News

In Memory of Emeritus Professor Campbell Middleton  BE(Hons) MSc DIC PhD FREng FIStructE FICE FIE(Aust) CPEng CEng(1959 – 2026)We are deeply saddened to share the news that Professor Campbell Middleton has passed away on the 11th of March 2026 after a short illness.Professor Middleton, known to so many as Cam, was a much-loved colleague, teacher, m…

Dr Brian Sheil, Laing O’Rourke Associate Professor in Construction Engineering at the University of Cambridge and Director of the Cambridge Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction, has been named one of the joint winners of the 2025 Data-Centric Engineering Best Reviewer Award.The award marks the launch of a new annual initiative by Data-C…

Dr Brian Sheil has been recognised with the 2025 Best Reviewers Award from the journal Data-Centric Engineering.This newly introduced award recognises reviewers who have made significant contributions to the journal through the excellent quality, clarity and dedication demonstrated in their technical reviews. Peer reviewers play a critical role in …

Dr Olivia Remes, Assistant Research Professor at the Cambridge University's Laing O'Rourke Centre, has shared research-based insights on mental health and wellbeing in two recent videos published by New Scientist.Her contributions highlight practical, evidence-based strategies highly relevant to the construction sector, where long hours, high-press…

LORC Research Associate Dr Marina Schnaider Bortolotto has been awarded the prestigious BGA Cooling Prize for her work on polymer support fluids permeating sands to enable more sustainable piling excavations.Dr Bortolotto’s research focuses on advancing low-carbon and more efficient ground engineering methods, with particular expertise in the behav…

We were delighted to welcome participants to the second edition of the World Construction Leadership Forum (WCLF), held at the University of Cambridge from 24 to 26 February. This year’s edition focused on “Building the Future: Data-Driven Transformation in Construction,” and brought together leading construction companies from the United Kingdom, …

LORC Research Associate Dr Guangming Wang has been named Outstanding Associate Editor for ICRA, the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, in recognition of his exceptional editorial contributions to the global robotics research community.ICRA is widely regarded as one of the world’s premier conferences in robotics, attracting th…

Associate Professor Dr Brian Sheil and his team have been recognised in Melbourne with an award for one of the best papers published in Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology in 2024. The award was presented at the Joint International Conferences on Construction Technology in Tunnelling and Underground and Tunnel Boring Machines in Difficult G…

Dr Olivia Remes, Assistant Research Professor at the Cambridge Laing O’Rourke Centre, has been featured in New Scientist for her expertise on fostering a positive mindset and supporting mental wellbeing. The article highlights evidence-based approaches to building resilience and managing stress, areas that are central to Dr Remes’ research and publ…

Dr Olivia Remes, Assistant Research Professor at the Cambridge Laing O’Rourke Centre, features in the University of Cambridge article about how to boost body and mind in 2026. She encourages people to ease the pressure of constant self-improvement and to focus instead on realistic habits, self-compassion and small practical steps when challenges ar…

We are pleased to share that on Friday, 28 November 2025, our Associate Professor, Dr Brian Sheil, delivered a keynote address at The First Conference on Gen AI in the Built Environment. His talk, “Physics First AI for Infrastructure Assessment: Encoding Physics through Synthetic Data Generation”, highlighted recent advances from his research team,…

Dr Brian Sheil will deliver a keynote talk at BMVC2025, one of the major computer vision conferences in Europe. His talk, titled The Seen and The Unseen Multi Modal AI for Surface Subsurface Infrastructure Intelligence, will be presented as part of the DIFA Workshop on Deep Learning based Information Fusion and Its Applications. The workshop, which…

The Cambridge Laing O’Rourke Centre strengthened its commitment to innovation and best practice construction with a high-profile visit to two of the United Kingdom’s most advanced developments: the Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities and the Ellison Institute of Technology in Oxford. The Schwarzman Centre, recently completed by Laing O’Rourke, sho…

Laing O’Rourke Associate Professor in Construction Engineering, Dr Brian Sheil, is one of the keynote speakers at Geotechniekdag 2025, the leading Dutch geotechnical engineering conference taking place today, 11 November 2025, in the Netherlands.This year’s event, themed “Hoofd in de wolken, poten in de klei” (“Head in the clouds, feet in the clay”…

The University of Cambridge's Department of Engineering celebrated the distinguished career of Professor Campbell Middleton on Thursday, 30 October 2025, with a day of academic reflection, industry insight and recognition of his outstanding impact.Held in the Department of Engineering and followed by a formal dinner at King’s College, Cambridge, th…