SPEAKERS

Distinguished Professor Vivian W. Y. Tam is the Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and a world-leading researcher in the field of construction engineering and management. Her findings have found applications and impact for tackling climate-change issues for green buildings and recycled concrete. She is currently the Director for the ARC Industrial Transformation Training Centre in Digital Platforms for Net-Zero Building Ecosystem Lifecycle (NØBEL) at School of Built Environment and Design, Western Sydney University, Australia. She has served as the College of Expert, Australian Research Council, Australian Government in 2018-2021 and currently holds this position again from 2025 onward. She is currently the Editor-in-Chief of International Journal of Construction Management. She has published over 500 referred journal articles of which 8 are highly-cited. Her work has been recognised by peers nationally and internationally, which has been exemplified by ten Australian Research Council projects and over 44,000 citations with a h-index over 114. Vivian is named as the Winner for the Excellence in Engineering or Information and Communication Technologies, 2025 NSW Premier’s Prizes for Science and Engineering, Office of the NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer and 100,000 Top-Scientists (Top 2% Scientists) in the World for since 2017. Vivian is also nominated as a Runner Up, Scopus Researcher of the Year Award 2019, Excellence in Research Impacting a Sustainable Future, Scopus, and her team has won the Gold Award, 2021 Urban Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, Guangzhou International Sister-City Universities (GISU), from this project development.

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Prof Kessler holds the professorship for Engineering Materials and Building Preservation at the Helmut Schmidt University/University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg (HSU/UniBw H). Her education includes a diploma in civil engineering from RWTH Aachen University and a PhD from the Technical University of Munich.

Her research focuses on service-life design and methods for estimating the remaining service life, integrating non-destructive testing and monitoring techniques for condition assessment. A key aspect of her work is evaluating the reliability of these testing methods to enhance their practical application. Additionally, she investigates the role of digitalization and Building Information Modeling (BIM) in optimizing maintenance strategies. Her research also extends to sustainability assessment, considering the entire life cycle of reinforced concrete structures to support more efficient and environmentally responsible construction and maintenance practices.

Prof. Keßler holds several prominent leadership positions in national and international professional organizations, with a particular focus on advancing AI and digitalization in the field of concrete structures. She is a member of the fib Presidium and serves as Convener of the fib Special Activity Group (SAG) “AI and Digitalization,” where she contributes to shaping fib’s strategic direction on the integration of artificial intelligence, data-driven approaches, and digital technologies into research and engineering practice. She also serves as Convener of the fib Task Group “Existing Concrete Structures: Life Management, Testing, and Structural Health Monitoring.”

Beyond fib, Prof. Kessler is a member of the RILEM Bureau and Chair of the RILEM Technical Committee “Assessment of Electrochemical Methods to Study Corrosion of Steel in Concrete,” alongside various other national and international professional engagements. Her leadership at the intersection of structural engineering, AI, and digitalization reflects a strong commitment to advancing innovative, digitally enabled approaches for the assessment, monitoring, and management of concrete structures.