Nov 24, 2025

Strong Run of Research Wins at Sydney’s ISEC-13 / ASEA-SEC-7

At the Joint International Structural Engineering and Construction Society (ISEC-13 / ASEA-SEC-7) Conference, held 17-21 November 2025 at City Campus, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, KFUPM made a strong impression. This year’s theme, “Integrating Technology for Advanced Practices in Structural Engineering and Construction,” focused on the latest best practices in the field. The event brought together academics, students, industry practitioners, and emerging researchers from around the world to exchange ideas and present work aligned with this theme.

The program featured roughly 200 papers representing 32 countries. Among the delegations, a team of KFUPM faculty members, students, postdoctoral fellows, and additional researchers took center stage, winning six awards. Five of them were “Best Presentation” awards, and one was the conference’s only “Best Poster” Award.

The participants represented several of KFUPM’s departments and interdisciplinary research centers (IRC), including Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), Architecture, Engineering & Construction Management (AECM), Accounting & Finance, the IRC for Construction and Building Materials (IRC-CBM), the Center for Integrative Petroleum Research (CIPR), the IRC for Finance and Digital Economy (IRC-FDE), the IRC for Hydrogen Technologies and Carbon Management (IRC-HTCM), and the Applied Research Center for Metrology, Standards and Testing (ARC-MST). The winning presentations covered a wide range of topics.

Saheed Kolawole Adekunle examined how storage duration affects carbon uptake characteristics in cement kiln dust. Muhammad Tahir Suleman presented global evidence on how environmental innovation helps construction and real estate firms manage extreme downside risks. Osama Mohsen introduced a machine learning approach for predicting thermal performance in early design stages. Saly Abdou and Osama Mohsen proposed a modular approach for embedding green building rating systems into national building codes. Adil Ahmed Bhameshan, Ammar Mohammed Alshammari, and Moayad Ahmed Alanmni demonstrated a method for automating falling head tests to achieve more precise hydraulic conductivity measurement. The Best Poster Award went to Karnan Manickavasakam, Mohammed A. Al-Huri, Mohammed Alhaji Mohammed, and Md. Abdul Aziz for their work on conductive concrete designed for structural energy storage.

According to Dr. Mohammed Al-Osta, Center Director for Construction & Building Materials (IRC-CBM), several faculty members and students presented KFUPM’s projects. In his own words, “participants delivered an outstanding performance at the (ISEC-13 / ASEA-SEC-7) Conference, where their research quality and presentation skills received high praise from the conference chair and attendees.” The projects they showcased in Sydney reflected one to two years of sustained research work.

Their visibility during the sessions encouraged international attendees to ask more about potential collaboration opportunities. Dr. Mohammed mentioned that a key reason for attending was to showcase KFUPM’s expanding research capacity, learn new things, work with experts in the same field, and attract top international talent. The interest generated at the conference shows the university’s positive progress toward that goal.