GDI 2026
Driving innovation through digital twin.
GDI 2026 Founders and Chairs
2 members
GDI 2026 Honorary Conference Chairs
2 members
Prof. Suzanne Wilkinson
Professor Wilkinson is Dean and Pro Vice-Chancellor of the Faculty of Design and Creative Technologies at Auckland University of Technology, the faculty in which the School of Future Environments hosts the GDI series. She joined AUT in 2024 and served as Deputy Dean and then Acting Dean before her appointment to lead the faculty. She came to AUT from Massey University, where she was Professor in the School of Built Environment and Research Director of the College of Sciences, and before that she was Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Auckland and Director of its Centre for Disaster Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction. Her research examines how cities, communities and organisations, construction firms among them, prepare for disasters, manage hazard events and rebuild afterwards, with further work on construction innovation, smart cities, the participation of women in engineering and construction, and construction climate mitigation for Aotearoa New Zealand. She has led research programmes funded by BRANZ and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, and has advised the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Auckland Council and Hunter Water in Australia. She is a member of Engineering New Zealand and of Building Institute Aotearoa, and holds a PhD in Construction Management and a BEng (Hons) in Civil Engineering from Oxford Brookes University and a Graduate Diploma in Business Studies (Dispute Resolution) from Massey University.
Prof. Farzad Rahimian
Professor Rahimian works on digital engineering and sustainable construction. He formerly led the Centre for Sustainable Engineering at Teesside University, directing a team of more than 100 academics, postdoctoral researchers and doctoral students. His research covers digital construction, circular economy, offsite and industrialised construction, BIM, digital twins and AI-enabled Industry 4.0 and 5.0 technologies. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Building and a member of the Building Digital Twin Association, has secured more than £3 million in direct research funding and led collaborative projects valued above £20 million. He is Editor-in-Chief of Smart and Sustainable Built Environment and received the Institution of Civil Engineers Bill Curtin Medal in 2024.
GDI 2026 Conference Committee
20 members
GDI 2026 Scientific Committee
Shared with DigiBUILT 2026. The list is being extended.- Prof. James RotimiMassey University, New Zealand
- Prof. John TookeyAuckland University of Technology, New Zealand
- Prof. Rahinah IbrahimUniversiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia
- Prof. Richard HydeThe University of Sydney, Australia
- Prof. Salman AzharAuburn University, USA
- Prof. Sherif BeskhyrounAuckland University of Technology, New Zealand
- Prof. Tim AndersonCharles Sturt University, Australia
- Assoc. Prof. Johnny Kwok-Wai WongUniversity of Technology Sydney, Australia
- Assoc. Prof. Ann MorrisonAuckland University of Technology, New Zealand
- Assoc. Prof. Brian GuoUniversity of Canterbury, New Zealand
- Assoc. Prof. Linda KestleUnitec, New Zealand
- Assoc. Prof. Mani PoshdarAuckland University of Technology, New Zealand
- Assoc. Prof. Shahab RamhormozianAuckland University of Technology, New Zealand
- Assoc. Prof. Tobias DanielmeierOtago Polytechnic, New Zealand
- Asst. Prof. Nelly P. Garcia-LopezUniversidad de los Andes, Colombia
- Dr Alessandro PremierUniversity of Auckland, New Zealand
- Dr Eziaku Onyeizu RasheedMassey University, New Zealand
- Dr Hossein OmranyAdelaide University, Australia
- Dr Mohammed AbdelmegidUniversity of Leeds, United Kingdom
- Dr Mohsen MohammadzadehUniversity of Auckland, New Zealand
- Dr M. Reza HosseiniUniversity of Melbourne, Australia