Teaching

The Digital Civil Engineering Group contributes to undergraduate and graduate teaching within the Department, combining core civil engineering with modern digital methods, tools, and project-based learning.

Undergraduate Modules

Module 2P8 — Civil and Structural Engineering

Selected lectures are delivered by Prof Mark Enzer, introducing systems thinking and the role of digitalisation in infrastructure systems.

  • Level: Part IIA
  • Format: Lectures + project-based design workshops
  • Focus: Systems thinking, digitalisation, digital twins, data-enabled decision-making

Module 3D9 — Construction Management (Shared Construction/Digital Module)

A teaching module covering the principles of managing construction projects and businesses, combining planning, productivity, and sustainability with modern digital tools such as BIM and Digital Twins. Students gain hands-on experience through BIM-based lab sessions and learn about lean construction, risk, procurement, and contract management.

  • Level: Part IIB
  • Structure: 16 lectures + 3 example papers + BIM lab coursework
  • Focus: Project and production management, digital construction methods, business and legal fundamentals
  • Skills gained: Planning and control, lean construction, BIM-based simulation, risk, and contract awareness

Part IIA Extension Activity — Surveying

This Extension Activity (ExA) provides students with a practical introduction to land surveying (also known as geomatics), an essential skill for all civil and environmental engineers. Students learn how to use modern surveying instruments and techniques to determine accurate positions and heights, and to set out points on site.

Working in small groups over an intensive 2½-day field course on Coe Fen, participants gain hands-on experience with total stations, optical levels, and data processing. The activity covers principles of surveying, traversing, levelling, error adjustment, and the UK Ordnance Survey grid system.

  • Level: Part IIA (open to all, recommended for Civil, Structural & Environmental Engineering)
  • Format: Field course (2½ days after Lent-term lectures)
  • Skills gained: Field measurement, instrumentation, error analysis, and data computation
  • Contact: Prof. Dongfang Liang (dl359@cam.ac.uk)

Part IIB Projects

Part IIB project supervision is coordinated across the group, offering topics at the interface of civil engineering and digital technology.

  • Who can apply: Part IIB undergraduates
  • Supervision: Academic staff across the group (topic-dependent)

Cross-level Digital Civil Engineering Module (4D4)

A teaching module open to UGs (Part IIB), MRes/MPhil, and PhD students.

  • Module leader: Dr Svetlana Besklubova
  • Contributors (indicative): Prof Ioannis Brilakis, Prof Fehmi Cirak, Prof Dongfang Liang
  • Format: Lectures, labs, and coursework
  • Assessment: Coursework
  • Aim: Give digital civil engineering training to undergraduates, graduates, and researchers for research and industry