COVID-19 is a wicked problem for policy makers internationally as the complexity of the pandemic transcends health, environment, social and economic boundaries. Many countries are focusing on two key responses, namely virus containment and financial measures, but fail to recognise other aspects. The systems approach, however, enables policy makers to design the most effective strategies and reduce the unintended consequences. To achieve fundamental change, it is imperative to firstly identify the “right” interventions (leverage points) and implement additional measures to reduce negative consequences. To do so, a preliminary causal loop diagram of the COVID-19 pandemic was designed to explore its influence on socio-economic systems. In order to transcend the “wait and see” approach, and create an adaptive and resilient system, governments need to consider “deep” leverage points that can be realistically maintained over the long-term and cause a fundamental change, rather than focusing on “shallow” leverage points that are relatively easy to implement but do not result in significant systemic change.

Her PhD research is focused on improving construction innovation diffusion in the Russian Federation construction industry. Associate Professor Rodney A. Stewart is an academic in the School of Engineering at Griffith University in Queensland Australia. His research covers a range of research topics in the broad field of engineering, construction and environmental management, where he has published over 170 refereed articles. Specifically, his goal is to demonstrate, through evidence-based research, how the use of advanced technology and data informatics can benefit the often laggard construction and utility industries.

This research integrates systemic and participatory techniques to model the Russian Federation construction innovation system. Understanding this complex construction innovation system and determining the best levers for enhancing it require the dynamic modelling of a number of factors, such as flows of resources and activities, policies, uncertainty and time. To build the foundations for such a dynamic model, the employed study method utilised an integrated stakeholder-based participatory approach coupled with structural analysis (MICMAC-Matrice d'Impacts Croisés Multiplication Appliquée à un Classement Cross-Impact Matrix). This method identified the key factors of the Russian Federation construction innovation system, their causal relationship (i.e., influence/dependence map) and, ultimately, a causal loop diagram. The generated model reveals pathways to improving construction innovation in the Russian Federation and underpins the future development of an operationalised system dynamics model.

Examining transition pathways to construction innovation in Russia: A system dynamics approach The construction industry has often been criticized for its lack of innovation and commitment to R&D. Using a systems approach, this study examined a number of construction innovation system scenarios and policy interventions within the context of four future plausible Russian construction industry transition pathways (i.e. business as usual, market forces, conservative development and innovation power). An integrated participatory systems modelling approach was employed to develop the system dynamics (SD) model incorporating the main actors of the construction innovation process, namely, industry, government and university. Construction innovation diffused more rapidly and seeded more innovators than imitators for the innovation power transition pathway, whereby increasing government R&D support was coupled with extensive reductions in barriers. The market forces and state-led conservative development transition pathways showed similar levels of innovation outcomes within the modelling horizon, but predominately yielded innovation imitators. The extensive scenario analysis findings culminated in the formulation of policy recommendations for enhancing innovativeness in the Russian construction industry.