am Research Keynotes in Brief

 

Alliancing and Collaboration on Projects

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHUxaYOzQZI

[AC_PRO id=4909]

 

Organising Responses to Climate Change: Mitigation, Adaptation and Suffering as Political Projects?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhmEQMcJ-4A

[AC_PRO id=5185]

 

The Capital Project Dilemma

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5e5RMUMaqHA

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How Datafication is Reshaping the Project Management Sandbox? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W29ma4eLFA

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Innovation and Impact of Emerging Technologies in Project Management 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxXpSu0xePg

[AC_PRO id=5189]

 

Megaprojects, Future-Making and Projects as Interventions

[AC_PRO id=5191]

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11:25am-12:00pm Breakout Groups

Group 1: Project Analytics

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Group 2: Collaborative Contracting

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Group 3: Stakeholder Claims on Project Resources: Where to draw the line?

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Group 4: Project Leadership – Research and Practice

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xGo1Jnwo8U
November 10 (Evening Session)
6:30pm – 6:40pm Evening: Introductions and Welcome​

Welcome

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[AC_PRO id=5078]

6:40pm – 7:15pm Session 3: Projects for Resilience in a Changing World 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciZQKoSIxL4

Chair:

[AC_PRO id=4917]

Projects do not have a good track record. They have been used extensively as part of the industrial, colonial endeavour that has led to a changing climate. With a focus on short-term gain, large projects in both the developed and developing world have destroyed first nations heritage, been imposed on communities, and displaced peoples. How can we change this track? How do projects in the changing world look like?

Framing Questions:

  • The latest IPCC report asks for immediate, sizeable and meaningful action. What is the role of projects in this urgent context? 
  • What is the role of project leaders in a changing world? 
  • How different is the context of project leadership in a changing world than common forms of leadership?

Panel Speakers:

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7:15pm – 8:15pm Short Research Presentations [Breakout Rooms]​

*Denotes presenter

Room 1: Project Leadership for a Sustainable Future

Chair:

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Presentations:

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Room 2: Collaborative Approaches and Stakeholder Management

Chair:

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Presentations:

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[AC_PRO id=5082]

8:15pm – 8:50pm Session 4: Achieving Net Zero: Projects as Interventions

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYoN2tZLStk

Chair:

[AC_PRO id=5029]

Coping with climate changes requires dynamic planning for efficient use of existing infrastructure, smart integration of new technology, and balancing economic growth and social sustainability. Projects as sudden or modular interventions facilitate the optimisation of supply chains and aggregation of consumer behaviour with operations’ planning.  Our experts will discuss challenges of scenario planning to achieve net-zero, green vs. brown field projects, and the behavioural view of provisions.

Framing Questions:

  • How can projects act as interventions to achieve net zero?
  • How can scholars collaborate to improve delivery, supply-chains and technologies for a net-zero future?
  • What are the associated research challenges? 

Panel Speakers:

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[AC_PRO id=5085]

8:50pm – 9:00pm Final Comments & Best Research Presentation Award

Closing Words:

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Best Research Presentation Award:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gJSSIdK8gY

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[AC_PRO id=5087]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6QRYoAGygQ
 
Call for Papers – Special Collection: Project Leadership in a Changing World

As we face a changing world, we need to think differently about projects and their leadership. This special collection titled “Project Leadership in a Changing World” is an opportunity to examine the perspectives on leadership that are important to positively intervening in a changing world, in which the natural environment, technologies and society are in flux.

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The 1st International Symposium on Project Leadership in a Changing World was held online on 10 November 2021.

Click here to access the agenda, videos of the sessions and other details of this symposium.