The Institution of Engineers, Singapore (IES) has gifted S$350,000 to the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) for the establishment of the IES-Wong Yui Cheong Research in Construction Project Management Fund.

This gift is made possible by the donation of S$1 million from Engineer Wong Yui Cheong (also known as Er. YC Wong) to IES to support postgraduate research in project management that has led to the setting up of the IES-YC Wong-NTU Project Management Scholarship.

The latest fund will support two postgraduate research projects in Construction Project Management at the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE). It aims to shape and establish new standards and practices in Singapore for construction project management.

The first project will focus on enhancing construction project management methodologies, skills and empowerment for Singapore project managers; while the second project will study the integrating of project management knowledge, skills and human relationships for successful construction.

For each project, IES, NTU and representatives of Er. YC Wong will select a full-time researcher holding a PhD or Master of Engineering degree, based on academic excellence, potential and character. The selected individuals will work with NTU’s team of construction management experts to deliver recommendations on best practices and guidelines as well as to support the sharing and implementation of findings by NTU.

“In all construction projects, an effective and proper project management is extremely important in ensuring the success of a project,” explained Prof Chu Jian, chair of School of CEE at NTU. “It has become even more critical to study and establish comprehensive construction project management knowledge and practice for the following reasons: the increasing complexity of construction in a highly urbanised environment; the need for adoption of advanced digital technologies in construction projects; and new challenges such as climate change, low carbon, low energy and more care for environment and social harmony.”

”At a time marked by growing complexities in construction projects, acceleration in digitalisation of the sector and disruptions such as the pandemic, the fund aims to build greater competence and capabilities amongst construction project managers,” added Dalson Chung, president of IES. “We would like to thank Er. YC Wong for his generous donation to IES to support our goals to transform Singapore’s construction industry and steer it towards new successes.”

“The gifting ceremony marks a significant milestone in efforts by the IES-YC Wong Scholarship Committee to maximise the impact of the scholarship fund. Our goal is to fund post-graduates with the best academic excellence, character and potential to generate research outcomes that will widely benefit the industry,” commented Er. Chong Kee Sen, IES emeritus president and chairman of the IES-YC Wong Scholarship Committee. “We look forward to launching similar initiatives with other institutions of higher learning to elevate Singapore’s construction project management capabilities to world-class standards.”

Er. YC Wong also highlighted that “in an era of continuous and rapid change, project management professionals need to be more equipped than ever to drive and navigate change in the construction industry. I hope that the outcomes of this research will empower project managers in Singapore with the critical skills, roles and management competency to manage the whole life cycle of project development, so that we can build faster, better and safer.”